Spirituality

Storming the gates of psychedelia: Scientists commit to collaboration in the face of capitalist competition

The trouble is that healthcare in America exists within a competitive market economy, motivated by the insatiable quest of economic growth. Privatization by means of patenting or theft often precipitates the process of making profit. This means restricting access to common pool resources (e.g., putting a fence around a field of marijuana for the purpose of selling it, or patenting a plant) … We should be bringing the values of authentic cannabis culture with us as we move out of Prohibition, and not allow this industry, and more importantly, our movement, to be co-opted and overrun by the values of Wall Street and Corporate America.

Drugs (licit or illicit) deemed to have a utility value (medical or other) are usually commodified, regulated, and taxed. We saw this in 1986, when the American entrepreneur Loren Miller attempted to patent and privatize a variety of the Banisteriopsis caapi, the key ingredient in ayahuasca, a sacramental brew of communities in the Amazon rainforest. Today, the legal production of marijuana earns stakeholders lofty returns, while smalltime pushers remain jailed for possession. Suddenly, the prohibitionist values of right-wing conservatives like Rebekah Mercer, who donated one million dollars to MAPS, Peter Theil investing in psilocybin distribution, and John Boehner—all supporters of a president who has suggested executing drug dealers—are trumped by the promise of profit … Psychologist Geoff Bathje insists, “We can’t just create legal pathways going forward and ignore the wrongs of the past. We need restorative justice for those who have been targeted and harmed by the War on Drugs, which has mostly been African Americans and lower income people”.

ECfES is a Signatory of the Open Science and Praxis Document HERE

Original Article (Chacruna):
Storming the Gates of Psychedelia: Scientists Commit to Collaboration in the Face of Capitalist Competition
Artwork Fair Use: cogdogblog

Leave a Reply