Biography/Memoir

Michigan, USA, activists launch statewide campaign to decriminalize entheogenic plants, fungi

The current state-level draft legislation is going to be similar to Ann Arbor’s ordinance, and is likely to add comprehensive language aiming to eliminate penalties on personal possession. “The proposed draft bill is very similar to the Ann Arbor resolution. We’re looking to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi, things like mushrooms and mescaline containing cacti,…

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Politics

A resolution decriminalizing… cultivation and distribution of psychedelic plants

WHEREAS: the so-called War on Drugs has led to the unnecessary penalization, arrest,and incarceration of vulnerable people, particularly people of color and people of limited financial means… WHEREAS: that American cities have long possessed an inferred constitutional right to regulate commerce and public safety within their jurisdictions, a principle acknowledged by the U.S. Department of…

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Politics

‘Magic’ mushroom delivery service advertising in Ann Arbor raises legal questions, officials say

Arbor Shrooms maintains it’s not a business… Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit has also taken measures to decriminalize mushrooms. He announced in January [2021] that his office would not charge anyone for the use, possession or small-scale distribution of entheogenic plants, including magic mushrooms. The policy focuses on prosecuting larger scale distribution. “We have a…

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Politics

The war on drugs didn’t work…

Broadly speaking, the status quo isn’t working. By 2019, the federal government was spending $34.6 billion annually on attempts to control drug use. More than $1 trillion has been directly spent on war on drugs initiatives in the past four decades… A 2018 study published in the journal Science found that overdose death rates have…

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Politics

DEA sued by therapists… to give psilocybin mushrooms to patients

…argues that psilocybin should be made available under state and federal right-to-try laws… [seeking] approval to cultivate psilocybin mushrooms and use them in treatment. This isn’t the first time DEA has found itself battling lawsuits over the criminalization of controlled substances that hold therapeutic value… [reflecting the need to] realize the promise of state and…

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Politics

Investors… [shall own?]… the future of psychedelics

…for-profit ventures don’t get a free pass. They can also cause harm, and they often do. [Christian Angermayer, funder of ATAI/COMPASS states] “In no way do I believe the for-profit medical model will negatively impact the lives of indigenous shamans… one point which is very dear to my heart in this context is decriminalization. Nobody…

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Politics

Proposed California Law would legalize magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, and other psychedelic drugs

In addition to allowing Californians to produce and use certain psychedelic drugs, SB 519 officially recognizes these drugs’ medical application… would allow the possession, cultivation, use, and “sharing” of most psychedelic drugs in California was formally introduced in the state Legislature on Thursday [Feb. 18, 2021]. …proposal follows several successful decriminalization efforts at the city…

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…the kinder, gentler war on drugs…

The policy extension of… radical love to his son is a full embrace of harm reduction and expanding the conversation about use disorder beyond opioids… has gone from viewing people who use drugs as “addicts running around… already robbing you” to his “beautiful son.” Part of that is likely the impact of seeing the struggle…

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Politics

[Decriminalize nature city council success]

Cambridge City Council, Massachusetts, votes 8-1 to decriminalize nature… [This is] the second city in Massachusetts to decriminalize… that the City Council hereby maintains it should be the policy of the City of Cambridge that the investigation and arrest of adult persons for planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, engaging in practices with, and/or possessing entheogenic…

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Politics

Cognitive liberty…. a human neuro-rights declaration

…the concept of Cognitive Liberty (CL), as coined by American civil rights activists. This is a concept that… is something similar to a wall to protect the individual from the claims of any other person. Indeed, cognitive liberty is the right to control one’s own mind: the basic brick of personal freedom. In the last…

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