Step 1: Set Limits for the People The Sacred Under Attack

What is “sacred”?

Most definitions constrain the definition to religious contexts, but for those with a deep connection to nature, existence, and the beauty of life, a good definition, and the one I use here is “the recognition that all things are inter-connected, and therefore, impact each other”.

This inter-connectedness in all things is a commonly reported experience from those who use entheogens, or sacred plant medicines, such as ayahuasca, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and DMT; especially when approached with reverence, gratitude, and humility. The connection one feels to the earth, other living things, and one’s own awareness is often described as sacred and fills one with an overwhelming sense of love toward all of creation. So, when Decriminalize Nature vowed in 2019 to fight for the sacred, and “Restore our Roots” (our tagline), we were specifically referring to our recognition that we must restore our connections to the earth and to all life in such a way that we advocate for our unalienable human right to engage on our own sovereign terms with nature’s entheogenic gifts.

From this vantage point, the idea that another human or government can intervene in this unalienable and sacred birthright seems ludicrous, as ludicrous as if the government suddenly suggested it would control and limit the number of times a parent could hug their child. Few things seem as fundamentally sovereign as seeking to heal one’s mental health trauma or explore ones consciousness with plants and fungi that grow naturally from the ground.

Over the last 500 years, we have seen an increasing immersion of humans into an ocean of extractive commodification and associated behaviors that act from fear to desecrate the sacred. Sacred lands are mined and run over with development. Sacred children are put into cages. Sacred lives are snuffed out right before our eyes on video. Sacred cultures, with extremely rare world views, are encroached on and decimated. Sacred forests are bulldozed. We see it happening every day, but like the frog in the pot of water coming to a slow boil, it is difficult to make the daily connections that our species is boiling itself alive. And even harder to know what to do about it on any given day as any effort to change the massive tsunami of the extractive capitalist machine feels miniscule compared to the need.

But we can do something. We can stand our ground for the sacred. It is true that corporate capitalism, the original artificial intelligence which acts selfishly only to advance profiteering, always chooses greed over the sacred. It is hungry and thriving, but it’s soft underbelly is susceptible to public pressure. Social media has given all of us a new tool to hold this beast accountable and force the inclusion of the sacred into its bottom lines.

The corporate executives, while eager to externalize as many costs and liabilities in their financial statements onto the commons–be it desecration of sacred lands, low wages, lack of health care, oil spills, or air pollution—are increasingly vulnerable to you and I as we become skilled at using social media to bear witness to their transgressions.

This is my intention with this blog post: to bear witness to the shenanigans I’ve seen performed by profiteers in their efforts to maximize profiteering off of our sacred plants by eroding the sacred, to eventually create scarcity for you and I in our direct relationship to nature. The intention is to expand their own abilities to profit from the same plants our government declared war against 50 years ago, and persecuted land-based peoples around the world for the last 3,000 years.

Now that scientific reductionism and medical experts have discovered what our ancestors have known for thousands of years, they will soon “allow” us to have limited amounts of these same sacred plants and fungi, while corporations line up to push out of the compounds found in these same plants and fungi from their storefronts, websites, medical buildings, and therapeutic offices, wrapped in small plastic packages with instructions attached so that we may safely consume them for a healthy price.

The Sacred has been under attack for hundreds of years and sacrificed under the banner of “progress”. As reductionists found ways to monetize by dividing the connections that bind all, putting in the asset column all that is financially valuable, and throwing away all that is not, we have seen the demise of our connections to community, to nature, to our elders and our ancestors, and even to our highest selves. Like the frog in the slowly boiling water, we’ve become immune to the process, experiencing shock when we see the wave of this erosion of the sacred collapse into a peak singularity moment of children crying in cages, or a man’s life surrendered under a suffocating knee. And this same erosion is now happening to our sacred plants, as we are sold a bill of goods that we are lucky to receive even limited amounts to plants which our ancestors died for using. And so will begin the process of desecrating the sacred, once again. Unless we jump out of the pot, and bear witness to what is happening.

Shining the light

The greatest threat to those who seek to erode our human rights is to shine the light on the actions of those who seek to benefit from the denial of these rights; to bear witness; to speak and share with the community the knowledge found. With this knowledge in hand, we can then take corrective action as a collective community, with growing power in the marketplace and the political arena to resist.

The act of setting limits, of any kind, on our personal relationship with natural sacred plants at the SB519 hearing of the Health Committee of July 13, 2021 of the CA State Assembly is the beginning of the process to erode what is a sacred and unalienable human right borne of thousands of years of human practice with the plants, and to turn it into a relationship of commodification and scarcity.

Beyond the erosion of the sacred, setting limits on amounts for personal use is just another way of clarifying to law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys when they can arrest and successfully prosecute, something we know most often hurts those in low-income communities, and communities-of-color in the US. There are no good, humane reasons for setting limits on the personal relationship with natural plant and fungi since they’re known to be among the safest mental health healing materials available. A search for news clippings before the War on Drugs was launched reveals few, if any, reported emergencies or catastrophes related to people’s use of entheogenic plants and fungi.

The beneficiaries of setting limits on amounts will be the profiteers who will benefit from the scarcity as we can be sure they will not seek limits on their own ability to sell us back these medicines in pill form.

This is how extractive capitalism works. Elected officials appreciate or accept controls as they seek to mitigate risk of re-election or gain support for higher office. The profiteers push limits to increase profits by creating scarcity for you and me. Both groups preying on irrational fear. This Faustian bargain between those in centralized power, used against those of decentralized power (you and I), has been standard operating procedure for the last 200 years since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, and for the last 500+ years if we consider the relationship between profiteers and oligarchs and monarchies, and the financial lenders who backed them all.

Add to this process the complexification of the policy-making process, most of which is hidden from public view, enabling obfuscation and misdirection, tactics for those in power to wield over the busy populace. It’s hard enough to understand how a city council process works, let alone a state legislative process. A priest retains his power by mystifying the process of connecting with God. Scientists retain their priestly status by complicating, not simplifying, explanations. And so too, elected officials, government bureaucrats, and lobbyists retain their power and control by making policy-making more complicated and inaccessible. And the corporate-profiteers prey on this increasing complexity to obfuscate and keep hidden from public view the acts which harm the commons and desecrate the sacred.

It is truly an art-form, of which I became familiar with during my days as a legislator and a lobbyist. Gaming the system by building on the fundamentals of game theory, is the art-form of the lobbyist and the legislator. In this game, the ends always justify the means.  One must win at all costs. And the means don’t care about the sacred or the impact on the commons. In this game, wining at all costs becomes paramount, its own objective. Protection of the sacred, consideration for love and compassion, and speaking for the most vulnerable are seen as weakness in a testosterone-driven game of ego-based winning.
The process of eroding our sacred relationship with the plant medicines that our ancestors were killed for using in ceremony over the last 3,000 years is underway. The tactics now being employed by the emerging psychedelic industrial complex of entangled government officials and capitalists have been honed for the last 500+ years, handed down from corporate leader to corporate leader.

But our ability to act and stand our ground for the sacred plants, for the planet that birthed us, and now offers us these plants and fungi in generosity, for the ancestors who lost their lives shepherding and stewarding these plants and fungi, relies on our vigilance, and for each of us to bear witness and disclose what we see. This is my intention in sharing this information with you.

The Implications of dividing that which is undividable

SB519 is the California state bill introduced into the Senate by Senator Scott Wiener, Democrat from San Francisco, initially touted to decriminalize psychedelics and sacred plants. On July 13th, 2021, the Chair of the Health Committee, Jim Wood, from the moderately democratic coast of northern CA, advanced an amendment to place limits on personal use of sacred plants if it was to pass his committee.  There is evidence to suggest that the decision to create scarcity by setting limits was made by New Approach PAC (“New Approach”) representatives as early as 6 months before the July 13th vote at the CA Health Committee on SB 519.

New Approach is a lobbying firm which is funded by venture capitalists who’ve accumulated wealth in various industries, including the cannabis industry, many of whom now seek to profit from synthesizing the compounds in sacred plants. I argue that the vote at Health Committee was a set-up by the lobbyists for the venture capitalists who are paying them, based on basic game theory, and a ruse to destabilize an abundance model which is a threat to their clients.

The act of setting limits on allowable amounts for any human activity (in this case on transport) in association with plants and fungi that grow naturally from the ground is intended to start the process of detaching these entheogenic plants and fungi from the concept of being a sacred human right which is unalienable.

This first step of eroding the idea that these plants and fungi are an unalienable human right opens the door to the eventual setting of further limitations. This first step of setting limits on transport, which New Approach PAC has argued was a political necessity, was likely orchestrated to undermine the concept of this relationship between humans and nature being sacred and off-limits to corporate control, thereby undermining an abundance model for consciousness healing.

In other words, one cannot commodify a sacred relationship which is unalienable. So, the first step is to desecrate the sacred by treating it as a commodity. Historical analysis reveals that the attitude of reductionism, on which commodification depends, toward the sacred, has always been a hostile one—the interconnectedness of the ecosystem being a sacrificial lamb at the altar of reductionism. But the hostility is unwarranted. All can co-exist, but only if we force the re-emergence of the sacred into corporate bottom-lines or re-election campaigns via public disclosure and public pressure. While corporate profits won’t be as large when we force the incorporation of the sacred into their financial statements, our human rights will be increasingly protected.

Consider that there will eventually be four primary modalities for engaging with these medicines:

Personal/Community Use Model: Without limits set, people can develop their relationship of abundance with these plants and fungi, individually or in community–growing, gathering, gifting, and sharing them as we might share tomatoes, oranges, or extra honey from the hobbyist’s beehive. Local economies could emerge if limits are not set much as local food economies have emerged based on food being decriminalized. But with limits proposed to be set, we can anticipate that these abundance models will be under threat.

Clinical Therapy Model: No limits will likely be set on amounts they can charge or amounts of services they can sell, enabling profiteering by groups that seek to sell synthetic psychedelics as part of a therapy model.
Medical model: there will be not likely be limits on amounts that pharmaceutical companies can sell through the medical industry.

Corporate model: As with cannabis, for-profit corporations will be allowed to package and sell us unlimited amounts.
Of the four modalities above, only personal use without limits can lead to the emergence of financially accessible models for the most marginalized members of our community because the grow-gather-gift-share approach enables free or low-cost sharing under an abundance model. The other three models will all eventually require pharmaceutical production to source the medicine due to required governmental controls.

The Vote to Set Limits was a Set-up

Evidence shows that the July 13, 2021 vote by the Health Committee to set limits on our personal relationship with sacred plants was a set-up.

In December 2020, just a few weeks after Senator Wiener announced he’d be introducing legislation to decriminalize psychedelics, I had a call with the lobbying firm representing Dr. Bronner’s Soap Company. Dr. Bronner’s, along with Miracle Gro and Privateer Holdings, are three of the largest investors in the New Approach PAC lobbying firm that passed the corporate framework of Prop 64 in CA, which has been broadly criticized for marginalizing people of color from business opportunities in cannabis.

The lobbyist I spoke with explained that leaders of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) and New Approach PAC had been meeting with Senator Wiener behind the scenes to consider language for decriminalize psychedelics weeks before Wiener announced that the bill would be introduced. The announcement was made on November 10, 2020.

On the December 2020 phone call, seven months before the vote at Health Committee, the lobbyist asked me if Decriminalize Nature could get behind setting limits for personal use of plants and fungi. I informed the lobbyist that this went against our ethos and was a threat to our abundance model, and therefore we would not support setting limits on people’s personal relationship with things that grow from the ground.  I explained that through our education campaigns we had obtained what was at that time 100% support of the elected officials who voted in the three cities (Oakland, Santa Cruz, and Ann Arbor) that had passed decriminalize nature resolutions. If they were concerned about limits being set by committee members, we must start educating the assembly members right away, I suggested.

This education effort never occurred. In fact, DN was actively blocked from engaging in strategic sessions that could have led to the education of the assembly members about why setting limits for personal use of natural plants and fungi was unnecessary and a bad idea.  To our knowledge, no education campaigns of this kind ever occurred, in any significant and impactful way.

I also suggested on the call that limits were unnecessary as we had found that an hour of education with a given elected official about the low-risks, the high benefits, the accessibility, the science, and the human rights associated with ancestral connections, had enabled us to get a unanimous support at city councils across the US (within two months we would get nearly unanimous support at three more city councils—Somerville, Cambridge, and Northampton—with 29 out of 30 voting in support). Education worked with these plants and fungi more than any other issue I’d seen while working as a lobbyist for six years and a legislative aide for eight years.

But this phone call did tip me off that the lobbyists and their clients might be gunning for limits. It just wasn’t clear at the time what their game plan was. Three and a half months later, on April 12th, we learned that an associate of New Approach PAC were also trying to slip limits into entheogenic decriminalization language in a resolution in Portland, Oregon. The DN leadership in Portland had to call out an associate of New Approach PAC multiple times for quietly inserting the words “in quantities sufficient to…”.

What was strange about this was that no councilmember on the Portland City Council, to the best of our knowledge, had even asked for limits to be set. So, the idea of setting limits was voluntarily inserted by this associate of New Approach PAC. After our DN Portland team shined the light of accountability on this as being unacceptable, the language on limits was removed. (We continue to watch closely to ensure this language is not slipped back in).

From February to July 1, 2021, all seemed to be going smoothly on SB519, with no mention of limits for personal use of plants and fungi.  Our leadership repeatedly asked the Senator’s office, directly and through our lobbyist, where our education efforts could be helpful. As the Health Committee vote approached in early July 2021, we received a call from DN’s infuriated lobbyist on July 1st complaining that he had been cut out of communications between the Senator’s aide, the health committee consultant, and New Approach PAC and MAPS legal team and lobbyists, and that limits on entheogens had been recommended.

We were disappointed. Any lobbyists worth their weight in salt knows it is critical to meet with all committee chairs early in the process to gather their concerns and develop an education plan. Education is a critical and core tool of any lobbyist to prevent unfavorable amendments to bills the lobbyist tracks. Unfriendly amendments must be met early with a high degree of education of the voting members. For the experienced lobbyists of New Approach to suddenly be surprised just days before the vote (especially given that the very same committee chair had required limits on cannabis for personal use 5 years earlier) seemed a bit too orchestrated.

They had to have known that the Chair of the Health Committee, Assembly Member Jim Wood, and his committee would be requiring limits as early as February, but certainly as early as June 3rd, the day after the item transferred to the Assembly from the Senate floor. Had we been made aware of this desire for limits, we could have begun our education efforts as early as June 3nd, assuming we could have received the support of Senator Wiener to open the doors for us to meet with his assembly colleagues on the health committee. We would have sat with every one of the fifteen assembly members on the Health Committee, if given the opportunity, to explain why limits on personal relationships between sacred plants and people would only hurt marginalized communities, while creating greater opportunities for profiteering by corporate interests at the expense of the populace.

Our DN leadership saw through this gamesmanship. We demanded a meeting with the consultant to the Chair of the health committee, which we had on July 6th, just one week before the critical vote. At the start of the meeting, the consultant expressed her position that limits were necessary for public safety. Only 30 minutes later, our arguments had caused her to shift to being sympathetic, with her agreeing with us that parking the bill until 2022 to educate the members of the health committee about why limits were not needed would be a wise choice. By parking the bill for one year, we advocated changing the bill from a one-year bill to a two-year bill, something worthwhile to protect the unalienable human right to sacred plants.

Despite communicating this to Senator Wiener, and to the leadership of MAPS and New Approach PAC, they all stood steadfast that for some reason unbeknownst and unshared with our community, the bill had to be expedited through as a one-year bill, thereby forcing limits.

It is my belief that setting limits on amounts on our personal relationship with entheogenic plants and fungi has always been New Approach PAC’s goal. It was a goal in cannabis legislation efforts when New Approach PAC pushed legalization policies in at least 10 states. It was a goal in Oregon’s 109. And recently again in Portland’s entheogen decriminalization resolution pushed by associates of New Approach PAC in April 2021. And I believe, based on what I’ve witnessed, that it was their goal with SB519.  And if New Approach PAC comes to your city or state, it is likely they will be seeking to set limit with your relationship to sacred plants as well.

Where we go from here They will tell you that “limits” are a politically expedient necessity.  They’re not. We’ve proven this by getting 53 out of 54 councilmember votes to date to support our resolutions without limits for personal use through education campaigns in various cities throughout the US.

They’ll tell you that legislating at the state level is different than local cities. Other than the greater ability to obfuscate and hide things from the public, it’s not. Humans are humans. It only means more education is necessary, which is why it’s also important to take the time to educate members of elected office and to pass these decriminalization resolutions city by city, to build alliance with the local elected officials, who can then become part of the education process of the state elected officials.

In truth, if New Approach PAC corporate investors, Senator Scott Wiener, or MAPS had wanted an abundance model, they’d have joined Decriminalize Nature in working to educate elected members of the state early on, not shut us out at a critical time when education was most needed. And they would have started this education process of the health committee members as early as June 3rd, rather than waiting until the week before the Health Committee hearing to raise this issue.
But the path to success is widening for the Decriminalize Nature movement. Transparency has been one of our fundamental tools from the beginning. We win this struggle for human rights and for living in good relationship with our planet and our plant allies by being aware of the tactics and strategies of those who seek only to profit from these sacred plants. We win the struggle by being aware of who the deep pockets are, and by resisting the small philanthropic donations they make to silence us or distract us from the billionaires now circling to pillage the plants for which our ancestors paid the highest price.
We win this struggle one city at a time. Educating one elected leader at a time. We win this struggle by speaking of compassion, abundance, and human rights, as well as scientific evidence, low-risk, and ancestral use. We win this struggle with fortitude, endurance, and tenacity; never relenting.

While they may call us naïve because we believe we can resist compromise on the sacred, I believe it is they who are naïve for believing we can somehow survive on this planet as a species, with each other, when everything around us is just a commodity, where fear is king, where love is a weakness, and nothing is sacred.

It is the sacred which binds us to each other and makes us whole.

Carlos Plazola is Chair of the Board of Decriminalize Nature National. He has a BS degree in Biology and Anthropology from UCLA, and a master’s degree in Environmental Science from Yale University. He worked for five years as a social and environmental justice activist from 1993 to 1998, eight years as a political organizer and legislative analysis from 1998 to 2006, six years as a lobbyist until 2012, and now runs a construction company building housing in Oakland. Several sacred plant experiences in 2018 and 2019 enabled him to heal from childhood trauma and re-connect with the sacred that had eluded him. His volunteer work with Decriminalize Nature is a spiritual journey in gratitude for the gifts given to him by the sacred ancestral plant allies. He has been married for 24 years and has three adult children. He enjoys beekeeping and perma-culture, seeking to create abundance to share with those he loves.

–  Carlos Plazola

DN National Board Statement on Peyote Conservation

For Public Circulation

Decriminalize Nature Releases Working Plan to Prevent Peyote Extinction Policy recommendations designed to prevent extinction of Peyote, honor Indigenous rights May 6, 2021–Under increasing threats from mining, agribusiness, land development, ecotourism and poaching in the United States and Mexico, the survival of the revered medicinal and mystical peyote cactus has reached a critical tipping point. A broad spectrum of scientists, including those at the Cactus Conservation Institute (CCI), now acknowledge that it is only a matter of time before this slow growing cactus ascends to the top of the list as an endangered species that will soon become extinct in its natural habitat unless strategies for its protection and regeneration are immediately implemented.

In a recent analysis conducted by CCI (a non-profit organization which has been studying ways to preserve and protect the wild habitat of endangered cacti, including peyote, in the deserts of the southern US and northern Mexico), CCI concluded that up to 261 green houses would be needed to meet the increasing demand for peyote for use by the more than 500,000 current estimated members of the Native American Churches in the United States. https://cactusconservation.org/2021/03/26/number-of-greenhouses-required-to-grow-a-million-peyote/

Many of the millions of peyote plants collected each year to serve this growing demand are being harvested from wild habitats in both the US and Mexico, thus increasing the imminent threat of extinction in the endemic growing regions. Because the growing cycle of peyote in its natural habitat can take 7-12 years to mature into a size large enough for harvesting, immediate action is needed to plant enough seeds to rehabilitate depleted areas and create many more cultivation sites to satisfy the demand in due time. Decriminalize Nature’s National Board thus strongly recommends the following to prevent the extinction of peyote in its natural habitat and ensure its long-term survival. DN offers this as a working plan, and is soliciting feedback from others concerned about depletion of peyote in its natural habitats. Decriminalize Nature Policy

Position:

1. Cultivation of Peyote by members of Federally Recognized Tribes and Native American Churches should be immediately decriminalized and removed from DEA oversight and regulations, increasing the ability of tribes and churches to choose this means of decreasing demand on the limited natural habitats.

2. Decriminalization of Peyote for personal cultivation for non-Indigenous should occur immediately to reduce the demand for the cacti that are extracted from Indigenous sources and habitats for the peyote trade.

3. Peyote in its natural habitat should be available only for Indigenous communities and poaching should continue to be penalized. Decriminalize Nature Policy Position: Whereas, indigenous people of the United States and Mexico have suffered from persecution of their spiritual ceremonies for over 400 years, and Whereas, the Wixarika and Rarmuri, of what is today known as Mexico, have had a direct cultural relationship with Peyote for at least 5,000 years, and Whereas, Peyote has been used by indigenous peoples of the Unites States in the area now known as the southern border of the United States for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and

Whereas, there has long been an alliance in the Americas between those known as the Wixarika of modern day Mexico, and the indigenous people of what is now known as the southern United States in sharing of Peyote ceremony, and Whereas, the lands and peyote gardens of the Wixarika are under severe threat from mining, agribusiness, land development, and legal and illegal poaching of Peyote, and Whereas, the natural Peyote habitats of southern Texas are also under threat from land development, grazing, and legal illegal poaching of peyote, and Whereas, it is estimated that up to 500,000 members of the Native American Church use peyote at least once a year, creating an intense pressure to cultivate peyote to meet demand that far outpaces available supply, and Whereas, in 2020, peyote consumption was decriminalized in Oregon via Measure 110, causing greater threat to the sacred plant, and Whereas, an analysis by the Cactus Conservation Initiative found that as many as 261 large peyote growing greenhouses are needed immediately to prevent wild peyote from going extinct; Now

Therefore, Be it Resolved that Decriminalize Nature advocates that Cultivation of Peyote by members of Federally Recognized Tribes and Native American Churches should be immediately decriminalized and removed from DEA oversight and regulations, increasing the ability of tribes and churches to choose this means of decreasing demand on the limited natural habitats.

Be it Further Resolved that decriminalization of Peyote for personal cultivation for non- Indigenous should occur immediately to reduce the demand for the cacti that are extracted from Indigenous sources and habitats for the peyote trade. Be it Further Resolved that Peyote in its natural habitat should be available only for Indigenous communities and poaching should continue to be penalized.

IPCI,  Decriminalize Nature, and Peyote Dialogues In recent months, our brothers and sisters at the IPCI and NAC have demanded public apologies from DN National and DN local groups for use of the word Peyote in our resolution. They’ve also demanded that we stop using the word Peyote altogether in any literature, or showing photographs of Peyote in our education material.

Their motives are understandable. They are afraid that Peyote will be depleted from US-Mexico border areas, including on lands recently purchased by IPCI, due to renewed interest by an otherwise unknowing public. We share their concern. We also recognize that Peyote gardens of the ancient Wixarika Peyote lands in Mexico are under attack by miners, agribusiness, poachers, and developers. And this is why from August 2019, when we were first asked to remove the word “Peyote” from our DN resolutions by IPCI reps, to present day, we have sent over 350+ emails to DN leaders nationwide, and held more than 30 webinars, in which we asked our leadership to remove the word Peyote from their local resolutions. Ceremony So, it came as a surprise to everyone when the Santa Cruz City Council passed their resolution in January, 2020 and it included the word Peyote. Upon investigation, it turned out that the local DN group, after extensive communications with our DN Oakland team, had made it clear to the council to remove the word Peyote, and had actually agreed on drafts of the resolution with their city council that did not contain the word Peyote. But a last-minute error by a councilmember saw the elected official replace the resolution with an earlier draft that still contained the word. This, despite repeated communications by the local DN group to remove the word altogether. To her credit, Athonia Capelli, the main DN Santa Cruz leader, was actually the person who first suggested removing the word Peyote to the IPCI as a way of resolving their concern on July 12th 2019.

Beyond removing the word Peyote, we agreed to work with the IPCI in September 2019 to spread the word about the need for conservation and preservation of Peyote, using materials the IPCI leadership said they wanted us to share with our followers. Unfortunately, this material never came, despite repeated requests. Out of respect to our commitment we made to IPCI that we only share their materials, we did not initiate the Peyote conservation education campaign we had intended to launch in partnership with the IPCI.

It is important to note that our original Oakland DN Resolution was sponsored by a councilmember with Yaqui ancestry, an important point that should not be overlooked by anyone, out of respect for his ancestor’s struggles. His family also sponsors the Indigenous Red Market events in Oakland and Santa Fe, NM. My own Indigenous background is from northern MX and Jalisco MX. And we had support from people of Wixarika background for our resolution who saw our decriminalization efforts in the US as an important way to enable local growing of Peyote to reduce the impact of poaching on their native lands. We also worked hard to reach out to the local Ohlone community and the NAC community here in Oakland, though were unable to connect with anyone from either of these communities by the time the vote came.
While the error by the Santa Cruz City Councilmember, which led to the reinsertion of an old version of the Resolution, was an unfortunate event which caused distrust between IPCI and Decriminalize Nature, we’re hopeful that by posting the 80+ pages of communications showing the extent to which we’ve worked hard to honor their request to inform our groups to remove Peyote, we can begin to move forward toward the greater good of healing our relationships and pushing for sustainability of our plant and fungi allies. And this is why on September 1st, 2020 Decriminalize Nature National Board created the Sustainable Relations Committee, by unanimous vote of the board, so we may begin the hard work of preservation and conservation of our plant allies in collaboration with the Indigenous cultures that have been stewards of these plants and fungi for centuries.

If you have any questions about what has occurred relative to this situation, we hope you’ll take the time to read though the 80+ pages of communications between us, IPCI, and many local groups to learn the truth.  DN Peyote Timeline and Chronology September, 2020 Ceremony Author Carlos Plazola is the Chair of Decriminalize Nature. He holds a BS Degree in Biology and Anthropology from UCLA, and a Master’s of Science Degree from Yale School of Environmental Studies. His father was an ejidatario in Jalisco who worked the land for subsistence. His grandmother was an indigenous woman from the region of Autlan, Jalisco. His grandfather was indigenous man from the region of Chihuahua and his family worked the fields of the western coast until the 1960s.

Decriminalize Nature is proud to announce the formation of its Sustainable Relationships Committee, voted into existence on September 1st, by a unanimous vote of its board. The Committee is tasked with exploring and working toward the long-term survival of its plant allies, in partnership with the cultures that have been blessed to emerge as our teachers in partnering with these plants to heal. It is through preservation and conservation efforts and through sharing with, and supporting, each other that we will ensure the long-term survivability of our species, our plant and fungi allies, the cultures which have learned from them, and have much to teach us of how to receive their messages, and the biosphere and ecosystems of which we are a part.

The path to our salvation lies in the pursuit and honoring of Truth. Truth is, in fact, the Great Liberator.  To this end, we are posting over 80 pages of email conversations regarding DNs long-standing support of, and cooperation with, our brothers and sisters from the IPCI around Peyote. May all humans learn to sit in collaboration toward peaceful resolution of their differences, free of trauma, or the need to control or own one another, or the Earths’ resources.

The Decriminalize Nature Connecticut chapter team began seeking members in the last few months of 2019 and beginning of 2020. Now with several members in asynchronous communication through a workspace app platform, our organization is still working on forming our core chapter team, due to some setbacks in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

My personal thoughts on this particular movement to decriminalize psychoactive plant substances is that the movement seems to be very timely, in that here in American society, many are concerned with issues such as racial disparities and injustices, the War on Drugs, and climate change and renewable energy.

So why Decriminalize Nature? I believe that through the decriminalization of these plant-based substances that many will have more access to such substances, ones that anecdotal reports as well as clinical and anthropological investigation have time and time again shown to be effective at catalyzing a rediscovery of our root connection with the natural world, and consequently, adding to our understanding, respect, and appreciation of natural laws. DNCT chapter members Thomas Rhodes & Samuel Evans The act of transferring power and authority from a central authority to regional and local authorities (decentralization) is a hallmark of the Decriminalize Nature campaign and mission. Decentralization seems optimum, given that not all states and provinces share the same ecosystem. Decentralization has been key at tailoring laws to states and regions impacted by a range of public issues (i.e., agriculture and rural development laws, wastewater treatment system laws, firearm rights and laws, etc.).

As for the discussion of decriminalizing scheduled plant and fungi substances, instead of the federal government trying to standardize and control natural psychoactive drug laws, wouldn’t it be nice to leave these decisions up to local authorities in areas and regions where such natural products are actually native to? Two other important themes of this movement are that of transparency and open sourcing. Both are important considering that these plant-based materials can provide people an alternative healing outlet when there are no feasible options or other alternatives.

People that have been diagnosed with some type of terminal cancer have been shown in clinical studies to respond positively to having an entheogenic or a psychedelic experience because of how such experiences have the ability to reframe their understanding and awareness of their diagnosis, and help them in accepting the truth of their having a terminal illness such as cancer. To be able to provide accurate information in a free and transparent manner is pivotal when it comes to these naturally occurring substances. I would also consider it a form of harm reduction as well. People should be able to access information on these substances at any and all times because people should have the means and ability to explore their bodies and minds in any way they see fit.

The general public opinion on scheduled substances is that most (if not all) should be decriminalized. Many have noticed the private prisons throughout the country and how the criminal justice system has profited and continues to profit off of unnecessary incarcerations due to small drug possession offenses. This seems to be one of the only “successes” of the current War on Drugs; local law enforcement organizations and public and private institutions profiting off of minor criminal offenses when it comes to drug possession, use, and distribution.

Personally, I believe a mental health approach to drugs is more appropriate than our current criminal justice practices around scheduled substances, and in the near future it would be nice to see law enforcement getting educated on how to better handle situations involving those with drugs and/or individuals struggling with a mental illness or a differing ability who may be using such drugs with the intent of self-medication. With decriminalization in place, it would ensure that all adult peoples would be able to partake in the grow, gather, and gift strategy that is central to the Decriminalize Nature campaign and movement. My thoughts on the experience that natural, plant-based substances can offer the user is one of deep and profound introspection and insight. In the therapeutic paradigm, the experiences that these natural substances provide are known as non-ordinary states of consciousness or altered states of consciousness (ASC) and appear to significantly aid in one’s own healing journey.

Being a Colombian American and having been adopted from Bogotá, Colombia as an infant, growing up I had always been curious about my heritage and the traditions of Colombian culture. As I learned more, I learned of the indigenous tribes that are native to Colombia and the Andes Mountains. I learned of their connection to the land and to the plants and animals that my ancestors lived in harmony with, and that all existing tribes continue to coexist with to this day. In particular, I learned of the practices with coca leaves, Cannabis, psilocybe mushrooms, San Pedro cactus, of ayahuasca and ayahuasca ceremonies, sapo (kambo), and of yopo (a snuff comprised of tobacco, roasted seeds containing dimethyltryptamine that have been ground, and ash). I learned that these plant and fungi materials are to be respected, revered, and used with intent.

I believe that all natural substances that provide for such non-ordinary states of consciousness can play a crucial part in one’s understanding of life, the world in which we live and are a part of, and how future generations will come to understand and navigate pressing issues that unfortunately seem to persist. Having personally benefited from some of these natural substances, I can say that as an individual who has struggled with anxiety since I was a teenager, that I live with little to no anxiety because of the experiences had and lessons learned (I also saw a therapist that practiced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) of perception(s) and body and mood regulation techniques based upon my own curiosity in such substances and their potential for healing and the exploration of higher levels of consciousness.

Some have tailored and conceptualized their understanding of psychoactive plants and fungi as “not drugs” but as “just plants/fungi” or as sacraments. While some cultures and religious traditions may regard certain plant and fungi substances as sacred and use them in ceremonies and other religious practices, that does not take away from the fact that the ingredients and molecules that constitute these plants and fungi are psychoactive “drugs” or chemical compounds. But is not all matter constituted of molecules and chemical compounds (drugs), although most do not provide for any psychoactive effects? I think that the term or label “drug” itself is very loose and broad when it comes to substances that are used in a manner to produce an effect or in the treatment or prevention of a disease or otherwise. Perhaps for the sake of naturally occurring plant and fungi substances, the current vernacular can shift and evolve to liken them to entheogens.

Decriminalize Nature defines the term “entheogen”/entheogenic plants as “the full spectrum of plants, fungi, and natural materials deserving reverence and respect from the perspective of the individual and the collective, that can inspire personal and spiritual well-being, can benefit psychological and physical wellness, and can reestablish human’s inalienable and direct relationship to nature”(www.decriminalizenature.org/dno-resolution). The word itself (originally coined by Wasson, Hofmann, and Ruck, 1978) comes from the Ancient Greek entheos meaning literally “[the] God (divine) within” and when put together with the root gen, becomes “entering a state of inspiration” or a variation of the theme.

ww.erievision.org/definition-entheogen/ The more known and controversial term, psychedelic is a more inclusive term used to describe any mind-expanding substance or experience. Coined by Humphry Osmond, M.D., in 1957, the word also comes from the Ancient Greek – psyche (mind/soul) and deloun (show), respectively. ww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC381240/

A more recent term coined in 2008 by Richard Doyle, Ph.D, ecodelic refers to: … plants and compounds [for] inducing sudden bouts of interconnection, the perception of being enmeshed by the terrestrial and extraterrestrial ecology. www.maps.org/news-letters/v18n1/v18n1-MAPS_16-20.pdf This term might be more along the lines of the language used by environmentalists and ecologists, but still holds relevancy in the discussion of deprioritizing or decriminalizing naturally occurring plant and fungi materials. When it comes to the discussion of Nature (natural) versus synthetic, I believe that both types of compounds hold value in the world of modern-day medicine. For instance, Marinol (dronabinol) which is a man-made and orally administered version of the main and psychoactive ingredient found in Cannabis sativa (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) has been used to treat cancer patients who often experience nausea and vomiting from the chemotherapy they receive as part of their treatment.

Similarly, synthetic psilocybin is often used in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy clinical trials as a substitute for natural psilocybin (see the work that COMPASS Pathways is doing), although many individuals report on the validity of consuming mushrooms containing psilocybin as essentially more involved than taking synthesized psilocybin. Psilocybe mushrooms not only contain psilocybin, but they also contain psilocin (what psilocybin is broken down to in the body) and baeocystin, both of which in theory could add to or amplify the psychoactive effects and the overall experience had by the user. It seems that because of this overlooked truth, researchers conducting clinical trials tend to gravitate toward using synthesized psilocybin since the accuracy in dosing is predictable and much greater than when administering dried psilocybe mushrooms to study participants.

Research on such naturally occurring entheogens has been going on for some time. Also worthy of mention is that a therapeutic approach and utilization of these substances began in the fifties but after the cultural upheavals that ensued, they were banned in the later half of the 1960s – mainly for political reasons which disregarded the promising research and development being done in the scientific and therapeutic spheres. Specifically, these compounds fall into two primary categories: tryptamines (see Shulgin & Shulgin, 1997) which are serotonin analogues … such materials as psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine, and phenethylamines; [which are] sympathomimetic amines and include drugs such as mescaline [an alkaloid found in both peyotl/peyote and San Pedro cacti]. (Kasprow & Scotton, Journal of Psychotherapy Practice & Research, p. 20)

Eduardo Schenberg, Ph.D., reports that psilocybin is part of eight trials for major depression, cigarettes, alcohol, and cocaine use disorders and existential anxiety in life-threatening diseases, mostly cancer. (Schenberg, Frontiers in Pharmacology, p. 2) Research of these unique entheogens appears to hold great promise in better treating and managing mental illnesses and life-threatening diseases. Currently, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is in Phase 3 (the final phase) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug development research trials on MDMA (often confused with street “ecstasy”/adulterated MDA and/or MDMA or something entirely different) for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

This intensive, rigorous, and consequently time-consuming and expensive clinical trial process overseen by the FDA is crucial when it comes to understanding the science, efficacy, and the overall effectiveness of a chemical compound being studied for future development/manufacturing, distribution, and implementation. The FDA has awarded MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with breakthrough therapy designation and is working with MAPS to get the substance approved in the most efficient way possible. Current psychiatric treatments for those living with PTSD appear to be only about 50% effective in managing and treating the symptoms associated with the disorder, whereas the Phase 2 trials (at the 12-month follow-up) reported that 68% of the study participants no longer had PTSD. While these FDA research and development trials take a long time to conduct, I believe that the thoroughness of the three (and sometimes four) phases of clinical research is necessary in solidifying the knowledge base and safety (or lack thereof) of any and all novel chemical compounds that may hold potential in the treatment and management of diseases, mental illnesses and disorders, and bodily injuries or harms of any kind.

Had research and development on MDMA not been postponed due it being outlawed in 1985 under the Controlled Substances Act, many suffering from PTSD (among other disorders and mental illnesses) might have been treated (and “cured”) through its use as an adjunct or “catalyst” in the context of the psychotherapeutic paradigm. The decriminalization of entheogenic plant-based materials necessitates certain legal considerations.

First and foremost, no person(s) or corporation should be allowed or authorized to patent any natural genetic material.

Secondly, Decriminalize Nature believes that natural entheogenic plants and fungi should not be scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act. Another hallmark of the DN campaign and movement, and one mentioned earlier in this writing – is that of the grow, gather, and gift strategy, which seems to be an efficacious way of developing or continuing to develop mankind’s relationship to Nature. This process also calls for adequate and appropriate replanting practices so that future generations may come to benefit from the various naturally occurring entheogens that different ecosystems have to offer. In respect to these natural entheogens, they should not be grown and harvested with the intent to distribute them for personal financial gain, but gifted and shared among those who might hope to benefit from the experiences these natural substances have to offer. It should be noted that the DN movement proposes (in each city/chapter resolution) that no authority-holding entity should or shall use any funds or resources that would aid “in the enforcement of laws imposing criminal penalties for the use and possession of Entheogenic Plants by adults” (18+).

While this seems to be sound legal language, it should be recognized that adolescents and young adults (of whom are well known to experiment with psychoactive substances, not only plant-based materials, but also synthetic and semi-synthetic materials) would still need more advocacy and support if caught possessing or using such naturally occurring entheogens by an authority-holding entity.

Integration, a change maintenance strategy or technique, in the context of entheogenic experiences involves examining and often discussing with another the meanings of memories, thoughts, feelings, and insights experienced by such profound experiences. It also entails examination and discussion on how the experience(s) will help the individual who had said experience(s) to grow, heal, and contribute to his/her/their community. Implementation is the application of the overall insights experienced and lessons learned from these experiences into everyday life. Both integration and implementation are critical when it comes to having meaningful and appropriate relationships with these entheogenic plant and fungi materials and the regions or ecosystems they are endemic to. Communities with psychedelic or entheogenic peer support groups are gaining an increase in popularity and utilization in our current Western model. These community-based peer support groups play the important role of providing a safe space where those who have had entheogenic experiences and those who continue to have them can share their experiences and the insights gained from them in a prosocial manner. Having such groups established and accessible is important because it shows others that there are resources available for individuals who may be seeking community-based support for entheogenic experiences.

Practitioners in the field of psychotherapy have been doing integration work for many years, although “integration” is a more recently applied term. With Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) and Psychedelic Integration Therapy (PIT) gaining more popularity, the term has had an increase in use in the therapeutic paradigm. The potentiation for profound spiritual and/or mystical experiences is significant within any context of psychedelic and entheogen use – therapeutic paradigm or otherwise. However, within the therapeutic paradigm these experiences that are often felt as spiritual or mystical, are essentially byproducts of non-ordinary states of consciousness, as I mention earlier, produced by these entheogenic medicines and their effects. That is not to say that these experiences are not relevant. In PAP, these experiences are thought to be helpful in catalyzing deeper therapeutic work, work that is inaccessible for some individuals through conventional modalities of therapy. This unconventional approach to helping clients/patients has similarities to ancient shamanic cultural practices with natural entheogens like psilocybe mushrooms and dimethyltryptamine-containing plant materials. Based on current and past research of such interventions with entheogenic substances (natural or synthetic/semi-synthetic) in therapeutic and clinical contexts there seems to be little to no addictive potential for such medicines. This is significant, as psychopharmacology for some time now has relied on compounds like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) to manage the symptoms of various mental disorders. Ethical practice as well as the mental diagnoses and conditions of clients/patients must be carefully evaluated since no medicine-assisted treatments are 100% risk-free. In order for clients/patients to have adequate support as they begin on their healing journeys, a co-therapist team consisting of practitioners who are strong and committed to the treatment program are provided to give support and help facilitate the process. After establishing a therapeutic alliance with the client/patient, the team can then aid in bringing out insights and bringing clarity to the insights gained by the client/patient from the session(s) with the medicine. I believe that this therapeutic approach and modality is effective should clients/patients be evaluated appropriately in regard to their conditions, as well as also have access to adequate post-treatment integration supports and services.

When I think of the phrase “right relationship” I think of how the world’s first farmers and agriculturalists must have cared for the earth and land they lived and worked on, how they felt a deep connection to the land and crops harvested, and how they lived in harmony with the land and its original creations. To me, right relationship with Nature means being able to ethically hold a righteous connection between oneself and the natural world as part of one’s daily practice. A common motif currently circulating in our Western culture is that both “God” and Nature are synonymous. This concept brings Nature into the discussion of spirituality and religion, and the practices therein. Archaeological research in the form of [radio]carbon dating and alkaloid analysis on two “peyote button” samples (presumably from the Rio Grande area of what is today Texas) from a museum in San Antonio, Texas (El-Seedi, De Smet, Beck, Possnert, and Bruhn, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, p. 238) indicated the presence of mescaline, a powerful phenethylamine compound that was also the first of its kind to be studied by Western science in 1897. The analysis performed by El-Seedi et al. (2005) suggests that the indigenous North Americans more than likely acknowledged the “sacred” and healing properties of peyotl some 5700 years earlier. Early European records show that Bernadino Sahagún (1499 – 1590) had written about “peiotl” use among the Chichimeca, a tribe that was native to present-day northern and central Mexico.

First Nations peoples living in the United States first learned of this sacred cactus when the Kiowa and Comanche tribes visited a native group in northern Mexico. The Kiowa and Comanche tribes, along with all other First Nations peoples living in the U.S. were restricted to reservations by the later half of the nineteenth century. Consequently, these First Nations peoples’ groups living within U.S. borders saw much of their cultural heritage and traditions disappearing and dismantling. American Indian leaders who had knowledge of this cactus began procuring the cactus to meet the needs of these more advanced but also restricted tribal groups living within the U.S. Over time, the success in spreading the ceremonial use of peyotl faced opposition and eventually repressive legislation. This, and a “general attitude of resignation toward encroaching Western culture” led to the formation of the Native American Church (NAC) in 1918. (Schultes and Hoffman, Plants of the Gods – Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers, 1992) In an effort to maintain their traditions, to this day, members of the NAC continue to practice right relationship with not only peyotl but with a variety of plants, herbs, cacti and fungi. Recently, the National Council of Native American Churches (NCNAC) and the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative (IPCI) put forth a statement that asks non-native persons who seek relationships with entheogenic healing medicines to look for other alternative medicines, and to discontinue their search(es) for peyotl. While I, and the DN movement understand this is an honest effort to reverse the depletion of this cactus, it is evident that the cactus is under threat of becoming extinct, in all of its endemic regions – both here in the U.S. and Mexico as well, where more than 40 tribes currently use it in ceremonial contexts. (Susana Valadez, To Safeguard this Sacred Cactus and Diverse Cultural Traditions,  https://www.decriminalizenature.org/blog/233-peyotl-s-call-for-unity) If decriminalization of peyotl were to be passed, perhaps there could be a greater effort made in collaboration with the NCNAC and the IPCI to propagate the cactus elsewhere, ensuring that abundant and open access would be available to all parties involved. The entheogenic substances that Nature provides (peyotl included) and the knowledge of how to protect these natural substances from extinction and how to better preserve the habitats in which they are endemic to should be accessible to all peoples, regardless of religious affiliation or spiritual practices, and this is one aim of the DN movement. Furthermore, as the Huichol (and other) tribes use peyotl for initiatory or rites of passage purposes – “to find their life” as they follow Tatewari, the oldest Huichol god – with the guidance of a shaman or medicine man, do not young people in our Western culture yearn for something profoundly meaningful as an acknowledgment of the significance of the pathways in life they are making? Instead of first communions, getting driver’s licenses, and drinking alcohol at college – all very mechanical rites of passage – there seems to be a desire for something that will touch our hearts, our souls deeply. As Ram Dass wrote in 2004, “We owe it to them [young people] to develop rites of passage that match the stretch of their spirits. We owe it to ourselves to introduce them to the society of adults from the space of unity and love that psychedelics open within us.” (Ram Dass, MAPS Bulletin; Rites of Passage: Kids and Psychedelics, 2004)

It is no secret that both the medicalization and commodification of entheogenic materials is drawing the interest of Big Pharma and for-profit organizations operating in the private sector. What is convenient about the medical model is that there is an established standardization of the medicalization process thanks to the FDA. On the other hand, commodification could be advantageous for all parties involved, should the producers of entheogenic ‘commodities’ honor and carry out appropriate sustainability techniques as well as honoring and respecting the different traditional and ceremonial uses of naturally occurring and entheogenic materials. Whether medicalization or commodification, gatekeepers (and all involved) of both (and any and all other) processes and approaches should operate with values and ethics synonymous with the original groups and communities who developed right relationships with these greatly revered entheogens. Again, it all comes down to transparency and more so, authenticity. On my educational journey of becoming a social worker, I was taught early on of how important it is to bring not only authenticity, but integrity to the work that social change agents (of whom social workers are commonly associated with) set out to do. Integrity is just one of the six (6) values of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. The ethnical principle that complements this value is that we (social workers) must behave in a trustworthy manner. (National Association of Social Workers, Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, p. 6) I hope to see that there is some form of pledge or charter that gets introduced and  is enforced as a way to bring ethics and also authenticity into the center of the developmental work being done concerning the psychedelic/entheogenic movement and the many ways and traditions of practicing (modalities) with such materials. To ensure that more powerful entities and organizations operate from a space of integrity, authenticity, and reverence to said materials it seems that the education of proper ethics and ethnical principles is needed now more than ever – especially during this time of great economic disruption due to COVID-19, and the recent Black Lives Matter movement protests. If an ethics charter can be introduced and also mandated for those working in the medical sphere, I think it would resonate with the ethics and principles that movements such as the DN movement, the environmental justice movement, the social justice movements, and the many communities who ceremonially use psychedelics/entheogens are (and have been) endeavoring to make commonplace in Western culture.

All peoples and communities, companies and organizations have a role to play in the advancement of not only the decriminalization of entheogenic and psychedelic materials (plant-based or not), but of sustainable and ethical practices that can be implemented when it comes to such materials. I, along with many others, hope that all parties involved can work in harmony to contribute to and establish a culture that values and honors truth, equality, right relationship to Nature, and present orientation while also being mindful of any potential harms to the planet to work collaboratively toward collective prosperity. About the Author Samuel Evans Member of Decriminalize Nature Connecticut Samuel (Sam) Evans holds a B.A. in Social Work from Eastern Connecticut State University. Now an MSW candidate at the University of Connecticut Graduate School of Social Work, he hopes to work with individuals, groups and families as a licensed social worker after gaining his Master’s in Social Work and gaining licensure. Sam is passionate about advocating for policy reforms that reduce the injustices experienced by marginalized groups, such as the decriminalization of entheogenic plants and substances. Having experienced the healing properties entheogenic substances offer, Sam is dedicated to educating the community about harm reduction and the therapeutic benefits of entheogens/psychedelics.