There are so many layers to unpack here and so many interwoven issues at hand.

This feels uncomfortable to even speak about! I think it’s because, in a way, many of us have become single-issue thinkers. 

Most of us can’t manage to think of two problems at the same time, like Racism and the war on drugs, or like scarcity/uncertainty and the rise of hate crimes. 

Historically, people’s views have been skewed, controlled, manipulated by the media and opinions. 

What do you think determines the laws/policies that we have now, science or opinion?

Former President Obama told the CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Gupta, That the government health policy regarding drugs should be directed by science and not opinion.

But when we take a closer look at the history of the war on drugs, we quickly realize that Racism was the driving force. 

Look, I realize my ability and audacity to speak openly about psychedelics may come from a place of privilege.

I also realize that now isn’t the time to create or promote any form of division between people… know, that THAT’S not my goal here. 

But there’s a lot of misplaced hate and Racism from people who need healing towards people who need healing. It’s a fucking mess! 

In a short series of posts, I’ll share the history underneath the legal ambiguity we still face today that denies us access to psychedelic medicine that WORKS.

I wouldn’t be doing this if psychedelics didn’t heal me or felt like my voice was being silenced in any way.

In 1939 secretary of the treasury Andrew Mellon of the Mellon banking company appointed his relative Harry J. Anslinger as commissioner of the federal bureau of narcotics.

Mr. Anslinger favoured religion and ideology over science. His ideology also included an obsessive hatred of people of colour.

Mr. Anslinger’s successful creation of laws that enforced his ideology while IGNORING science. Families shattered, cities damaged, and entire governments, such as Mexico’s, have been threatened. As a result, 87 years later, countless lives have been destroyed.

Mr. Anslinger, spread propaganda minority POC were using the drugs to seduce white women and the public ROARED. 

Using the mass media, Anslinger propelled the anti-marijuana sentiment from state-level to national and international level.

By representing the US before the UN, Anslinger graphically depicted offences caused by different substances and made certain substances illegal worldwide. 

Alcohol prohibition in the US lasted 13 years.

In that time, two things became apparent:

First, the Americans weren’t going to accept prohibition. 

Second,  by making it illegal, he created the largest and most successful criminal enterprise, the mafia.

In summary, when he raged a war on alcohol, Nixon and Regan and a War on Drugs, they were declaring war on people of colour.

Eighty-seven years after his federal appointment, marijuana tax laws 1937, jails burdened with an ocean of POC. For minor drug charges.

While POC makes up about 30% of the US population, they account for 60% of those in prison.

Disproportionate incarceration. 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated compared to 1 in every 106 white men. 

This war on PEOPLE happens when fucked-up racist ideology is at the foundation of laws instead of SCIENCE. 

Thank you for trusting me. 

Now, I’m curious, 

Would you rather have governed the laws in place: science or opinion?