Criminalizing Plant Medicine; Suppression of a Sacred Human Right
The criminalization of plants with psychoactive properties has a long and convoluted history. In the U.S. lately, reform and an easing of policy regarding certain plant medicine seems to be upon us. But stalwarts of the country’s failed war on drugs continue to push back, ignoring statistics that show the medicinal value and societal benefits these plants can offer.
A War on Plant Medicine
The war on drugs has been labelled a failure time and time again from members on either side of the political spectrum. The criminalization of medicinal plants as drugs has resulted in the incarceration of millions, while drug cartels become increasingly dangerous and more aggressive.
A turning point occurred in 2014 when the states of Colorado and Washington decided to legalize and regulate marijuana the same as alcohol. Within a year, millions of dollars in tax revenue were accrued and continued to double almost every year after, with the plant being taxed as high as 30 percent in some cases.
This tax revenue goes primarily to schools for needed upgrades, with a smaller percentage aimed at substance abuse treatment, youth prevention, and public health programs.
In Colorado, data showed there was a 28 percent decrease in youth marijuana use, despite opponents claiming the opposite would inevitably occur. In Washington, arrests from marijuana related crimes plummeted 98 percent and in Colorado arrests were down by 50 percent.
But up until this movement, criminalization has packed the U.S. prison system, giving it the largest incarcerated population in the world. In 2012, there were nearly 750,000 arrests for marijuana-related offenses alone. Often times these arrests are made for non-violent crimes that result in jail time due to mandatory minimum sentences. Unsurprisingly, these arrests disproportionately target minorities.
After Colorado and Washington legalized the recreational sale of marijuana at the state level, it set off a chain reaction of other state initiatives to decriminalize the plant, with 29 states legalizing the plant as medicine. Although it has remained illegal at the federal level, a combination of constitutional doctrines and a Justice Department memo deprioritized the prosecution of the plant.
But now, that memo has been rescinded and government resources may be used again to prosecute the use of a plant with medicinal value that continues to generate revenue for programs that positively impact society. Not to mention the fact that 93 percent of voters in the U.S. support the legalization of cannabis at some level. This will likely perpetuate the cyclical problems from the war on drugs the U.S. has been facing.
With all of the transactions that have been made through sales of marijuana, a government crackdown will likely lead to increased money laundering and more cash on the street. More cash on the street will lead to more crime, robberies, and violence – clearly a step back in the direction from which we came.
Sacred Plant Medicine
In many cultures, psychoactive plants are used as a religious sacrament for rites of passage and shamanic ceremonies. Holistic healing with herbs and plant medicine is very common outside of the western world, and the philosophy behind their use is reflective of the dichotomy between modern medicine and ancient traditions.
Modern medicine is often founded on a distrust of nature and treatment of humans as a machine rather than a being with a soul. Modern medicine’s focus concentrates on the ability to dominate nature and achieve immediate effects, while holistic plant medicine considers the entire health of the body an spirit with gradual solutions.
Caffeine is a psychoactive drug from a plant that society deems acceptable because of its value to the economy; it keeps you alert, productive, and narrowly focused on the task at hand. It’s also an addictive drug that is highly profitable, the perfect tool for a capitalist society. Opioids are another drug that are highly addictive and have created an epidemic in our society, but one the government drags its feet in regulating due to its extreme profitability.
But once a plant medicine begins to expand consciousness and allow a user to think beyond society’s established paradigms, that’s when it begins to become dangerous to the system. These plants are often able to curtail the effects of drug addiction and are non-addictive themselves. Due to these inherent traits, they have very low potential for profit and, in some cases, influence users to question the controlling paradigms our society has established. They are therefore made illegal.
Within the past few decades there have been definitive studies showing plants with psychedelic properties can reverse the effects of depression and addiction. In some cases, including ibogaine, the use of certain psychedelic plants as medicine can cure drug addiction from one dose.
Other organic compounds with similar properties, like psilocybin in mushrooms, are starting to be recognized as effective tools for combatting depression in completely different ways than modern medicine. Unlike most antidepressants that use serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, psilocybin has been found to instead reset a mechanism in the amygdala that is responsible for emotional responsivity.
A recent ballot measure was proposed by a California mayoral candidate to decriminalize mushrooms containing psilocybin. Some believe within the next few years the drug will at least be approved for clinical treatment thanks to the work of groups like MAPS. Unlike marijuana, it’s understood the tax revenue from psilocybin mushrooms won’t be significant. Its approval would be made because of the positive impact it could have on people suffering from untreatable depression.
As these applications for plant medicine are brought to the forefront of public attention with an empirical approach true progress will continue to be made. Scientific facts and data should be given primary consideration over antiquated stigmas, and one person or party’s desire to be right shouldn’t trump society’s demand for alternative plant medicines.
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Brain Scans of Shamans Show Ability to Alter Consciousness Naturally
A new study is the first to investigate what occurs in an alternate state of consciousness by looking inside the brain of a shaman.
Shamanism is considered to be the most ancient form of healing and spiritual practice. While science has been studying the healing benefits of the psychoactive plants used by shamans to enter into an altered state of consciousness, there have been very few studies to look at the neurological nature of the state itself. A groundbreaking new study investigated the shamanic state of consciousness accessed without the use of psychedelics.
Carlos Tanner is a longtime student of traditional shamanism and the director of the Ayahuasca Foundation. an educational and ceremonial center in Peru. “Shamanism refers to an alternate dimension, a dimension where spirits reside, where communication is possible, where greater insights can be acquired and brought back to the waking-day life,” Tanner said. “So a shaman would be someone who can enter into a different dimension and then pull that back.”
The process by which shamans access this state is rooted in the rich tradition of what Tanner calls, a ‘science of consciousness enhancement.’
“Oftentimes, there is the term ‘ceremony’ to describe the intentional entrance into this shamanic state. So there would be a preparation where there might be rituals to essentially prepare, certain clothing might be worn, and the use of certain tools, oftentimes a musical instrument, might be used,” Tanner said.
“All of those are a beautiful science of consciousness enhancement that, I think, has been developed through the continual use of a psychotropic substance, although to a point where, in many cases, the psychotropic substance is no longer needed to enter that state because the consciousness enhancement that was provided by the psychotropic substance can be accomplished without it.”
Richard Harris Ph.D. is a researcher at the University of Michigan who conducted the recent study on the shamanic state of consciousness. Dr. Harris and his team were interested in investigating this state in its purest form, unaffected neurologically by the use of any exogenous substances. To facilitate the entrance into the altered state without the use of psychedelics, the practitioners all listened to a recording of shamanic drumming.
“So, we did a study with 24 shamanic practitioners and 24 normal, control individuals and we collected EEG data (electroencephalogram data), you know brain activity data, while each participant had their eyes closed while they were listening to classical music which was the control condition, and then while they were listening to shamanic drumming music which was the more experimental condition,” Dr. Harris said. “So, what we’re doing with the shamanic drumming, we’re using the person’s own physiology to engender the state.”
