Let’s Not Repeat Cannabis’ Mistakes

[Editor’s Note: Welcome to “Please Trip Responsibly,” a series of OpEds exploring areas in which the psychedelic community (and the burgeoning industry growing around it) can do better at becoming a unified front. We’ve inherited both wisdom and wreckage from cannabis, and there are plenty of lessons we’d be fools not to integrate. These essays dig into everything from the false promises of psychedelics as a one-size-fits-all cure for addiction, to the dangers of overconsumption in public, to the corporate vultures circling our culture. Altogether, they offer a reminder that the future of psychedelics isn’t inevitable. It’s something we have to shape with care, foresight, and accountability. Whether we like it or not, we’re all in this together, so let’s be smart, bold, and above all, let’s trip responsibly.]

Ah, the dawn of brighter days may very well be shining upon our faces, ladies and gentlemen. After decades upon decades of living under the constant threat of serious prison time for the simple act of eating God’s favorite drugs, the general public and federal authorities seem to be loosening their grip. The time for celebration will come when the last vestiges of prohibition have been banished from the land, but until that day, it is absolutely imperative that we get our shit together.

Allow me to illustrate for thee, my children, the dire implications of our next steps as a community. Two paths diverged in a yellow wood: The first leads to a world where any adult of drinking age can exercise their right to consciousness exploration by legally purchasing and consuming psychedelics of their own free will. The second path leads to a world where psychedelics are heavily guarded under the mithril-forged lock and key of American pharmaceutical companies that will hand-pick who is allowed to consume their proprietary blends of “psychedelic medicines,” protected by layers of patents impenetrable by man or beast. Home production of anything fun will somehow be even more illegal than it is now, and no one will legally be able to trip until they’re on their deathbed or working for the tech overlords.

I personally prefer the first path, as I’m sure almost everyone who bothers to read this does as well. The issue is we’re never going to get there if we don’t clean up our collective act. As a community, we have a north star to point ourselves towards, and I would be remiss not to mention it.

The plight of the cannabis plant, which is oft referred to as a mild psychedelic, has revealed potholes in the path to decriminalization that we can use to our advantage should we make ourselves aware of them now. Obviously, cannabis is a beast of a different color for a plethora of reasons, but there are enough parallels between the two efforts to infer some lovely lessons that may just save our asses in the long run. We’d be here all week if we addressed every single one of them, so I’ve selected three for the sake of brevity and effectiveness. To wit: We need to steer clear of weird quasi-medical logic, we need to beware of glorifying overconsumption, and we need to do our own damn lobbying.

The Medical Route Is Dark and Full of Terrors

For anyone who wasn’t in California during the Proposition 215 days (which was California’s medical marijuana law that was enacted in 1996 and was phased out when Proposition 64 went into effect in 2018), let me assure you, they were a farce. Albeit a very fun and lucrative farce, but a farce nonetheless. Allow me to explain. 

Prop. 215 allowed for medical-based consumption and sales of cannabis in California, but it was essentially a de facto decriminalization. Real doctors were barely required. I remember in Venice Beach, I got a medical cannabis prescription from a doctor who was watching soap operas on his phone. I don’t think he even looked up at me once. The point is, basically, everybody had access if they wanted it, and provable ailments weren’t necessarily required. 

This is not to say cannabis is without medical value. The cannabis plant is teeming with potential to treat a spectrum of serious conditions and disorders. It also bears mentioning that without the San Francisco AIDs crisis of the ‘80s and ‘90s, we might not even have legal cannabis today. But if you’ll notice, medical patients have largely been hung out to dry since the recreational markets began to form and, if my suspicions are right, the corporate demons who haunt the halls of American pharmaceutical companies will almost certainly see to it that the cannabis plant belongs to them (and them only) before any meaningful legislation passes through Congress. In other words, it is my greatest fear that the current rescheduling effort will yank ownership from recreational brands and hand it directly to the likes of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and maybe even the tobacco giants.

What I’m driving at here is that the movement surrounding psychedelics has largely been geared toward its medical potential. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing what these substances can do for us. However, the only defense we really need should be “it’s safe for most people.” I fear that the medical route will only serve to distance us even further from the access we deserve and keep legal repercussions high. We should carve a different path if at all possible — even beyond the religious-use model, which of course is viable, however, it’s not for everyone, nor should it be treated as a loophole for legalization or decriminalization — or at least emphasize the need for adult-access and no prison time at every turn. 

Stop Eating Acid on Instagram

Now this may sound a bit narc-ish of me, but it has to be said. The public glorification of overconsumption is not only a fool’s errand, it’s a detriment to the greater good of this movement. Eat as much acid as you want! I’m not here to police you. I’m merely pointing out that it looks incredibly irresponsible to our nation’s watchdogs and legislators — who are very online these days, mind you — when the people in this space are publicly announcing that they’re tripping tits all the time (please see Mattha Busby’s story of the guy who ate over an ounce of mushrooms live on X).

Cannabis made this mistake, too, and I promise you it has kept some of our most prolific and talented members from ever having a seat at the table. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking the people in charge aren’t paying attention. I know they sit in an unapproachable ivory tower of sorts, but they have the power to make our lives very easy or profoundly difficult, and they pay a great deal of attention to us, the likes of which we can’t possibly be aware of. And that’s by design, to be clear.

The powers that be have people who watch us post videos from cannabis events and smokeouts with brand owners smoking an ounce of flower in one sitting, and hell, I support all of this. I’d be a hypocrite not to. I spent a great deal of my young life smoking a zip a day and eating acid every chance I got. I believe everybody on God’s green Earth has a right to do that, but unless you want a repeat of the Tim Leary experience (or just straight up going to prison), I highly suggest you keep that type of over-consumption-evangelist shit off the internet and out of the public eye as much as possible. 

People in the psychedelics space are better at this than those in the cannabis industry, if only because the optics (and the laws) are different. Psychedelics events are usually a bunch of science nerds geeking out over data, innovations, and breakthroughs, rather than being a consumption-centered, psychedelic-gobbling fest. Online, we just need to pretend it’s 2010, and keep our mouthes shut a little bit about our consumption habits for the sake of the movement as a whole. Advocate for micro and moderate doses just as much as you would macros, or at the very least, offer some safe practices for when the situation calls for a full-blown heroic dose. Personally, I would advise steering away from the topic of consumption frequency for a while, but I shan’t get greedy or tell you how to live your life. All I’ll ask of my friends in the space is to be mindful of how you talk online and at events. Pretend the president or the DEA is listening when you do. (Don’t get me started on the prevalence of plainclothes in our spaces…)

Lobby Like Your Life Depends on It

This one is of dire importance. Lobbying is a science I know very little about, other than that it’s incredibly expensive. What I do know about it is what I witnessed in cannabis. Cannabis companies were too busy trying to stay afloat financially and legally in the early days of prohibition reform to understand the need for proper organization and lobbying. We are currently witnessing the repercussions of that. I can’t name a single brand owner in California whom I trust that has people working in Washington D.C., or Sacramento. That has done no one any favors.

In fact, one of the only companies that engages in professional lobbying efforts is Glass House, which is co-owned by a former cop. Psychedelics have a powerful lobbying force, but not necessarily by the activists or the people who did the ground work to get us here. The people who risked their freedom and lives to push the way forward do not (in general) have a seat at the table. We absolutely and urgently need to organize to change that.

If we want full decriminalization in our lifetime, we have to work together to keep Big Pharma’s paws out of the movement as much as possible and demand recompense for the risks we all collectively took to be here. The only way we will ever get a fair shake is if we spend a little money and a little time at a common table so we can etch a deal in stone that works for the leaders in our space. Then, and only then, should we utilize the full power of American politics in our favor. Yes, this is extremely idealistic considering half of us are often on very fun and very silly drugs, but if we put our heads together, I think it’ll buy us some honest-to-god progress, after which we can, of course, eat some drugs together in celebration as a team.

I have much more to say on this, but I’ll leave you all with the following thought: There is still time to course correct and come out the other side of this tunnel victorious and free from the shackles of the drug war. With a few small adjustments, some common sense, and a little luck, we can all win. Take accountability for your role in this movement to ensure our collective success, and as always, please trip responsibly. 

💌 If you loved this email, forward it to a psychonaut in your life.

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