This text was copied from the Decriminalize Nature Oakland:

Decriminalize Nature:

• DN believes entheogens refer to sacred natural ethnobotanicals, which are often erroneously labeled as “drugs” while in fact distinct and unrelated to “drugs”.

• The Federal Government should immediately clarify that the Federal Schedule 1 list has no authority to regulate plants and fungi as the human rights to access these is inalienable. This includes proactively clarifying that any and all plants and fungi on the schedule 1 list are effectively and immediately decriminalized or abrogated.

• DN believes all decriminalization and legalization measures must not prohibit personal growing, use, and trade outside of regulatory frameworks. In addition, no person or corporation shall patent any natural genetic material.

• DN believes the Local, State and Federal Governments should have no authority over the inalienable rights of humans to access natural plants and fungi, including entheogenic plants, for any use they choose, but especially for religious freedom, personal healing, and/or consciousness expansion.

• DN recognizes that the Controlled Substances Act creates a false dichotomy, requiring “medical value” to be rescheduled. Inherent to the process of rescheduling are clinical trials, which necessitate the production of expensive pharmaceutical grade synthetics or genetically modified “biologically-derived” substances ready to go to market. The Controlled Substances Act should not control natural entheogenic ethnobotanicals, which cannot be rescheduled because there is little funding and few trials for whole plant medical research. Natural plants and fungi should not be scheduled.

• DN recognizes that for entheogenic plants and fungi to provide the healing experience that is desperately needed by humanity, one cannot separate the plant from the approach, which includes reverence and intention around the experience as sacred. As such, DN encourages activities that enhance the sacred experience with these plants and fungi.

• DN encourages that professional activities involving entheogens should operate through models like collectives, nonprofits, churches, sole proprietorships, accredited educational institutions, or open source research.

• DN supports and encourages knowledge exchange programs between traditional indigenous wisdom keepers and contemporary cultures on entheogenic practices.

Decriminalize First

• DN believes that any and all policies that seek to decriminalize/legalize entheogenic plants or fungi for any use–including medical, research, or product development or testing–must include decriminalization language. This language must allow equitable access to the general public and must be included in any language proposed for any local, state, or federal decriminalization effort, whether through a legislative or ballot measure process.

• DN believes that any decriminalization/legalization efforts for medical, research, or product development or testing that do not also contain general decriminalization for the public should be opposed by the general public and either rescinded, amended, or defeated as the inalienable right for humans to access entheogenic plants should always be a fundamental part of any effort to legalize, decriminalize or regulate.

Decriminalization Forever

• The Federal Government should pass a constitutional amendment clarifying that it has no right to intervene between the access of naturally occurring plants or fungi and human beings as these rights are inalienable, or explicitly protect access to naturally occurring plants and fungi through the First Amendment of the Constitution.

• Decriminalization should never be repealed by following regulatory frameworks. Criminalization through regulation perpetuates the drug war for disenfranchised communities who cannot afford treatment. The medical and clinical framework should not use law enforcement and criminalization to require people to follow their regulations.

• DN recommends researching local flora and fauna to discover how to ethically source local and sustainable plants. We support bringing awareness to endangered entheogenic plants as well as co-creating new growing environments to proactively protect plants whose native land is endangered by mining and agricultural business.

• DN encourages any groups or individuals engaged in wild-harvesting a particular plant to have a robust replanting practice (if not invasive) to replace what was taken for future generations.

• DN encourages the conscientious and thoughtful deliberation of leadership at all levels of government to protect the equitable access to entheogenic plants and fungi by seeking to restrict any corporate activity that would clearly diminish accessibility, diversity, or supply of entheogenic plants and fungi to ensure entheogenic plants and fungi remain forever available to any and all humans. While Decriminalize Nature recognizes that many rich innovations have emerged from the for profit corporation technology in the last century, we encourage all leaders to be aware of the potential impact that for-profit corporations can have on the sacred use of entheogens.

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