Dear U.S Department of Justice and National Drug Intelligence Center,
The Crucible by Arthur Miller follows the salem witch trials and the process by which the town was driven to hang people by their actions and rules of the town. There is a lot of inequality present in this story with the way that the religious folks of Salem viewed other people in the town within status and religious beliefs. The town was run on theocracy so there were a lot of irrational limitations and prejudices. Most people think that witch hunts are done and over with, but they are still present with a modernized twist. There isn’t exactly witch hunts going on but rather other forms of irrational discrimination that contradict the freedom of mind and spirit.
My specific piece of evidence for this “contradiction of mind and spirit freedom” follows a self-sufficient man named Paul Lee Corbett that was arrested for the possession of psilocybin mushrooms and taking them from a state park in Washington. Paul Lee Corbis has faced past drug addiction to heroine and was able to use entheogens(such as LSD, Cannabis, and Psilocybin) to rid of his drug addiction and develop a new insight for how he lives as a soul in the universe. Aside from overcoming his drug addiction, Paul Lee Corbis began to grow a very deep love for nature and decided to live off grid and provide for himself and his wife. He lives a peaceful life, studying plants and using hallucinogens to deepen his love and connection with the universal powers. There is evidently no signs that he is harming humans or society at all for that matter. In fact, he has completely separated himself from society due to the knowledge gained from hallucinogenic medicine causing him to become enlightened to the negative reality of modern day life.
Not only does he use psilocybin for various psychological benefits, but he educates others on how to spot the proper psilocybin containing mushrooms, so people do not unintentionally ingest poisonous mushrooms thinking that they are those spotted as psychedelics. This is known on the National Drug Intelligence Centers webpage on Psilocybin facts to be a big concern.
When Paul was arrested, the state troopers spotted him picking the wild mushrooms and demanded him to give them up. They took some out of his pockets and he openly gave him what he had in his truck. He is now on trial and has had to abandon his free life and scrape for money in order to fund his trials and advocacy for psilocybin decriminalization.
Although the National Drug Intelligence Centers page for psilocybin information does contain accurate information(such as how psilocybin can induce psychosis--yet still fails to inform this likelihood stemming from mentally unstable users), it is biased information hidden in the form of objective information. This page is meant to inform people of substances. The format of this page improperly educates how this substance is used and such. The beginning information on what psilocybin has been stated pretty clearly in the leading sections of the page. What really struck my attention were the remaining sections. The section labeled “How is it abused?” goes on to only explain how this substance is ingested. Nowhere in this paragraph did they explain how this substance is “abused” by its users. The definition of abuse is “to use (something) to bad effect or or a bad purpose, misuse.” Although it may be true(as with any mind altering substance) that there are people who use this hallucinogen without purpose, there is no reason for how this was set up to inform the reader.
In the next section they explain who “abuses” this substances and are only mindful to inform the people who improperly use this substance. They flat out stereotype who uses psilocybin when it is in fact used by many different types of people(from hippies to college professors) in various different settings(from music festivals to nature areas). For more insight on the bias of their information page, you can look into it yourself if it sparks interest in you. Basically this information only states negative connotation.
When looking into the legal status of psilocybin and other legal or illegal substances, it is brought to my attention the placement of certain substances that may be deemed as more harmful than others and how that plays a role in their legal status. It is stated that “Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence”. Psilocybin, LSD and heroin are three of the main drugs listed in schedule 1. However in schedule II lists drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. These drugs are far more addicting than LSD, psilocybin or marijuana which do not even have chemically addictive properties regarding dopamine and so forth. Also there are far more deaths reported from use of methamphetamine not only from the consumption but the harming of others. If these schedule 1 substances do not possess nearly similar negative consequences as lower placed drugs, they should not be placed as a schedule 1 substance.
With this being said, the criminalization status of psilocybin mushrooms should be changed as it is the most safe hallucinogenic substance based upon various research trials present on the web and from the past. Paul Lee Corbett was a harmless man who had to abandon his free life to fight for his freedom of consciousness and freedom of sourcing plants from the earth. As he has advanced into this fight against the system, he has worked with fellow advocates to try decriminalize and legalize psilocybin mushrooms for medical purposes. The way that the criminalization and legal status of the drug has affected someone’s life(look more into article to see how his life was affected) should be a small piece of proof to show how the legal status of psilocybin needs to change. Along with its connotation of education. We must avoid an “abstinence only” form of prevention and promote proper drug education to decrease the negative consequences of drug users in our country.
Sources:
https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/washington-man-facing-prison-foraging...
