Frequently
asked
Questions
Who are we?
Decriminalize Nature (DN) is a decentralized, transparent, open-source movement to restore our connection to ourselves, community, and nature/Mother Earth, starting with the decriminalization of the consciousness-healing and consciousness liberating entheogenic plant and fungi allies. These entheogenic allies were co-created by our ancestors in partnership with nature, and for which our ancestors paid a heavy price of oppression and subjugation by controlling colonizing interests.
The Decriminalize Nature movement recognizes the sacred relationship between humans, nature, and Mother Earth. As such, DN is not a psychedelics movement. It is a movement that advocates first and foremost, the need to remove all entheogenic plants and fungi from Schedule 1. We also recognize that:
- We swim in a world that worships profit and control at the highest levels, so passing legalization models which enable profiteering and control BEFORE passing Decrim Nature legislation will threaten the Decrim Nature movement. Those who seek profit and control fear abundance most of all. Beware of co-option efforts of the movement.
- Restoring confidence in our democratic process is key so we urge our chapters to engage with elected leaders directly rather than hand off the work to deep pockets via an expensive initiative process, thereby giving them control of the movement.
- Decrim Nature leadership believes in “giving away control” to local leaders who can then become regional leaders. In this way, the movement will grow and advance without figureheads or charismatic controllers.
What are Entheogens?
DN believes entheogens refer to sacred natural ethnobotanicals, which are often erroneously labeled as “drugs” while, in fact, entheogens are distinct and
unrelated to “drugs”
Why should we decriminalize all entheogenic plants and fungi?
- They are not addictive. In fact, they can be helpful in addiction treatment. Attention to the appropriate set, setting, and dosage can greatly reduce potential risks and negative impacts; and can be beneficial in treating trauma, reducing intimate partner violence, and recidivism. 17
- Thousands of years of practices across the globe highlight the healing and spiritual potential of entheogens.
- Oakland is already an epicenter for psychedelics, home of the largest Psychedelic Science conference in the world, and hosts a robust underground of practicing communities. Yet those most in need lack access to these experiences due to their legal status.
- Humans should have the inalienable right to engage with naturally occurring plants and fungi in the manner they feel appropriate for themselves.
- These plants and fungi were placed on the Federal Schedule 1 without any scientific research, based on Nixon’s intention to arrest leaders within the African-American civil rights movements and the leaders of the anti-war movements. We should correct this wrong.
Why should we ensure equitable access to all people?
- The global drive to prioritize clinical and medical settings is inaccessible in both cost and ethos for those most in need, costing thousands of dollars for treatment to access material that occurs naturally in fungi/mushrooms.
- Basic human rights must include personal sovereignty, the capability to choose our own human experience.
- Adults are not children; with proper education can be empowered to make their own decisions, a potent first step toward healing
What are our goals?
- remind people of their own power
- practice and encourage a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach to
political, social, and economic change - enable self-agency and equitable access to entheogenic plant medicines
- and promote preservation, conservation, and sustainability in alliance with our
entheogenic allies and the traditional cultures that have built culture and
knowledge around their use
What are our ethos?
- We exist to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi without limits on how much we can grow-gather-gift-share. While we support the work of Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and others who seek to decriminalize all drugs and end mass physical incarceration of humans, our movement seeks to end the mass consciousness incarceration of humans, especially for marginalized communities of trauma, which have suffered most from colonialism and capitalism, by enabling equitable access to plants and fungi. Our efforts are complimentary to those of DPA and SSDP and we welcome collaboration.
- We are a people-led movement, not a money-led movement. Be cautious of those who seek to give funding with strings attached.
- We started as, and have always been, led by more than 50% BIPOC and 50% women. We are an organization that recognizes the wisdom that emerges from struggle and we thrive because of the participation of Indigenous, African American, Latinx/Chicanx, Asian, and recent immigrant leaders in our organization.
- While we are not against clinical or medical legalization models, we speak freely and openly about the threat that these models pose if passed before full decriminalization.
- No group of people own any plants or fungi. They were created by Mother Earth and are our allies on this journey of life. We recognize, respect, honor, and give reverence to the many Indigenous cultures of the world who have been in good relationships with these plant allies. We commit to work with them to ensure DN promotes sustainable and respectful relationships with these cultures and our plant allies. But we do not recognize any ownership of these sacred plants or fungi by any humans.
- Decriminalize Nature (DN) recognizes these entheogenic plants and fungi as sacred allies, and as such DN is against the commodification of these sacred plants. We will pursue legalization of community-based enterprise models that enable payment for services, but we will not support commodification of the plants and fungi materials themselves. We oppose the patenting of any plant or fungi material, for example.
- DN encourages adoption of safe practice guidelines and practices by individuals and communities in using entheogenic plants and fungi
- DN encourages the emergence of community-based ceremonies that foster safe practice protocols as a key vehicle for enabling the creation of community-containers to heal the most vulnerable members of society.
- DN is a bottom-up organization, meaning that all of our solutions and decisions must follow this basic question: How can this enable access to healing for the most vulnerable members of society?The idea is that if the most vulnerable members of society can access the plant allies, then everyone else can, too. We will oppose efforts that threaten equitable access by the most vulnerable and support efforts that enable equitable access by the most vulnerable.
How do we build a safe, healthy, and responsible approach to use in the community?
Through these seven actions, supported via a deliberate and intentional partnership between government, non-profits, the private sector, and community, we can create the needed pathways and frameworks for safe, responsible, and healthy use.
1. Information: Before an education framework can be created and deployed, the
community must start with understanding the resources available within its area.
2. Education: Educational approaches, concepts, and materials should be created to
enable communities with little to no experience with these plants and fungi to
become informed about their powerful effects, and their safe and responsible
use. Creating a proper educational framework in an urban community must
include culturally appropriate and sensitive delivery of content, provided by
individuals who reflect that community.
3. Preparation: Many organizations, both local and regional, have been working for
decades to understand and teach effective ways to prepare the users for the
experiences created by the entheogenic plants and fungi. Not to mention the
millennia of historical use. While there is no “one-size fits all” there can be many
effective methods for preparing oneself to have a meaningful and transformative
experience with these materials.
4. Application: Once the educational material and concepts have been made
available and presented in a culturally relevant way, by a person who is relatable
to the recipient of the information, and once the individual has chosen their path
to preparation, among the many different methods and facilitators available, has
been given the tools, the individual can then make an informed choice about the
type of material they believe is best for them, and the most effective way for
them to approach the material.
5. Integration: Integration refers to the process by which the material accessed and
insights gained in an entheogenic experience are incorporated over time into
one’s life in a way that benefits the individual and their community. The first step
of integration is the meaning-making process around the entheogenic
experience, and this can be aided by a community of peers to encourage
discernment, reflections, discourse, and feedback. The methods of
integration are as varied as the methods of the trained facilitators.
6. Implementation: Now that the individual has been given the tools to make
choices for themselves on education, preparation, application, and integration,
they may need support on relating their internal experience and transformed
inner world view with the external world within which they find themselves on a
daily basis. In other parts of the world, where the use of these materials is more
common, there exist culturally based methods of supporting this type of
transformation. However, in the US, especially in urban areas, no such support
structures exist enabling an individual to gain support in transforming the way
they associate with the world around them.
7. Reciprocity: The concept of reciprocity is a part of a long history of spiritual
traditions and is widely accepted within psychedelic communities. Within these
traditions there is a period of time where the student leaves the local community
to go through a period of trials and tribulations that lead to psycho-spiritual
healing and growth. As this period concludes, the student then returns home to
provide information and community service as a means of showing gratitude for
the knowledge and healing received. In this case, a fully integrative process
including implementation involves reciprocity to the larger community.