The War on Drugs has been an immense failure to the American people. It has made the United States into the country with the largest population of incarcerated people on the planet. It has torn apart countless communities, particularly poor communities and communities of color. It has enriched those who have invested in the prison-industrial complex and pressured our politicians to continue pushing archaic policies in the face of contradictory scientific evidence.
Chicago, Illinois is following in the steps that Denver, Colorado and Oakland, California took earlier this year. Chicago is on its way to becoming the third major city in the United States to pass a resolution that decriminalizes the adult possession and use of entheogenic plants. Entheogenic is a term that refers to a class of psychoactive substances that have historically been used in cultural or spiritual practices and rituals. The term denotes that the ingestion of these substances often produces a spiritual experience and that these plants are sacred to many peoples and cultures across the planet. Entheogenic plants can and will also be referred to as psychoactive or psychedelic.
On June 4, dozens of supporters of the resolution came to the city council meeting and testified to the benefits of using entheogenic plants in order to treat their depression, addiction, PTSD, or other issues that continue to go unresolved with traditional treatment. Some psychiatrists were there to note that the resolution would allow them to use these plants in their practice, which has been and continues to be a growing and promising trend in the profession.
Although the War on Drugs has plagued the United States in various forms for decades, a new outbreak of lung illnesses related to illicit vaping products is sweeping the nation. Unfortunately, it seems that black market products containing THC, a psychoactive chemical found in the cannabis plant, are the source of many cases.
The Political Historian 