- Christopher Smith, Publisher
Dr. Volkow Gets Real
Marijuana Moment reports, "Top Federal Drug Official Says ‘Train Has Left The Station’ On Psychedelics As Reform Movement Spreads" and boy howdy, how times have changed.
"At a psychedelics workshop … cohosted with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) last week, National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow said people are going to keep using substances such as psilocybin—especially as the reform movement expands and there’s increased attention being drawn to the potential therapeutic benefits—and so researchers and regulators will need to keep up."
Not to sound redundant, but this is one trippy statement about mushrooms. Not because the content is strange, but who said it.
Dr. Volkow is one of the top Docs in the systematic superstructure of International War on Drugs. Unfortunately for us, she’s written 680 peer-reviewed papers. In college she was named Best Medical Student of Her Generation, and Time Magazine called her on of the Top 100 People Who Shape Our World.
Clearly, as a medical professional, she has few peers, and as a staunch adversary against cannabis, she has been a clear and present danger to our legalizing industry. Her specialty is psychology and the brain, so when Dr. Volkow said " ... if you legalize cannabis, children will get it…" in paper after paper and speech after speech, people listened.
But something interesting has been happening, as we’ve reported on the State of Cannabis News Hour many times - - all the legit reporting, from agencies across states and the federal government, are finding that after legalization, kids find it harder to get cannabis than before, kids are using less cannabis than before, and college kids are now choosing cannabis over alcohol which she acknowledges is a healthier choice. The Reefer Madness was WRONG.
And what’s amazing is, Dr. Volkow is calling on other federal government agencies to read the writing on the wall get their shit together.
Top Federal Drug Official Admits Legalizers Were ‘Right’ About Teen Marijuana Use And Touts Psychedelics’ Therapeutic Potential
Top Federal Drug Official Says Criminalization Creates Stigma And Harms Health Of Consumers
Top Federal Drug Official Discusses Rise In Psychedelics Use And The Need To Study Marijuana From Dispensaries
Top Federal Drug Official Says We Don’t Need More Research To Show Criminalization’s Racist Impact
The top federal drug official is on a rampage… for sane policies about cannabis and psilocybin!
And she freely admits that the people are WAY AHEAD of the government and THE PEOPLE CANNOT BE STOPPED.
She again poked a sharp stick in the eye of the DEA and the Senate. “The director separately told Marijuana Moment on Friday in an emailed statement that part of the challenge for the agency and researchers is … that psychedelics are strictly prohibited as Schedule I drugs …."
“Researchers must obtain a Schedule I registration which, unlike … Schedule II substances (which include fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine), are administratively challenging and time consuming,” she said.
THE LOOP BACK
"… The train has left the station…” she said, “People are going to use it whether the FDA approves or not … Let’s learn from history… Let’s use what we have learned from the marijuana experience."
Hallelujah, Dr. Volkow is finally singing our song.
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