A new grassroots organization in Dallas is hoping to reform the city’s drug policy by decriminalizing substances such as cannabis, psilocybin and mescaline, making a first-of-its-kind effort in Texas.
Inspired by successful initiatives this year in Denver and Oakland, Calif., Decriminalize Nature Dallas aims to work with policymakers to end criminal prosecution for the possession of certain plants based on their potential to treat mental health conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brandon Friedman, co-founder of DND, CEO of Deep Ellum-based Rakkasan Tea Company and a columnist for the New York Daily News, spent four years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division during tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has seen firsthand how fellow veterans have benefited from psychedelic treatment. He believes it’s wrong to consider psychedelics as Schedule 1 drugs ― meaning they have no medical use and a high potential for abuse ― and restrict people’s access to them.
“Violence-induced trauma has a way of rewiring the human brain,” he said. “And some psychedelics, because they have this seeming ability to reset or calm the fear center in people’s brains, are especially suited to dealing with it.”
Evidence of psychedelics’ medical potential is not just anecdotal. Universities such as Johns Hopkins, which recently received $17 million to start the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, have studied the effects of psilocybin and MDMA (commonly known an ecstasy) on mental disorders with promising results.
Decriminalize Nature Dallas plans to model its proposal after the Oakland initiative with amendments specific to Dallas. The biggest change: advocating to add cannabis to the list of decriminalized drugs. In Texas, possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana is a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, according to the Texas Penal Code. In 2016, Texas led the nation with 63,599 arrests for possession of marijuana, according to research by Jon Gettman, associate professor of criminal justice at Shenandoah University. (The Dallas Morning News has submitted an open records request for Dallas arrest data for the same year.)
But in the wake of the state’s legalization of domestic hemp in June, Texas police officers have been discouraged from making arrests for small amounts of marijuana, reports the Texas Tribune. Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot has also advocated for curbing prosecution for low-level crimes, including marijuana possession, but would not comment for this story.
Because of these recent developments, Tristan Seikel, another co-founder of DND and founding president of the University of North Texas’ Students for Sensible Drug Policy, sees now as the right time for action.
“It’s projected that we’ll have at least 100,000 people arrested for cannabis between now and the next time we will even be able to talk to our Legislature about it,” said Seikel at Decriminalize Nature Dallas’ first town hall meeting on Oct. 13. “That’s why our campaign is very much different... . When it comes to cannabis, [our campaign] should have a demonstrable effect on the number of people getting arrested.”
Decriminalization is not legalization, panelists at the town hall were quick to note. The Oakland resolution waives criminal prosecution for personally growing and using psychedelic substances, but not for selling and distributing. The same applies in Denver, where a mushroom dealer was recently arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration in what’s believed to be the first criminal proceeding since the city decriminalized psilocybin in May.
“That’s something we’ll include in our resolution as well because we don’t want to see sacred medicines just another thing you buy in the smoke shop. That isn’t right,” Seikel said. “The whole point about having that homegrown aspect is to allow people to develop their own relationship with it and develop it on a more intimate community-based level that isn’t driven by profit.”
Dallas may seem like an unlikely place for this movement to take root, but Ryan Gause, organizer of the Dallas Psychedelic Society, called it “the center of gravity for D-FW” that could make nearby cities more likely to follow suit. The region’s first Psychedelic Mushroom Convention, which took place in April, also showed that there’s widespread interest in the subject among North Texans. The event plans to return as the D-FW Psychedelic Conference in January 2020.
And Dallas isn’t alone: Since Oakland’s resolution passed in June, more than 100 American cities have expressed interest in mobilizing similarly, said Larry Norris, who led Oakland’s initiative.
Norris, a Ph.D. candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies and co-founder of the nonprofit Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education (ERIE), believes momentum is building around decriminalization because of decades of work by underground professionals.
“This is just a representation of the work we’ve been doing for a long time,” he said. “It was the natural next step.”
Norris is encouraged by Dallas’ effort because, like Oakland, the city falls outside the stereotype for psychedelic-friendly communities. Tackling the issue at the city level ensures local infrastructure and support systems are in place for this kind of change, he said.
“We assume that if a community can come together in a city to pass the resolution, they would also have the community that can support and offer educational outreach to those who are unfamiliar with safe and responsible practices,” Norris said.
Decriminalize Nature Dallas doesn’t have a clear timeline for when it would like to pass a resolution. Organizers are reaching out to policymakers and City Council members to have conversations that will inform how the proposal will be drafted.
