Parents, Children, and Entheogens

Today I will diverge from straight research mode to talk about some personal aspects of this situation.  As is usual with these huge topics, it takes me a minute to figure out where to start.  So I will brainstorm.  Here are some questions: How do you (and should you) talk to kids about your spirituality when it involves the use of an illegal substance?  What is the role of parents in raising their children according to their own spiritual beliefs?  Do parents have the right to introduce their children to traditions that use entheogens?  When is it/ IS it OK to invite your children to participate in an entheogenic ceremony with you?  Why or why not?   (At another time I also want to cover parents' legal rights - or lack thereof - in this area.) What kind of complex situations might be facing your children when they have to keep their parents' spiritual beliefs secret from their friends/friends' parents/school/community, and is this fair to them? What are the ramifications in terms of credibility as parents if your (entheogenic) spiritual practice were to become known to the wider community of parents, school faculty, employers, etc?

It is with these questions in mind that I would like to begin with my own story, right after the healing episode with the medicine I wrote about in  Blog #7.   As a true and typical Aries woman, I did what you might expect when confronted by a profound and life-changing event: I jumped in whole-heartedly, with both feet, and included my children and my spouse in every way.  Now, my kids, ages 13 (boy) and 9 (girl),  had already been introduced to the visiting shaman from Peru: since my then-husband made musical instruments, our musician friend, his translator, had brought him over to our place to check out a churango - Peruvian guitar - the day before the ceremony.  The shaman met my nine-year-old daughter, and (through the translator) told us," If she ever wants to come drink medicine, she is invited to come to a ceremony, any time."  I was a bit surprised, not being familiar with the Peruvian culture or the Shipibo medicine tradition, but assumed that in his tradition, kids were welcome to drink medicine if they wanted to.  (This is true, by the way.)  I also knew that he could see the beautiful light of my daughter's spirit, and knew that her presence would be a blessing to any ceremony.  (To be fair, my son also has a beautiful spirit, but he is just not oriented toward the spiritual/ceremonial/mystical realms, and I think that was as obvious to the shaman as it was to me!)

Anyway, a few days after my intense healing with the medicine, I invited my kids to a picnic lunch with me on our lawn.  We ate some food, and I told them I had something important to tell them.  They were curious.  I told them that the shaman who they had met at our house had led an ancient ceremony that I attended, during which we drank a special plant medicine that could help a person let go of things like old hurts and anger, sore spots on the inside, from your life, when you felt like things were unfair, or wrong, or when bad things happened and you couldn't do anything about it.  We generated some examples of these kinds of things (which sadly I don't remember after all these years.  It was a rich discussion, though!).  I told them I had been carrying some emotional things like that from when I was a kid and that as a result of the ceremonies I attended, I had been able to let go of a LOT of heavy feelings that had been keeping me down, making me feel sad and unhappy, and that I was going to be happier and be able to have more fun in life from then on.

I then talked to them about how in their teen years, it was very likely that their peers (and perhaps they as well) would become interested in experimenting with substances that change a person's normal way of looking at the world - their consciousness - such as alcohol, marijuana, and other substances called psychedelics.  My son already had friends who smoked pot, so he knew what I meant.  My daughter, not so much.  But basically I let them know that experimentation like this is normal, and that they didn't have to hide these behaviors from me.  I told them that this was not me encouraging them to use these substances, but just acknowledging  that it seems to be a normal teenage thing.  I don't believe in the 'abstinence'  model of "Just Say No," either in the realm of sex ed. or in addressing the use of substances.  I believe education and information are essential.  I knew from my own past that the lies I was told in the drug section of our Health Ed. class made me want to discount everything the adults said.  I discussed with my children the many reasons why people take and use substances, and encouraged them to really think, IF they were going to do something, WHY they were doing it, instead of just going along with the group.  In other words, to bring conscious attention to their actions.  (In retrospect, quite honestly I am not sure these talks had any positive impact on my children, at all.  I plan on asking them about this when we do the interviews.)

I also let them know that if substances called 'psychedelics' started being used by their friends, and if they wanted to try altering their consciousness within a traditional setting, with elders and within a really safe container, they would be allowed to come to a ceremony with me and take ayahuasca there.  Open invitation.

My daughter took me upon this invitation right before her thirteenth birthday.  She came to a night of ceremony that fall (2007) and has continued to attend on and off now for the past eight years (she will be 21 this fall).  It is apparent that she both gets a lot out of the ceremonies, the medicine, and the medicine community, and also that her interest in/need for ceremony goes in cycles or phases, as her attendance over the years has not been consistent.   My son has attended ceremony twice, at age 18 and age 23, both times 'doing it for his mom,' because he knows it means a lot to me.  He has no personal agenda or philosophy of working on himself or trying to be a better person, or healing, or anything of the sort.  He likes who he is and is content with the way things are, and so really doesn't see the need to do ceremonies to 'be better,' as my teacher likes to say (about the reason we drink the medicine).

So, now to address some of those questions from the beginning of this blog.

Obviously, in my life I have exercised my perceived right to include my children in my spiritual beliefs.  I had done so way before ever using ayahuasca or yagé - I had been taking my children to sweat lodges since they were born.  I do not believe that children should be 'indoctrinated' into spiritual beliefs, however.  I would never make a child get into a sweat lodge or drink medicine if they didn't want to.  I believe in talking things through with kids, somehow working to communicate within their level of understanding, and inviting them to decide what they want - allowing them the experience of asking their own intuition, of knowing that they possess an inner wisdom that can be accessed and understood - and trusting their own inner authority on the subject.  I believe curiosity is our birthright and natural state, and that it is safe to expose children to things and let them explore as their interests guide them.  This is the philosophy of Montessori schools, incidentally.

I am sure there will be people who read this who scoff and start in with the 'what if's' and 'no ways' and so forth.  All I can say is that sure, there are times when a parent has to be authoritarian, and decide FOR the child (ie: when you have to grab their arm and not let them cross the street in front of oncoming traffic).  But I am not talking about those instances.

I believe that it was not only OK to invite my children to participate in entheogenic ceremonies with me, but that it was essential, given the immense growth and transformation I have experienced on this path.  I could not have been in authentic relationship with them if I had been forced to keep this part of my life a secret.  I believe their exposure to this medicine tradition was gradual, safe, respectful, and that their own inner wisdom told them when they were ready for such an experience.  I know that I never put any pressure on either of them to participate in medicine ceremonies (although admittedly I HAVE done this with sweat lodges, especially with my son - but that's a different story).  I feel fortunate that neither of my children's' fathers objected (or would have objected, in the case of my son's deceased father) to this path, and so I did not have to worry about custody battles based on my use of a Schedule One controlled substance and the potential claim of 'unfit parent' such use would engender at a legal level.

I want to point out the obvious here - that I believe talking to our children with authenticity about who we are is absolutely essential.  This includes talking about the things we do that don't follow 'inside the box' thinking.  It helps to support our children to be their own authentic selves.  It helps us to get out of worrying about what others think of us and to live within our own moral and spiritual code, true to our known and directly experienced higher truths, not on some externally imposed set of rules (laws) founded on erroneous assumption, prejudices, and even outright deceit.  I am not advocating for anarchy here.  I am only talking about actions I take as an individual that only affect me and my own life, such as the choice to take a substance that our country and indeed most of the modern world has declared illegal and dangerous.  I am not a conspiracy theorist but I do think there is something to be said for the theory that these substances have been vilified for a reason that has to do with how we operate in the world - in blind acceptance of and within the system, or with the ability to critically examine the system and call out bullshit when we see it.  It makes sense that the powers that be would frown on - and actively restrict access to - things that promote the latter perspective.

But back to parenting and being authentic... or not.   I don't know how many Dead Heads (followers of the Grateful Dead) who took quantities of psychedelics as young people who, when they became parents, suddenly became quite conservative on the subject and would never even consider talking to their teens about their experiences with these drugs, or the spiritual openings they received as a result of their use.  "Too risky!" they would exclaim when questioned, or "I can't tell them how wild I was!" I guess I can understand the hesitation.  But I chose to be open - again to the level to which I felt my kids could relate - about my past and ongoing activities with illegal substances.  I shared with them not only the good and transcendental side of the story but also how dangerous and scary the experiences could be, and how important it is to be in a good place within yourself, with people you trust, in a setting that is safe if you are going to take something that alters your consciousness.  I also shared quite honestly with my kids that I would probably lose my job (at the time I was a public school teacher) if they gossiped about me to their friends or if the word somehow got out in the community that I had all this exposure to psychedelics in my past and present life.  AND I shared why I thought these substances are so judged and misunderstood.

It is possible that my being open like this led to my kids' being more interested in substances than they might have been otherwise.  There really is no way to tell at this point, although I plan on asking them when I get to their interviews.  However I doubt it.  I believe that they would have been exposed one way or the other, and that my contribution as their parent was to help them be more educated, informed, thoughtful, and aware of the potential benefits and dangers of the various substances (the ones I knew about!) with which they would come into contact as teens in today's world.  If I had to do it all over again I would have these same discussions with them. I think the downfall or faults in my parenting came from 1. being a single working mother and not being able to supervise them as much as two parents would have 2. wanting them to have a place (their home) where they could be safe if they were going to get 'altered,' instead of cruising around in a car, for example, and then having that safe space be taken advantage of, and 3. being a great mom, ie being loving, creating a beautiful home with healthy meals, modeling conscious communication, etc, but being a completely shitty dad, ie not being consistent with enforcing rules, not having dire enough consequences for bad behavior, not disciplining enough, not making them do more healthy things like sports, etc).  No one's perfect, and I have spent a lot of years feeling bad over my short-comings as a parent.  However I feel good about what I was able to offer my children in terms of the conversations we had about consciousness, psychedelics, medicines versus drugs, ceremony etc.  I think it has helped them to be more thoughtful and conscious people, and to make more conscious and informed choices. 

I know from talking to my daughter over the years that there were some challenges resulting from her choice (and my offer) to participate in entheogenic ceremonies as a teenager.  On the one hand, she had as an example a community of (primarily) adult seekers, all working to better themselves.  For the most part, and obviously hugely generalized, these individuals practiced honesty and conscious communication, took responsibility for their emotions (having an internal responsibility for the things that happened to them), and carried a basically positive outlook on life.  On the other hand, she went to public high school, with all of the assorted unconscious drama, judgment, bullying, stereotyping, shitty teen-parent relationships, dishonesty, distrust from adults, general unconsciousness, and more.  She told me it was extremely difficult and confusing to be straddling two completely different worlds, with different rules, behaviors, expectations and outcomes; and at the same time, she was glad to know the ceremonial world existed, despite the strain it put on her.   At the time I never considered that exposing her to the ceremonial world might make her life harder, and definitely felt more than a few moments of guilt when I realized it.  I don't know that I can answer the question 'is it fair?' to put her in that position, because I already did, somewhat in ignorance.  One of the reasons I am writing this section is to let other parents know that this could be an unintentional effect of bringing your child into the ceremonial world.  It could make things harder on your teen.  However if there is a parent or parents there to discuss what is happening, to help their teen integrate and process what they are experiencing in the two different worlds, then I think it could ultimately only be of benefit, even if painful at first to realize the normal extent of unconsciousness in our world/families/relationships.  One other side benefit of my daughter's participation in ceremony: she pretty much became the "Lucy" to her circle of friends (as in Peanuts: the "Doctor is IN"). Again, we can't say this wouldn't have been so without ceremony - there is now no way to know who she might have been without it.

Well, darn, out of time again!  It goes by so fast!!  I plan on posting some interview questions starting next week.  If you are reading this blog and you or someone you know would like to be interviewed for the book, please let me know.   And thanks for reading!  Your comments are welcomed!

Legal Aspects of Entheogen Use in the US: Part Two

A note from my last blog: the following was a very important decision in this ongoing conversation, and was only referred to in brief last week as the 'Hoasca case.' 

Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Unaio do Vegetal (2006):

This case highlighted the question of religious freedom to partake in a substance (hoasca) containing a 'drug' prohibited by the Controlled Substances Act (DMT) during a religious ceremony. According to the courts, the government did not pass the compelling interest test, and the right of UDV members to take the brew was upheld.  "UDV argued that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits substantial imposition on religious practices in the absence of a compelling government interest, established their right to use hoasca."(1)

Other things to note in today's discussion:

The Parental Rights Amendment: "The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children is a fundamental right."(2)  This has been proposed to include as part of an actual amendment to the constitution.  (See (3) for full text)

Troxel v. Granville (2000): the court concluded in this case that the "Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody and control of their children."(4)  Unfortunately in this case they abandoned the strict scrutiny test that required proof of harm before the government could interfere with parental rights, granting judges the power to decide this on a case-by-case basis.

OK, now that we are back into the legalese somewhat, I will get into some more legal matters from a conversation I had today with a lawyer (L), whose name I am keeping confidential as per her request.  I am paraphrasing her responses here at times, as I did not record the conversation and took notes as fast as I could (but not as fast as she spoke!).  I have also added some information into my comments, to make the flow more cohesive.  In spirit this is pretty much the conversation we had...

H.  First of all, what are we talking about here in terms of parents taking substances that are prohibited by federal law?

L.  This area of law is vast.  The main area is dependency and neglect laws, between state and federal levels.  Every state has a different flavor.  And then there are federal laws...

H.  Have children been taken away for the choices of their parents to participate in ceremonies using a Schedule One controlled substance?

L.  Children have been taken away from even a single use of 'drugs.'  Then there is constitutional law: parents have the fundamental right to the care, custody, and control of their children.  This is a standard to use before the state can interfere.  

In order for a child to be taken from their parent, the parent would have to be found unfit - which is a determination of the Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworker, local to the county where the incident (that brought the parent and child to the attention of CPS) has occured.  The way to get cases brought before a higher court is to then appeal this determination.  

'Drug' use is universally considered to be evidence of an unfit parent.  However with the legalization of marijuana (formerly a Schedule One controlled substance), courts are now considering marijuana use to be more like alcohol use.  The system can't take children away based on allegations that things are dangerous - there would have to be some sort of test proving danger to the child.  However they lump all 'drugs' together:  Using LSD is the same as using cocaine; using psilocybin mushrooms is considered to be the same as using heroin. 

H.  That seems ridiculous (not to mention that I disagree with the entheogens being labeled 'drugs' in the first place!)!  What about inviting a child to come to a ceremony, just to be part of it without doing the medicine?  What about allowing them to take some of the medicine? 

L.  Any 'drug' use in front of a child is held to be a very strong factor in proving unfitness on the part of the parent; allowing a child to use any 'drug' would (in her opinion) be conclusive of being an unfit parent.  I can't imagine a court that would find for the parent in this situation.

H.  What about any cases involving legalized churches that use plant medicines as sacraments?  Have you heard about any cases involving children or parents?

L.  No.  Never heard of a case where a child had been administered ayahuasca and been taken away.  It might be one of those cases where the plant medicine would win, because ayahuacsa and all of its aliases (caapi, huasca, yage, etc) are NOT listed under the Schedule One controlled substances.  DMT, one of the active ingredients in the preparations, is listed, however.  It is a grey area, and the laws around this are written very poorly.

H.  What about my story?  (I invited my underage children to partake in ceremony with me whenever they felt ready - and my daughter chose to do so right before turning 13, and has been attending ever since.  My son came to a ceremony at age 18, but discovered it wasn't really his thing.)

L.  You would have had your kids taken away, and might even have been thrown in jail.  You could have appealed and maybe gotten custody again (due to the fact that we have been participating in a legal church service).  The law is clear that ceremonially (as part of a religious endeavor), taking these medicines is protected.  

Also, there is a supreme court argument that states: "a parent has an unhindered right to inculcate their children in their spiritual practices." (NOTE: Please see (5) for a comprehensive list of case summaries defining the Supreme Court's Parental Rights Doctrine).  (Note: not sure which case states this... I looked but haven't found it yet.)

H.  What about the drug schedules?  Labeling all psychoactive substances as Schedule One controlled substances is completely missing the point on so many levels...

L.  The schedules are arbitrary and capricious, and are regulations at the agency level (H: a regulation is a legal norm intended to shape conduct that is a byproduct of imperfection - written by executive agencies as a way to enforce laws passed by the legislature. (6).   They are arbitrarily written and applied, and are capricious in that they eliminate the proper uses of entheogens, and don't acknowledge the fact that these substances have not been proven to be addictive.  This scheduling closes the door and says that all of these substances are bad, simply out of fear.  Yet we know that entheogens are helpful to many people.  It would be impossible to be addicted to using ayahuasca, for example.   No one would want to or even be able to abuse it...

H: ...because it is quite an ordeal to take it in the first place!  One of my main points here is that these entheogens are not correctly labeled as Schedule One substances, because they don't meet any of the criteria: they DO have medical uses (which would be accepted if research was allowed to continue), they do NOT have a high potential for abuse, and they do NOT cause psychological or physical dependence. That is why I am doing this - I want to be a part of the new conversation about these substances, bringing honest inquiry and science into the fear-based taboos our society has used as a basis for our policy and laws.  I think we need a complete revision of the drug scheduling! 

L.  How could we draft a drug schedule that works?  We should measure the Schedule One drugs based on their addictiveness and destructiveness.  The latter is measured on the social, personal and interpersonal impacts on society.  If you look at alcohol and tobacco, for example - two substances which are legal in this country and which are both psychoactive substances - if these were measured in terms of addictiveness and destructiveness, they would go to the top of the list of Schedule One substances!  Millions of people use them, with incredible negative impacts to society measured in the high numbers of deaths, health care costs, accidents, and so forth (H. and the high cost of alcohol addiction in terms of the psychological and economic detriment to families and children). 

When 'drugs' are involved there is a cultural bias, and a HUGE barrier of fear.  I had that barrier until I tried it (ayahuasca) myself.  Then I realized 'Oh my God there's a whole other world!'  I personally know many lawyers who have participated in medicine ceremonies, but they have to be very secretive about this in their profession. (H: because of the potential ramifications to their professional lives if they were ever "outed.")

 Note: L also has two children, one underage and one legally an adult, with whom she does NOT share about her experiences with the entheogens, despite her feeling that one of them would really benefit from an experience with the medicine.  She fears that if her ex-husband found out what she was doing, he would sue her for custody and try to take her kids away.  

What a world we live in.  Here is a professional woman who has found a path that helps her to be 'better' in her life, in every way - more conscious, more centered, happier, healthier, lighter (not as burdened) - and she has to live in fear of being discovered in her 'nefarious' activity of taking an entheogen for spiritual purposes.  (Just to be clear - I am also talking about using entheogens in a very strict setting, as part of a church service - not just recreational use by an individual.)   THIS is why I want to write this book.  Entheogen users need to be able to come out of the closet and not be discriminated against, shunned, or prosecuted for the ignorance of the policy- and law-makers who have vilified - and mislabeled - these substances.  It is time to revise the collective thought, and more importantly, the laws around the use of entheogens for spiritual purposes.

My thanks to L for the generous donation of her time and expertise for this interview.   

(1)  http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2005/2005_04_1084

(2)  http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC=DE675888-E60A-4219-8A5E-000083244D13 

(3) http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={4771B53E-D345-4753-BEF4-68C1CA71CE13}

(4)  http://www.oceanetwork.org/currents/Court.pdf 

(5)  http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC=12D52BF9-1D6D-4EEC-B83B-F74B3F91BDF6&Type=B_BASIC 

(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation

Legal Aspects of Entheogen Use in the US: Part One

While I still have not spoken with a lawyer about the legal aspects of raising children in the US while participating in a spiritual path that employs the use of (currently illegal) entheogenic medicines, I want to begin the discussion of this very complex and important topic today with a review of some of the information available online.  I have found a number of valuable online resources from the Council on Spiritual Practices (CSP) (1) and the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (CCLE) Entheogens and Drug Policy Project (2).  Numerous other writers have added their perspectives in journals and blogs.

The prevalent attitude on this topic can be summed up as follows: "Unfortunately, the courts and law enforcement in the United States are rarely sympathetic toward the use of psychoactive sacraments."(3)

Questions to answer
1.  What are the existing laws around the religious use of entheogens?
2.  What are the exceptions to these laws - legal churches that use entheogens as sacraments? 
3.  What commonalities do the existing legal churches share?
4.  What do the courts have to say and what is the current legal climate?
5.  What are the legal rights of parents in terms of being able to participate in the religious use of entheogens as part of their First Amendment rights within - or without - the context of these churches? 
6.  What are the legal precedents in terms of children being able to be present at these religious ceremonies?  In terms of children being able to choose to consume the sacraments at their parents' church?
7.  What is the history of legal proceedings against parents who have made religious entheogen use the basis of their spirituality, in particular in terms of custody battles, incarceration, and Child Protective Services?  Are there parents who have (legally) fought for the right to include their children in these traditions?


As you can see there is a lot of territory to cover!
**********************************************************************************
1.  Existing laws around the use of entheogens

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” - First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

As has been mentioned elsewhere in this blog,  the following entheogenic substances - ayahuasca, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, ibogaine, and wachuma - contain ingredients that are illegal to possess or consume (wachuma is legal to own but not to ingest) unless you are part of an organized entheogen-based church.  Specifically, the illegal compounds are DMT,  ibogaine, mescaline, peyote, psilocybin, and psilocybin (there are more but for the purposes of this book I am sticking to these few).  (For a discussion about other entheogenic substances, see https://www.erowid.org/entheogens/ or http://entheopedia.org/plants)  These are Schedule One controlled substances, meaning:

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. (4)

2. Exceptions (that I know about - still looking into this topic)
These churches have fought legal battles to protect their religious rights to use entheogenic sacraments: the Santo Daime Church and the Unaio de Vegetal Church (both ayahuasca churches), and the Native American Church (NAC), which uses peyote.  Current law requires members of the NAC to have at least 25% American Indian ancestry, although some churches allow Caucasians to become members. (5)  (Note: I am part of a legal church in the US that uses yagé as a sacrament, but as I have mentioned before, as requested by my elders, the name and members of this church will remain private.)  I also have a local friend who has a church group dedicated to the sacramental use of wachuma, which operates as an official church through the NAC.

3.  Commonalities
In order to become a church that employs the use of an illegal entheogen as a sacrament, in the past, an organization had to prove that the use of the sacrament in question was "...fundamental to the practice of their faith,"(6) and that they were a "REAL" church and not just an excuse for a bunch of people to get together and get high.  This was done in a variety of ways, including proving their use of the sacrament came from a long-standing tradition, with elders and a lineage; condemning the use of their sacrament outside of the confines of their particular tradition (leading to a fairly conservative or fundamentalist perspective); and proving to the satisfaction of the court that the use of the entheogen/sacrament is "...THE CENTRAL practice in the religious life of the group." (6)  This has proven quite difficult to prove, hence the very few numbers of organizations who have done so.

4.  In the Courts:
I am not going to review all of the religious freedom court cases here.  If you are interested in that topic please see The Entheogen Law Reporter - https://www.erowid.org/library/periodicals/journals/journals_telr.shtml; or The Hoasca case - http://www.journalofpsychoactivedrugs.com/Articles/Bullis%20402.pdf; or the countless other references available with the help of google!

However, the Supreme Court ruling in Employment Division v. Smith (1990), where two employees - also members of the NAC - were denied unemployment benefits after being fired for testing positive for mescaline (peyote) deserves special mention.  This case left the religious freedom of entheogenic use in serious question.  From the decision: "Although states have the power to accommodate otherwise illegal acts done in pursuit of religious beliefs, they are not required to do so."  Basically the argument was that a person was not legally able to use their religious motivation to use peyote to defy the state of Oregon's neutral laws against possession of peyote.

This case precipitated the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was passed by Congress in response to the needs of the NAC, as an attempt by the courts to restore the meaning of the First Amendment rights that had previously been held up by the courts. (See http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/01/how-rfra-works-explained-in-one-chart/ for a succinct summary of this act).    This law reinstated the "Sherbert Test," the 'strict scrutiny' litmus for whether or not the free exercise clause guaranteeing a person's religious freedom had been violated.  Interestingly, the RFRA was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, who said it is not "... a proper exercise of Congress's enforcement power." (7) As a result, twenty states have also passed State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, to localize legislation.

My friend over at Psychedelic Parenting (http://www.psychedelicparenting.org/) makes a really good point about all this: that while, for example, a born-again Christin can prove their faith by simply affirming that they have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and talking about prayer, it is exceedingly difficult for someone to prove that their use of entheogens IS their religion.  As he writes, "...those Americans who subscribe to a personal spirituality involving entheogenic plants often fear to even pass on those values to their own children, for fear that the kids will tell the wrong teacher or friend, and the family will be divided, parents in prison, children in foster care.  Should they wish to have the protection of the law to express their religious and spiritual beliefs, they must first be arrested, and then “prove” to a judge that they are, in fact a 'real religion'." "(Parents) have failed to pass on to their kids the source of their peacefulness, the sacrament that brings them understanding, the font of their joy, simply because they have been rightly afraid of the wedge that the law has put between them and their children."(6)   The prevalent attitude is that people take these 'drugs' to get high.  Period... and despite all evidence to the contrary!  Even 'spiritual' people doubt the use of entheogens as a valid religious path, somehow thinking that people who become more enlightened using 'substances' are somehow cheating the process. 


To close for the day, on the topic of the political climate of the use of entheogens, and in response to many of my friends' genuine concern in regards to my using my own name on this project (and their fear of repercussions), here is a quote from Martin Ball (see also http://www.entheological-paradigm.net/).  I couldn't have said it better myself:

“The State has the power to destroy your life. There’s absolutely no question about that, and so the state is incredibly dangerous in that sense. And it’s vindictive, it’s misguided, it’s built on illusion upon illusion upon illusion. The problem is that these illusions can still come to get you, even if they’re illusions. It’s a difficult call that ultimately people have to judge for themselves. But the other side of that is this: If no one stands up, nothing’s going to change. Someone’s got to do it. Personally, reality is more important than anything I might want to protect, such as my own personal well-being or comfort, so I’m not going to hide myself in any way. Although there are certain details I’ll avoid discussing on podcasts. But if they really wanted me, the data is all right there. I’m all-in at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and the last thing I want would be to be separated from them, and although prison would profoundly suck, I’m not going to edit myself in order to avoid something that I don’t have any real certainty is actually going to happen. Reality will always win, eventually.” (8)

I will be posting more, sooner than next week, I hope (I mean... I intend!).

(1) http://www.csp.org/society/docs/telr-free_exercise.html
(2) http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/proj_entheo.html
(3) Stuart, R.  "Entheogenic Sects and Psychedelic Religions." http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v12n1/12117stu.html
(4) http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/812.htm
(5) http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v12n1/12117stu.html
(6) "Religious Freedom in a Post - "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby" World." http://www.psychedelicparenting.org/?cat=7
(7)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Freedom_Restoration_Act
(8) Interview with Martin Ball.  Psychedelic Parenting.  http://www.psychedelicparenting.org/?cat=7

Addiction, Suffering, and Compassion

If you have been reading along so far, it should be pretty clear that we live in a very addicted country (world?). I looked up "Types of Addictions" online and up popped a website, listing them A - Z!(1)  Seriously.  Besides things I have discussed in previous blogs, like television, alcohol, and sugar, and the obvious villains, the 'bad drugs' like heroin, cocaine, crack,  and PCP, and tobacco, there are SO many other things to which we can be addicted: food, shopping, shop-lifting, sex, gambling, gaming, porn, plastic surgery, exercise, risky behavior, and on and on and on...

Addictions and the Brain

Before we go farther down this road, let's take another look at brain chemistry.  In the last post I was talking about the dopamine-reward brain circuitry.  This circuit developed to guide evolving humans towards natural rewards like food, sex, and bonding.  In today's world, however, "extreme versions of natural rewards have a unique ability to capture us." (2)   When we are exposed to high calorie foods, or the constant novelty of endless numbers of beautiful, potential 'mates' having sex on a screen, or anything on the above list, each occurrence gives us an extra dopamine hit to the brain, too much of which can override our natural satiation mechanism.  In addition, there is a protein which Wilson (see reference 2) describes as a molecular switch, called Delta Fos B, which is released when dopamine surges.  This protein accumulates in the brain's reward circuit over time, and causes cravings for more... of whatever 'it' is.  This cycle - excessive consumption and dopamine surges, followed by accumulation of Delta Fos B, followed by cravings for more - ends with structural changes to the addict's brain: it numbs their pleasure response, it gives them a hyper-reactivity to whatever they're addicted to, and it erodes their willpower. (2) 

Why?  What do ALL of these 'things' have in common?  Some of them are behaviors, and some are substances.  Some people can use these substances and/or participate in these behaviors without getting addicted - but many cannot.  For example, there are an estimated 2 out of 3 Americans who are overweight (this statistic is shock to me, btw), and about half of them are obese.(3)   So the rate of becoming 'addicted' to food seems pretty high.  On the other hand, hard drugs like cocaine, crack and heroin only hook about 10% of people who try them.  So the things in and of themselves are not necessarily the cause of the addiction. What is going on that makes some people more likely to become addicted?

What Causes Addiction? 

Dr. Gabor Maté has an excellent You Tube video out entitled "What is Addiction?" (4)  that answers precisely this question, in my opinion, anyway.  His view is that all addictions are attempts to soothe the pain of life, to get away from distress.  Interestingly, according to Maté, the brain does not distinguish between physical pain and emotional pain.  When a person suffers from an emotional rejection, it lights up or activates the same part of the brain as if they had been stabbed with a knife.  

In his work with severe addicts, Dr. Maté begins not by asking "Why the addiction," but instead, "Why the pain?"  And in this work, with thousands of addicts, this question is always, every single time, answered by emotional loss or trauma experienced as a child.  In his video, Maté quotes Keith Richards, guitarist (and famous heroin addict) from the Rolling Stones, who says, "All the contortions we go thorough (are) just not to be ourselves for a few hours."  So why would anyone not want to be themselves?  Because of the pain.  Because it hurts.  Because anything is better than having to face THAT...

Or is it?  Sadly, trying to get away from the pain, to escape or avoid it, just causes more pain.  The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying says "Whatever you do, don't try and escape from your pain, but be with it."  My medicine tradition is big on teaching about surrendering to 'what is' in the moment, believing that by surrendering (as opposed to fighting against), we can move through the pain.  Easy to say - and NOT so easy to do, especially when we feel our pain is going to overwhelm us.  I can remember years ago worrying that if I started crying I would NEVER be able to stop.  I would just shut it down if tears came up, get angry, push it away, and then reach for that next cigarette, next shot, etc...

We are also not taught how to do this - how to be with our pain, with ourselves.  Our parents didn't know how, or if they did, it was minimal.  Nor did their parents before them.  So each new generation gets to hold the unresolved pain of the last one, plus the layers passed down from our lineage, as well as our own stuff layered on top, with no tools with which to cope.  We are not taught emotional intelligence as kids in school, and are in fact more likely to be further traumatized by bullies, gossip, cliques, and negative stereotyping.  My peers mostly taught me about rejection, and to be more mistrustful of others and protective of myself.  I can't speak for every religious tradition, but speaking personally, I was not taught how to be with myself and my pain in my Methodist church groups or though sermons.   We live in a culture, as already written about in this blog, that is about instant relief, ' a pill for every ill.'   We live in a culture that prizes distraction, surface beauty, and external symbols of success.  As Dr. Maté says, "...we live in a culture that is based on, both economically and psychologically, on not supporting people to be with themselves."    Thus, we live in a culture of addicts.

Scientists are still looking for the reasons why some people become addicted and some don't. 

How Can People Be With Themselves (with their Pain)? 

Buddhists believe that the way to start to end suffering (dukkha) is to first admit to oneself that suffering is unavoidable and is a natural part of life. (5)  Christians believe (in part) that the way to end suffering is to turn over ones troubles to God, letting the burdens go, then praying and remembering to be thankful for all of it.  

Compassion

 

Dr. Maté says that people CAN learn to be with their pain, but only if there is an 'other' present, from whom they can sense some compassion.   He says, "So addicted people need a compassionate presence which will permit them to experience their pain without having to run away from it." 

Compassion means "to suffer together." (6)  It basically let's the sufferer know that they are not alone.

I like this treatment of the issue: 

(7)

Benefits of Suffering

A good friend once commented on suffering (and I am paraphrasing here), "Suffering is like water flowing through a canyon: the more water that flows, the deeper the canyon is gauged into the rocks; the deeper the suffering, the more it gauges out your heart, making more room for you to be filled with empathy, compassion, joy, happiness, faith, hope, and gratitude."  Most spiritual traditions agree that suffering has many benefits, including teaching us greater humility, expanding our natural capacity for wisdom, increasing our creativity and resourcefulness, providing us with greater compassion, and (in our best moments) helping others who are struggling by our example. (8)

A Way Out

If you or someone you know is addicted, consider using a mindfulness technique to focus on the present moment, and not on regrets from the past or worries about the future.  "Where we put our focus on is what our mind grabs onto," says Dr. Paul Gilbert. (5)  If we are always focusing on the problems in our lives, we will feel worse and worse.  If we instead can focus what is true in this moment ("I am safe," "I have a warm home," I have food to eat," etc), and even better, on what we are grateful for in the moment, our minds will start working like that - towards the positive.   One very simple and helpful mindfulness practice: noting thoughts that come through as 'past,' 'present,' or 'future,' whenever you think of it during your waking hours.  This can help to connect our conscious mind to our unconscious mental habit of living in the past or the future.  I also highly recommend The Presence Process by Michael Brown as a mindfulness primer and as a way to get in touch with and release stored negative emotions.(9)

Finally, remember that none of us - and yet paradoxically, all of us - are alone.  We all feel alone with our pain, but we are not.  There are people who can understand how it feels, who can listen, who can empathize without criticism or judgment.  And this small grace can help us, can shine a tiny ray of light into the darkness of our pain.  Sometimes that's all it takes.  If you are addicted and want help, or you're suffering and are not sure how to cope, please reach out to your neighborhood community, to your religious circle, to your co-workers; go to the library and look for support circles, for meditation classes, for a way to connect with others.  If you are not addicted or suffering, reach out and find someone who needs a supportive, compassionate presence in their life.  Become a mentor, a hospice worker, a meals-on-wheels driver... there are many opportunities to give back to the world when we are in a place of fullness.  And this just in: listen to a great spiritual teacher speak on the subject of compassionate listening. (10)

This tradition of which I am part is one such supportive community.  And this medicine path, although not for everyone, is one way to learn how to be more present with all of it.   May all sentient beings find and share compassion in this lifetime!


(1) http://www.addictionz.com/types-of-addictions/
(2) Wilson, Gary. "The Great Porn Experiment."   TED Talk,  TEDxGLASCOW.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSF82AwSDiU
(3) "Overweight and Obesity Statistics." NIH.  http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/Pages/overweight-obesity-statistics.aspx
(4) Mate, Gabor, PhD.  "What is Addiction?"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5sOh4gKPIg
(5) http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bs-s03.htm
(6) Scharff, Constance, PhD.  "Cultivating Compassion in Addiction Recovery."  Psychology Today, 9/9/13.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ending-addiction-good/201309/cultivating-compassion-in-addiction-recovery
(7) http://www.robot-hugs.com/comics/2013-05-20-Nest.png
(8) "Benefits of Pain and Suffering."  http://www.whypain.org/benefits_of_pain.html
(9) http://www.namastepublishing.com/products/book/presence-process-revised-edition/9781897238462
(10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyUxYflkhzo