Tearing down the “War on Drugs”: Welcome Initiative-81

If you are a resident of the Washington DC area, the November election showed that DC residents are essentially over what has been the US government’s longest and costliest war — the epic failure known as the War on Drugs.

As most people know and quite openly argue, the war on drugs was self-ignited into America by former President Richard Nixon on communities of people who are and were otherwise peaceful Americans.  While drug abuse was the perceived target through Nixon’s policies, the argument of legalization exposed the holes and failures of drug enforcement. 

The past election, however, turned the page and put some silence to the “war on drugs” as many states passed legislation and government initiatives that are now in effect to reform outdated drug enforcement policies.  DC Initiative 81 better known as the Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants Initiative, was passed with 195,773 votes. This initiative was included in the recent ballot thanks to various organizations who wanted to push common sense drug policies that would end the “war on drugs”. Although DC is not the first place where magic mushrooms and other psychedelics have been decriminalized, the impact is beneficial throughout the US as it also encourages more support to reform outdated cannabis policies. 

After Election Day, the support for the conscious- altering plants became very apparent. A Vox report said that marijuana decriminalization was voted positively in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota just to name a few. These measures cover recreational legalization. Mississippi and South Dakota (which had another ballot initiative for medical marijuana) also made the plant legal for medicinal use. 

The report also noted that the approval in Montana, Mississippi, and South Dakota although welcomes was “peculiar” because these are known as conservative states traditionally against reform on any drugs. However, it did clarify that even Republicans have expressed increasing support for the plant over the past few years. 

In DC, the success of Initiative-81 simply means that the law enforcement investigation and arrest of adults for non commercial planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, possessing, and/or engaging in practices with entheogenic plants and fungi among the Metropolitan Police Department’s lowest law enforcement priorities. Since Washington, D.C. is not a state, the legislation will be subject to congressional approval. If approved by Congress within 30 days, Initiative 81 will be implemented and published as law for the District. Although this may seem like a long way before other entheogenic plants are completely legal, this first step is a big step indeed.

Written by: Lady Kay