S12 18-1790 Subject: Decriminalizing Entheogenic Plants
From: Councilmember Gallo
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Supporting Entheogenic Plant Practices And Declaring That The Investigation And Arrest Of Individuals Involved With The Adult Use Of Entheogenic Plants On The Federal Schedule 1 List Be Amongst The Lowest Priority For The City Of Oakland
I strongly support this bill! I am a big advocate for ibogaine. I had a years long IV heroin habit. I traveled to Guatemala nine years ago to undergo ibogaine therapy and was able to break free of that dependency. Ibogaine made a huge impact on my life. I quit all substances and became a better person, overcoming trauma that I let define me. My biggest struggles in life have been overcome with various entheogenic plant medicines. I strongly support the move to stop criminalizing possession of these substances. I think it’s time to start looking at the value and medicinal properties of these medicines.
15 years ago my life with given back to me after spending 10 years as a street heroin addict by the plant medicine Ibogaine. I now work and participate, and am an asset to the community of Oakland. I am an awesome father to an awesome 11 year old daughter. Without Ibogaine and those willing to legally risk themselves, all this wouldn't have happened, as I would most likely be dead. It's simple, it is a crime to not decriminalize Ibogaine and other Plant Medicines when they are often the only recourse for addiction, trauma, and other issues that force people from being a productive member of society.
June 3, 2019
Oakland City Council, City of Oakland, CA:
Agenda Item 8-18-1790 recognizes Ibogaine's effectiveness in treating Opiod addiction. Micro-doses (approximately 80 -100 mg taken orally each daily) of Ibogaine have successfully demonstrated to be a beneficial and effective treatment for Parkinson's Disease (PD), yet this plant remains on the Federal Schedule 1 list of substances the Federal Government claims have no medical value. Please approve this Agenda Item, which will: 1., allow for scientific research and medical study of Iboga to take pllace; 2., allow PD sufferers access to Ibogaine without legal ramification, to treat this illness; 3., allow for research into all native plant and fungi life found on planet Earth, many of which are classified as illegal substances, thereby restricting the experience of their known or yet-to-be-discovered benefits for all mankind..
Good afternoon,
I want to share with you about how ibogaine changed my life. As a child (5yr) I was put on stimulant medication for behavior issues. This continued throughout my teenage years & drugs abuse became part of my life. I started running away from home to avoid rules and punishment for my actions. I refused to go to school & I eventually found myself in programs/group homes/jail. I started suffering from depression & I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. My ibogaine experience was so profound it’s hard to even put into words. It’s been a year that I’ve been clean and sober and I’ve had zero craving for drugs & no depression. I feel a strong sense of community. For the first time in my life, I’m working full time, I’ve easily cut ties with certain relationships and activities and I am now healing & repairing the relationships that matter the most! I owe my freedom from addiction to ibogaine.
Sincerely,
Nicole Atkinson
Please pass this resolution. My life was transformed with ibogaine and I know many others who’s lives have been as well. There is a neurochemical transformation that occurs with ibogaine in which the brain is returned to a pre-addictive state, it is particularly unique in regards to the treatment of opioid dependence and has tremendous therapeutic value to all those in the grip of addiction, and therefore value also to families and loved ones and society at large. I was born in Oakland and will be proud if the City Council sees fit to decriminalize these plants which can have profound benefit for those in need. Myrrha Reitman
After over a decade of addiction to opiates, the use of both ibogaine and ayahuasca has helped me to remain clean for over three years. These plants helped me to see my life and the world in a different way, to forgive myself, and to start to recover the happiness I hadn't known since I was a child. I still have to work to maintain my sobriety, but without the catalyst of these plants, I don't think I would have felt sufficiently driven to make the changes that I have.
Hello my name is Nicole I’m 38 yrs old I currently live in Oakland. My comment is in support of this resolution. I was in the grip of my addiction for 25 years. Last year my roommate went for Ibogaine treatment. Upon her return I was able to see the total shift in her thinking and actions . She was so confident and happy with the treatment that she received that she sent me to have my Ibogaine treatment as well. I was an alcoholic as well as a meth addict. I was able to see how cravings for alcohol and drugs had controlled my decision making for 25 yrs .After completion of my ibogaine treatment I have been free of cravings from alcohol or drugs. The other day I felt the craving for something and I was terrified that it was going to be for drugs or a drink. I Almost cried when I realized what I wanted was ice water. A total normal thing to want . Not a meth pipe. Not a pint of Bacardi Lemon. This is the major benefit I received from this medicine. Thank you for your time .
The unfortunate criminalized status of entheogenic plant teacher medicines is an historical construction -- a product of the tie-dye backlash against hippie counterculture. Moreover, the federal scheduling of entheogenic medicines is at odds with the cognitive liberties and religious freedoms ensured by both the American Bill of Rights and traditional Laws of universal human rights. I am among those California residents adding my voice pf support to the City Council's righteous resolution to free entheogens from fraudulent and misguided regulation by the Federal government in alliance with the pharmaceutical industry. I applaud the public health approach taken by the City of Oakland, where I resided from 2009-2017. Continue to take the lead in compassionate, natural healing approaches to treating PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance overuse disorders by decriminalizing the Plant Teachers given to us by Mother Earth.
Please, pass this resolution.
From my personal experience and observations of others, enthenogenic plants hold great potential in addressing and aiding with mood disorders, PTSD, depression, addictions, and general well-being.
I greatly appreciate your consideration and support of this resolution.
Through out the history of humanity entheogenic plants have been used for thousands of years in cultures all over the world for its medicinal and healing properties.The entheogen iboga has unique healing properties related to neuroplasticity, the resetting of various neurotransmitter systems in the brain and along the nervous system of the body (Lotsof & Wachtel, 2003). In 1962 Howard Lotsof discovered the anti-addictive properties of ibogaine since then there’s a growing culture that uses ibogaine for treating addiction to heroin, methadone, alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs while it is also used for treating mood disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, etc.) I've worked with substance detox clinics in Mexico as coach/assistant and have seen many adult clients benefit from the use of ibogaine for stopping the withdrawals and physical /psychological addiction.Thank you city of Oakland for supporting the decriminalization of these plants!
Since laws against these plants were made back in the '70s it has become painfully obvious that the basis of those laws - that the plants are dangerous, addictive and useless - is indefensible and that continued enforcement of these laws is to perpetuate a tragic injustice. If anyone doubts this, please check out the clinical trials of psilocybin (the active constituent in magic mushrooms) to treat depression at https://compasspathways.com/ or the use of ibogaine (the main active constituent in the obscure iboga plant) to treat addiction at https://www.ibogainealliance.org/ . Other entheogenic plants have similarly promising applications and wasted potential. Thank you, Oakland City Council, for recognizing and supporting all that has been learned in the last 50 years.
I strongly support this bill! I am a big advocate for ibogaine. I had a years long IV heroin habit. I traveled to Guatemala nine years ago to undergo ibogaine therapy and was able to break free of that dependency. Ibogaine made a huge impact on my life. I quit all substances and became a better person, overcoming trauma that I let define me. My biggest struggles in life have been overcome with various entheogenic plant medicines. I strongly support the move to stop criminalizing possession of these substances. I think it’s time to start looking at the value and medicinal properties of these medicines.
15 years ago my life with given back to me after spending 10 years as a street heroin addict by the plant medicine Ibogaine. I now work and participate, and am an asset to the community of Oakland. I am an awesome father to an awesome 11 year old daughter. Without Ibogaine and those willing to legally risk themselves, all this wouldn't have happened, as I would most likely be dead. It's simple, it is a crime to not decriminalize Ibogaine and other Plant Medicines when they are often the only recourse for addiction, trauma, and other issues that force people from being a productive member of society.
June 3, 2019
Oakland City Council, City of Oakland, CA:
Agenda Item 8-18-1790 recognizes Ibogaine's effectiveness in treating Opiod addiction. Micro-doses (approximately 80 -100 mg taken orally each daily) of Ibogaine have successfully demonstrated to be a beneficial and effective treatment for Parkinson's Disease (PD), yet this plant remains on the Federal Schedule 1 list of substances the Federal Government claims have no medical value. Please approve this Agenda Item, which will: 1., allow for scientific research and medical study of Iboga to take pllace; 2., allow PD sufferers access to Ibogaine without legal ramification, to treat this illness; 3., allow for research into all native plant and fungi life found on planet Earth, many of which are classified as illegal substances, thereby restricting the experience of their known or yet-to-be-discovered benefits for all mankind..
Good afternoon,
I want to share with you about how ibogaine changed my life. As a child (5yr) I was put on stimulant medication for behavior issues. This continued throughout my teenage years & drugs abuse became part of my life. I started running away from home to avoid rules and punishment for my actions. I refused to go to school & I eventually found myself in programs/group homes/jail. I started suffering from depression & I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. My ibogaine experience was so profound it’s hard to even put into words. It’s been a year that I’ve been clean and sober and I’ve had zero craving for drugs & no depression. I feel a strong sense of community. For the first time in my life, I’m working full time, I’ve easily cut ties with certain relationships and activities and I am now healing & repairing the relationships that matter the most! I owe my freedom from addiction to ibogaine.
Sincerely,
Nicole Atkinson
Please pass this resolution. My life was transformed with ibogaine and I know many others who’s lives have been as well. There is a neurochemical transformation that occurs with ibogaine in which the brain is returned to a pre-addictive state, it is particularly unique in regards to the treatment of opioid dependence and has tremendous therapeutic value to all those in the grip of addiction, and therefore value also to families and loved ones and society at large. I was born in Oakland and will be proud if the City Council sees fit to decriminalize these plants which can have profound benefit for those in need. Myrrha Reitman
After over a decade of addiction to opiates, the use of both ibogaine and ayahuasca has helped me to remain clean for over three years. These plants helped me to see my life and the world in a different way, to forgive myself, and to start to recover the happiness I hadn't known since I was a child. I still have to work to maintain my sobriety, but without the catalyst of these plants, I don't think I would have felt sufficiently driven to make the changes that I have.
Hello my name is Nicole I’m 38 yrs old I currently live in Oakland. My comment is in support of this resolution. I was in the grip of my addiction for 25 years. Last year my roommate went for Ibogaine treatment. Upon her return I was able to see the total shift in her thinking and actions . She was so confident and happy with the treatment that she received that she sent me to have my Ibogaine treatment as well. I was an alcoholic as well as a meth addict. I was able to see how cravings for alcohol and drugs had controlled my decision making for 25 yrs .After completion of my ibogaine treatment I have been free of cravings from alcohol or drugs. The other day I felt the craving for something and I was terrified that it was going to be for drugs or a drink. I Almost cried when I realized what I wanted was ice water. A total normal thing to want . Not a meth pipe. Not a pint of Bacardi Lemon. This is the major benefit I received from this medicine. Thank you for your time .
The unfortunate criminalized status of entheogenic plant teacher medicines is an historical construction -- a product of the tie-dye backlash against hippie counterculture. Moreover, the federal scheduling of entheogenic medicines is at odds with the cognitive liberties and religious freedoms ensured by both the American Bill of Rights and traditional Laws of universal human rights. I am among those California residents adding my voice pf support to the City Council's righteous resolution to free entheogens from fraudulent and misguided regulation by the Federal government in alliance with the pharmaceutical industry. I applaud the public health approach taken by the City of Oakland, where I resided from 2009-2017. Continue to take the lead in compassionate, natural healing approaches to treating PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance overuse disorders by decriminalizing the Plant Teachers given to us by Mother Earth.
.. 🤩 ..
Please, pass this resolution.
From my personal experience and observations of others, enthenogenic plants hold great potential in addressing and aiding with mood disorders, PTSD, depression, addictions, and general well-being.
I greatly appreciate your consideration and support of this resolution.
Thank you,
Elena P.
Through out the history of humanity entheogenic plants have been used for thousands of years in cultures all over the world for its medicinal and healing properties.The entheogen iboga has unique healing properties related to neuroplasticity, the resetting of various neurotransmitter systems in the brain and along the nervous system of the body (Lotsof & Wachtel, 2003). In 1962 Howard Lotsof discovered the anti-addictive properties of ibogaine since then there’s a growing culture that uses ibogaine for treating addiction to heroin, methadone, alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs while it is also used for treating mood disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, etc.) I've worked with substance detox clinics in Mexico as coach/assistant and have seen many adult clients benefit from the use of ibogaine for stopping the withdrawals and physical /psychological addiction.Thank you city of Oakland for supporting the decriminalization of these plants!
Please pass this resolution. Adults should be trusted to make their own informed decisions.
Since laws against these plants were made back in the '70s it has become painfully obvious that the basis of those laws - that the plants are dangerous, addictive and useless - is indefensible and that continued enforcement of these laws is to perpetuate a tragic injustice. If anyone doubts this, please check out the clinical trials of psilocybin (the active constituent in magic mushrooms) to treat depression at https://compasspathways.com/ or the use of ibogaine (the main active constituent in the obscure iboga plant) to treat addiction at https://www.ibogainealliance.org/ . Other entheogenic plants have similarly promising applications and wasted potential. Thank you, Oakland City Council, for recognizing and supporting all that has been learned in the last 50 years.