Approach

The Drugs are NOT the Problem, the Drug War is the Problem.

We are all drug users.

Whether we use coffee, alcohol, or sugar in the form of a crystalline white powder, as human beings, we all experience the desire to temporarily alter our state of consciousness, if only for a moment.

The drug use itself — and our identities as drug users — are not problematic in & of themselves. Rather, the problems that we associate with drug use — whether it’s the isolation and shame from using drugs, the feeling of helplessness when we see a loved one struggling with a chaotic relationship with substances, the grief from death and violence — are the problems that we at the Center for Political Drug Education are working to heal.

How does the War on Drugs create drug-related problems?

As human beings, we have always had a relationship with drugs in the form of mind-altering and medicinal plants, including coffee, tea, alcohol, opium, peyote, ayahuasca, mushrooms, and more.

This “drug use” once occurred in sacred community. Elders would pass on teachings, practices, and rituals that honored these plants. Our ancestors grew, tended, harvested and prepared these plants, cultivating deep relationships with these medicines and the world around them.

Colonization then destroyed many of our communities around the world, severing our relationship with our lands, our families, and our own bodies. 

The War on Drugs was one of the earliest tools of colonization -- justifying the genocide of indigenous communities, the labor exploitation of early Chinese migrants fleeing the Western-fueled Opium War, the racial profiling of Mexican migrants in the 1930s, and the incarceration of poor and working-class black communities in the 1980s. 

Today, the War on Drugs props up racism and capitalism throughout the world, further fracturing our communities, not only through the brutal violence of the criminal justice system and policing, but also by creating an insidious culture of fear and silence around drugs in our communities.

The result?

Silence: Most people grow up without access to spaces where they can learn accurate information about drugs, have open and honest conversations, and reflect on their relationships with drug use in the presence of peers and with the support of trusted adults, teachers, and guides. Many adults are completely unaware when young people in their lives begin making decisions to engage in drug use, and even after becoming aware of drug use, most adults are ill-equipped to support them.

Disconnection: Young people who experiment with drugs or develop problematic relationships with drugs are pushed out of their schools or punished by their families, disconnecting them from networks of support when they need them most. The institutional, interpersonal, and internalized stigma of being a person who uses drugs then sets the stage for increased shame, isolation, and subsequent risk-taking around drugs.

Intergenerational Trauma: The combination of silence and disconnection in our communities, coupled with the violence of the War on Drugs, racism, and capitalism, creates the conditions for the trauma we’ve experienced around drugs to be passed down to future generations. 

When we understand the War on Drugs, we can begin to heal our identities as drug users.

All systems of oppression force us to sacrifice our humanity. We learn that we must choose between safety, dignity, and belonging in order to survive. For people of color who are impacted by racism, we may learn that belonging in a white-supremacist world means we have to sacrifice our safety. For women and femme-identified folks who are impacted by patriarchy, we may learn that if we choose safety, we may have to sacrifice dignity. 

As a system of oppression, the War on Drugs also forces us to sacrifice and choose between our safety, dignity, and belonging. We learn that calling 911 to save a friend’s life means we may sacrifice their safety or our own if drugs are involved. We learn that struggling with addiction means we sacrifice our dignity in the eyes of our loved ones. We learn that being a person who uses drugs means we do not belong.

The sacrifices that we make to survive, especially when we are young, can often lead us to believe that we are inherently bad, weird, or wrong. However, when we can connect our own experiences with larger systems of oppression, when we realize that we are not alone in their experiences, when we can connect with others who have experienced the same things, we can begin to heal our relationships with ourselves and transform our collective relationship to drugs.

How We Work / What We Teach

We, Frances and Rhana, are both on our own journeys of healing our relationships with ourselves, our identities as drug users, and our relationships with drugs. In our work, we shine light on how the War on Drugs, colonization, racism, and capitalism, have impacted ourselves, our families, and our communities in order to restore balance to and transform our collective relationships with drugs. Our practice embraces the sacredness of life in both its darkness and its light as we hold space for each person or group on their journey towards greater health and wholeness.

We have had the privilege of being students of many compassionate teachers and teachings along the way. Our teachings reflect the diverse ecosystem of the healing and learning communities we have had the privilege to be a part of, including Chandanni Miglino, Copia Health, Generative Somatics, Genesis Healing Institute, The Institute for Aliveness, and Turtle Tank: School for Radical Purpose. Our work is inspired by and rooted in leftist social justice organizing, political education, neuroscience, psychology, mindfulness, nutrition, and various healing and spiritual practices.