Wednesday, May 11th, 2022 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

Join Ethan Nadelmann in conversation with Bia Labate about important questions involving the relationship between psychedelics, culture, and politics. Ethan, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, is a historical leader of the drug reform movement in the United States, and has influenced so many of us. He has a historical and overarching view on drug reform that other hardly do, and Chacruna is honored to host him. Some of the questions to be addressed are: What is psychedelic exceptionalism and what are your views on it? What is, and should be, the relationship between psychedelics and broader drug policy reform? In what ways has the evolution and success of cannabis law reform shaped the “psychedelic renaissance”? What is going on in Oregon? How can we understand the somewhat surprising support for psychedelics research and access among prominent Republicans and conservatives? What risks lie ahead in the psychedelics field?

Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (https://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-iri.org, https://chacruna-la.org). She serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is also Diversity, Culture, and Ethics Advisor at the Synthesis Institute. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-four books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).

Ethan Nadelmann, described by Rolling Stone as "the point man" for drug policy reform efforts and “the real drug czar,” is widely regarded as the outstanding proponent of drug policy reform both in the United States and abroad. He founded and directed first The Lindesmith Center and then the Drug Policy Alliance from 1994 to 2017, during which time he and his colleagues were at the forefront of dozens of successful campaigns to legalize marijuana and advance other alternatives to the war on drugs. Ethan has published extensively, including two books on the internationalization of criminal law enforcement (Cops Across Borders and (with Peter Andreas) Policing The Globe), and spoken publicly in roughly forty states and forty countries.  His TED Talk on ending the drug war has over two million views, with translations into 28 languages.  Ethan currently hosts the leading podcast on all things drugs: PSYCHOACTIVE.

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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Ethan Nadelmann in conversation with Bia Labate: Anti-Prohibitionist Advocacy since Reagan was President