Agreed...as I said initially, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade or argue that my way is the only way. Imo, any progress in any arena through any channel is progress for us all.

I'm currently trying to work on bringing CEL into what I initially envisioned it as; a hybrid of erowid and MPP/NORML focused on entheogens. The thing is, it's still very early in the game for PACs or political commercials...for the time being I'd like to work on creating a structure that would include:

1) hosting the various studies on psychedelics that have been floating around various threads
2) some sort of FAQ
3) writing covering entheogen-related news/media (i.e. interpreting psychedelic busts such as 27 pounds of DMT seized at customs, explaining or op-ed'ing stories like the Hopkins psilocybin studies, and things of that general nature)
4) "About" sections for different entheogens so that people can get information directly from the site, perhaps a section on usage (spiritual/medicinal and guidelines for safe/responsible use in various contexts)
5) some discussion on legality from the cost of prohibition on society as a whole to the personal costs.

Additionally, essays/editorials from the community on anything from personal positive experiences with entheogens to the state of our civil liberties and the aspects of our lives subjected to oppression because of the substance we choose to use.

Please add anything you think I may have missed...this is just a rough first run off the top of my head.

Once we have this initial framework erected, then I think it will be apparent what is missing and that can be added too. Following this, fundraising can begin, perhaps with the initial purpose of providing testing for substances (a la dance safe...SpiritSafe perhaps? ) and organizing community gatherings focused on entheogens (possibly with speakers, etc). Right now it seems early to launch political ad campaigns and we certainly won't have enough to pay for real lobbyists...but I think this could serve to get the ball rolling.

^ 100% agree.

I think we should probably switch this conversation to the CEL thread, though. Seeing as this thread was for the (defunct?) JUREMA WAY religion... heheheh.

We certainly agree upon more than we disagree upon. If what we have in terms of differences could even be categorized as disagreement.

Peace Snozz.

Ok, so, now we have a new workthread for CEL...I will be posting things as I get them done. I'd love for others to share their ideas and post anything they think off to help with this.

The first thing I will be doing is compiling various wiki pages to create a single Entheogen FAQ...this will address what is an entheogen, what are the entheogens to which we are referring, their effects, histories of use and safety. After that I'll see what seems easiest to tackle next.

Good, good. Snozzle, you are a very realistic, or maybe even pessimistic person...... so if you believe this will have some impact, I am inclined to believe it will.

I don't really know what to do about information dissemination. As I see it, the information is already out there, people just don't want to look, and don't want to believe what they look at, unless it's negative information that makes them scared.

There are actually quite a few concrete things that we can do Apoc. No movement or push for change ever just spontaneously erupted into being fully formed... despite what you might see on TV from time to time. The whole "the people rose up and spoke" idea is a great meme for cable news, but it ignores the very real and essential grassroots efforts that lead up to any social movement.

Snozz might disagree with some of this (at this early stage anyway), but I think we need to do the whole "special interest" group song and dance. The sooner the better.

This entails:

1) Forming a PAC so we can take money and use it to buy off politicians.
2) Perhaps forming a connected 501 C3 non-profit (or local equivalent outside the US) for even more effective fund raising.
3) Forming a think tank and having regular meetings to shape a definitive course of action.
4) Hiring professional lobbyists to represent our interests to politicians.
5) Conducting workshops and seminars... symposia even.
6) Creating PSAs and other PR material to get the message out.
7) Attracting celebrities and experts to our cause as spokespeople or merely endorsers.
Distilling our arguments down to concise statements that are irrefutable and printing up flyers, circulars... even bumper stickers.
9) Getting a top notch Lawyer.
10) Getting a top notch Publicist.
11) Drawing up initiatives & propositions and getting them on the ballot.
12) Writing intelligent and thoughtful op-ed's (for newspapers) and magazine articles.
13) Funding, filming and promoting a documentary.
14) Getting politicians to sign a pledge that they support Entheogenic Liberty.
15) Talk incessantly to everyone about Entheogenic Liberty so the meme takes hold.

Obviously there are more things and I could go on & on. These are not in any kind of order either. It is possible that engaging in this action could turn up the heat for many people for some period of time. There are plenty who will respond with the old "why rock the boat, they mostly just leave us alone right now" tact. What do we really have to gain? Well, I believe that we are not criminals. We shouldn't have to associate with or act like criminals simply because we have found that entheogens actually do what the name implies.

We need people to recognize that responsible, adult use of entheogenic compounds is actually less dangerous to their users, as well as to them & to their kids, than beer drinking or junk food. Furthermore, it should be none of anyone's business what adults decide to do in the privacy of their own homes. Every person who gets their door kicked in and their dwelling overturned... their reputations and livelihoods destroyed, or g*d forbid has to spend time in a penal institution with actual felons, is an unacceptable loss. It is a repugnant and indefensible situation that has to stop.

"We're here. We're trippers. Deal with it."

That's my thoughts on the matter anyway..

None of this (at least none of the points not covered in the creation of the CEL-site) ^^^ can happen until we have an actual functioning and fleshed out CEL site. I don't disagree with it, it's just that it's like talking about putting the capstone on the Washington monument before you've even begun to assemble the foundation (as you said, too early ).

The old site is currently down, I will be talking to Trav when he returns about getting that up and running again.

My first project to complete is some sort of condensed wiki-based entheogen FAQ. Following that I will be assembling as many of the scientific articles we have on this site to be put up in a reference section on the CEL site. Following that we need to fill up sections on legality, news, "about" specific entheogens (perhaps common uses/potential problems), practices for safe/responsible use and begin assembling essays. Additionally, I think that there could be a section or "store" for art in addition to allowing for straight donations.

There is no point to creating a PAC until such a time that the site is bringing in enough capital to warrant one...otherwise it's just political masturbation. Right now there is no entheogen lobby...creating one makes sense, but it doesn't make sense until we actually have the funds to do something (and pro-entheogen political ads seem premature at the present moment, imo).

If anyone has suggestions or contributions to make to actually getting the site up and running (and fully populated with the things it will need) please chime in.

Feel free to chime in on other arenas too, just know that this is going to be a slow and steady process

I'd like to write a contribution together with a friend of mine about psychedelics viewed from an integral perspective. I already have some material for this but it's not really fleshed out yet. This will also go into the history of psychedelics and the altered mind-states and how the marginalisation of entheogens and their use may be seen as related to certain developmental stages of human culture/society. It's basically a theory tying historic events to certain phases of human consciousness. Anyway, I'd like to contribute this, but it will take a while to write, since I am pretty swamped with work atm, and have to collaborate with my friend who knows a bit more about integral theory than I do.

I also wrote a pseudo-paper about the kind of psychedelic education we are doing here in the nexus, but it needs a little more work before I can *publish it* at CEL press What it needs most is data from the questionary... which unfortunately is only filling slowly. Anyway these two things will come into existence sooner or later.

I agree about the Wiki & the website.

Of course, forming a non-profit &/or a PAC doesn't cost hardly anything. The filing fee is negligible... furthermore it is the only way to actually raise money. Selling art and a donate button will net you chump change. I know this from experience.

Anyway, first things first. A functional website and some content aggregation is a good place to start.

what exactly is a PAC and is it something that is useful globally? or is it something U.S. specific?

PAC = Political Action Committee

It is a group of people banded together on a single issue or a group of issues determined to make changes to political policy or protect certain interests. They are allowed to collect money and spend it in campaign funding, drawing up of legislation etc. They are generally more powerful than the sum of their parts and are often the only way for people to get their representatives to pay attention to them. Wikipedia it if you are really interested. The Super PAC is the PAC of choice lately. Even comedian Stephen Colbert has very publicly formed one recently to lampoon the political process.

In this case it is US specific, but I know of similar organizational ideas in other countries... and certainly most nations have clear rules about who can give & receive money in a political context.

It would probably be best if politicians actually acted like public servants and were sensitive to their constituents' will... but since that is not the case, PACs and other groups are a way to get them to listen by talking in a language they understand. $$$