In American society, the stigma placed on natural medical substances due to governmental manipulation, fear mongering and lies has hampered any progress toward more common usage. In a country where children under five can be prescribed amphetamines and alcohol kills over 88,000 people annually, the use of ayahuasca in a controlled setting can land you in prison for the same amount of time as heroine.
This is a nanny society that allows us to be physically ruined by pharmaceuticals that have side effects ranging from suicidal behavior and blood clots all the way to cancer and death. These companies pay billions of dollars in fines for these tragedies but it doesn’t affect their progress in the least. Want to know why? Pfizer makes over 250 billion dollars a year, for example. Some companies make over 35 billion annually from one single drug such a Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic with more than a dozen known potential side effects. The reason why they don’t care is because their profits outpace the losses that arrive from lawsuits by hundreds of billions of dollars. Yes, it really is that much of a disparity.
Another thing to consider is that many of these “new” drugs are just re-issues of old ones, often with just a small tweak. This way, when they hire creative writers to dream up new maladies, they have a drug that will quickly jump through the hurdle of FDA scrutiny and head out to the market. Some of the recent ones (like shift worker syndrome) are just small examples of what the writers have created out of thin air to be an issue so more people can be drugged up unnecessarily and have their health slowly deteriorated by the side effects they cause. Also, if they aren’t concocting any new issue, they are using cool marketing to peddle horrible drugs. BiDil, Zetia, Yaz, and statins are great examples of this. From marketing to only black people to presenting “young and cool” chicks that go to the club, these deplorable paragons of evil know exactly how to rake in more cash.
Outside of the horrors committed by these organizations, I am tremendously thankful for the drugs that actually do work for valid issues. There are many of them and their impact on our longevity as a race is notable. If only the companies producing them refrained from many of the inhumane strategies above and stayed within the realm of actually maintaining quality of life, they would make a huge impact on society as a whole. Until then we have to remain strong in our fight against their lobbyists and liars. We need to make a stand for our right to take alternative medicines, such as ayahuasca, provided by our spiritual leaders, especially when the proven efficacy and safety of these materials has been shown over and over again when introduced by those well trained on its dispersal.
Another important element to consider, especially for those that drive toward personal liberty, is that we should have the right to do what we choose with our own bodies. If the person wishing to take alternative substances is of an average soundness of mind, then it is their right to do what they please. No one should tell us what we can and can’t do with our own vehicles. To do so is to claim authority over our sovereignty of self and lay a claim on us as property and wards of the state and government. SoulKind do not accept such nonsense, choosing to partake in The Vine when needed in order to further our spiritual transformation and wisdom while still existing in this world.
The separation of church and state, along with the acknowledgment of our authority should be observed. SoulJourner elders are spiritual guardians of ayahuasca, making sure to utilize it in the appropriate manner, taking all precautions necessary so that the experience is a beneficial one. We make sure that all members are proper candidates for the journey. When ayahuasca has been taken correctly, in the proper setting, there have been no verifiable deaths recorded from its use. It is only when greedy and disgraceful shamans, curious psychonauts, and careless providers involve ayahuasca in their endeavors do issues arise. Yet, even then, the rarity of horrible side effects and deaths along the line of common day to day pharmaceuticals are negligible. It’s a sad realization that the government allows drugs like Accutane, a seemingly innocuous acne medication that has spawned over 173 suicides and 172 children born with physical defects, while yet scheduling ayahuasca as illegal alongside the most destructive drugs known to man.
It’s appalling to see that more people die through the use of plain old Tylenol than those that consume ayahuasca. Of course there would be zero deaths from ayahuasca as long as it remained solely in the hands of those that care for it properly. With acetaminophen (Tylenol), there were over 450 deaths just last year in the US alone, and it’s easy to say that many of those were due to the suggestion of a medical practitioner. By comparison, the few known deaths from ayahuasca were due, ironically enough, to the consumer not informing others about their current regimen of an MAOI inhibitor, a primary component in prescription antidepressants.
The Goal of SoulJourner members is straightforward when it comes to Ayahuasca, a valid constituent of our teaching: To remain autonomous of governmental intervention while providing access to ayahuasca for our members on a selective basis. To be free to worship in peace, do with our bodies as we choose, and partake in the sacred rituals of our faith. Ayahuasca is a core component of this practice and to be denied our right to consume it is to deny us the freedom that the constitution demands.
