"Decriminalizing Nature " with Carlos Plazola (DNO) and Larry Norris (ERIE)
Carlos Plazola - Executive Director, Decriminalize Nature Oakland
This conversation is with Carlos Plazola and Larry Norris of Decriminalize Nature Oakland (also known as DNO). DNO is a grassroots organization in Oakland, California with the mission to improve human health and well-being by decriminalizing and expanding access to entheogenic plants and fungi through political and community organizing, education and advocacy. In 2019 they successfully led a campaign to get psychoactive plants and fungi decriminalized in Oakland. They have since become a model for cities around the united states and the world.
This episode opens up a conversation about the movement to lift up our interconnected relationship with nature and the work to harness the healing power of nature.
We talk about the drug war being a war on people's cognitive liberty and freedom of consciousness. We get into the nuances of what it means to decriminalize something as opposed to legalizing it. This leads us to interesting lessons in the power of grassroots social transformation. We talk about the concept “Entheogen,” which means the divine within as a term for medicinal plants. And we get into the burgeoning research into the powerful healing power of entheogens. And we talk about love, and community.
Larry Norris - Exectuive Director and Co-Founder of ERIE
Larry is the Executive Director & Co-Founder of ERIE (Entheogenic Research Integration & Education). ERIE is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the sharing of entheogenic and transpersonal knowledge in a non-hierarchical, community based format, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Listen to Larry talk about ERIE on the EntheoNation Podcast here.
Warning: This episode includes explicit conversations about psychoactive plants and fungi. Which is an important topic, but also a topic for responsible adults.
Decriminalize Nature Oakland
Decriminalize Nature Oakland (DNO) is an educational campaign to inform Oakland residents about the value of entheogenic plants and fungi and the intention to propose a resolution to decriminalize our relationship to nature.
You can learn more about Decriminalize Nature Oakland here.
Here are some articles about DNO's journey to decriminalize entheogens:
”The Heady, Thorny Journey to Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms”
“How a trip on magic mushrooms helped decriminalize psychedelic plants in a California city”
“No hallucination: Oakland a step closer to approving use of ’shrooms”
“It is time to end the war on entheogenic plants and fungi. Support the inalienable human right to develop our own relationship with nature.”
Support the movement!
The Decriminalize Nature team is working hard behind the scenes to bring educational information to the Oakland community. But they need your support to continue! Please consider donating whatever you can to help support this amazing team of nature-loving folks.
Other Resources
Here are some links and resources inspired by our conversation in the episode:
Decriminalization is happening all over the world. Here are some articles about what's happening in other places.
Michael Pollan
Author/Journalist Michael Pollan’s newest book How to Change Your Mind has done a great deal to bring the healing power of entheogens and psychedelics into the mainstream conversation. Here is an article about his conclusions from the New York Times “Michael Pollan Drops Acid — and Comes Back From His Trip Convinced.”
War on Consciousness
Graham Hancock did a famous/infamous TEDx Talk about the War on Consciousness. It was taken down for reasons that you can read about here and here. Either way, it is a compelling talk about the implications of the war on consciousness. You can watch the talk here: “Graham Hancock - The War on Consciousness BANNED TED TALK”
Related Fractal Friends Episodes
The past episode “Religion, Medicine and Warriorship” with Wahid Azal is another powerful episode about plant medicine.
Music
Mazin Jamal
This song in this episode is by the Oakland-based musician Mazin Jamal.
Mazin is also a coach and consultant who is dedicated to supporting social and environmental impact leaders and teams to embody their values. I personally know Mazin to be a living embodiment of his tagline: Integrity in Action.
You can find more about Mazin and his work at: www.mazinjamal.com.
The song is the part of a slate of new music that he's currently releasing to the world. The song is called "Giving up on Us" and it is about holding onto love even when a relationship needs to end.