Mazatec Indians
A bill (HR 5607- introduced in Congress on October 10, seeks to make the
Mazatec ceremonial plant Salvia divinorum and its active principle Salvinorin A
the next outlawed drugs under federal law. The CCLE is organizing and preparing
opposition to HR 5607, and is also calling upon all interested people to express
their opposition to this unwarranted extension of the US war on drugs.
CCLE has created this Salvia Action Center as well as our Divinorum Defense
Fund, to help coordinate and prepare opposition to HR 5607.
Actions You can Take:
- Make a Tax Deductible Donation to the Divinorum Defense Fund
- All funds are used to oppose the scheduling of the plant Salvia and its
active principle salvinorin A. Funds are necessary to prepare legal
documents and to possibly fly experts to Washington DC to testify. Learn
more ( www.cognitiveliberty.org ), or donate now via Paypal.
- Contact Your Representative
- California Residents: Send a fax, e-mail and/or letter to
Representatives Joe Baca and Grace Napolitano, expressing your objection to
this unwarranted effort to outlaw divinorum and salvinorin A. Scroll down
for address and phone numbers.
- If You Live Outside California: contact your representative using this
Congressional database.
Points to make:
- HR 5607 is an effort to bypass procedural safeguards established for
determining which drugs should be controlled. Rather than make an end-run
around these procedures, Congress, if it truly believes that Salvia meets
the criteria for addition to Schedule I should refer the matter to the
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for his evaluation
and recommendation. This is the procedure established by federal law.
- HR 5607 bill is a political effort to grandstand on the War on Drugs,
when drug prohibition has been shown to cause more harm than good. See Drug
War Facts for useful statistics on the failure of drug prohibition.
- HR 5607 targets a plant that has a long history of shamanic use by the
Mazatec Indians of Mexico, and the plant may well have beneficial medicinal
properties that HR 5607 bill will make all-but-impossible to investigate. A
recent scientific paper for example, reported that divinorum may be an
effective anti-depressant for some people.
- According to the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System maintained by the
American Association of Poison Control Centers, there has not been a single
report of S. divinorum poisoning. The plant does not present a danger to the
public.
- According to a report on Salvia and salvinorin A by the Center for
Cognitive Liberty & Ethics , neither divinorum, nor salvinorin A, meet the
criteria necessary for addition to Schedule I.
- Please forward this e-mail or web page to other web sites, newsgroups, and
interested people or groups.
- Subscribe to our e-mail announcements list to receive breaking news about
efforts to outlaw divinorum and other cognitive liberty issues.
- If you're not a supporting member of the Center for Cognitive Liberty &
Ethics, please join us! Our work in support of cognitive liberty, including
our Entheogen and Drug Policy Project, is only possible with your support. To
learn about becoming a member, go here ( www.cognitiveliberty.org/membership.html
).
To order or with questions call toll free: 1-800-920-1696
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