What a big weekend! So many presentors, including Fire and Earth Erowid, Keeper Trout, 6 other international speakers, and dozens more from across Australia. And as always, an amazing audience of hundreds of lively curious people from around the world, gathered to discuss entheogenic* practices and cultures.
* We call a psychedelic drug an entheogen when we use it as a tool to facilitate direct spiritual experiences. Some of us revere some plants and chemicals as spiritual guides or teachers.
At EGA2011, I facilitated a discussion panel called "Beyond evidence-based policy" in which we explored whether+how we might talk about values in the drug policy debate, rather than just about evidence.
http://www.entheo.net/panel/beyond_evidence_based_drug_policy
I also talked about our right to inebriate ourselves. I argued that:
- we have many reasons to try to end prohibition
- ending prohibition requires more regulation, not less
- specifically, a new schedule for inebriants might be useful
- asserting our right to inebriate ourselves exposes tensions around the status of adults and what makes a good life, and
- expert knowledge can inform but not calculate political decisions.
Here are my speaking notes. I was the last speaker in the Main Dome, on Monday at noon. After me, the banquet!
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