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I submitted more testimony in reference to the letter CALL FOR THE REPEAL OF THE PROVISIONS ENACTED PURSUANT TO OREGON BALLOT MEASURE 110 (2020) order 192-23.¹

Specifically, I read from Eight Moms, One House, and a Road Map Out of Drug Addiction.

Also see my testimony from Aug 2023 and last week.

Purely based on subjective experience, I estimate the pharmacodynamics as:

pm <- function(x) 7.5*dchisq(4*(x-.5), 6)

The x axis is hours and the y axis is scaled so that 1 = a capsule of dried Pm mushroom powder.

plot(function(x) pm(x), 0,6, xlab="hours",ylab="capsules")

Using this function, you can estimate the effect of multiple capsules taken at different times. For example, suppose you take 2 at 10am, 1 at 10:45am, 1 at 11:15am, and 1 at 11:45am. If you space out 5 capsules like this then the peak is only about 3.5 capsules worth at 1pm:

On Sep 27, Oregon Public Broadcasting published an article, “Study says drug decriminalization in Oregon did not cause more overdose deaths”¹

Three years after Oregon voters elected to decriminalize drugs, a new study has concluded that the first-in-the-nation law has not led to increased drug use or drug overdoses. The conclusion counters an increasingly common narrative that Oregon’s drug problem is unique in the country — and that decriminalization is to blame.

...

I spent about a decade in the Southeast. I lived in Charlottesville, VA from 2011 to 2017 and in Richmond, VA from 2017 to 2021. Although I identify as one of the most privileged demographics, a white heterosexual man, I suffered from the racism of the Southeast. There is a subtle vibe of cruelty that taints everything from wealthy suburbs to the decaying downtown. I am so glad to leave that place.

Bruce Levine is one of my personal heros.

Interviewed by Mollie Adler on August 22, 2023

I’m not a big fan of the American Psychological Association.

“Doing Harm”: Roy Eidelson on the American Psychological Association’s Embrace of U.S. Torture Program

I have had IFS sessions with one client on multiple occasions with a self-administered psycholytic dose of psilomethoxin (Pm). In addition, I have shared Pm with five people Z, M, W, K1, and K2. What surprised me most from this exploration is that Pm seems to have a built-in exit valve. Or from the opposite point of view, the user only experiences the effects of Pm when focused inside. If you focus outside then you can completely miss the effects. For traditional psychedelics, an exit valve is an aspiration.¹ For Pm, it seems already built-in!

Universal basic income (UBI) is a social and economic policy concept that entails providing all residents of a country with a regular and unconditional financial payment from the government. This payment is designed to cover essential living expenses and ensure a basic standard of living, irrespective of a person’s employment status or income level. The primary aim of UBI is to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and provide a safety net in the face of technological advancements that might disrupt traditional job markets.

Response to letter dated 09 Aug 2023 by Jackson County Commissioners CALL FOR THE REPEAL OF THE PROVISIONS ENACTED PURSUANT TO OREGON BALLOT MEASURE 110 (2020) order 192-23.¹

“Since Measure 110 was passed, there has been a dramatic increase in overdose deaths in Oregon. In 2020, there were 585 overdose deaths. In 2021, that number increased to 917.”

• It is too early to evaluate the effect of Measure 110 on overdose deaths. “It wasn’t until September of 2022 that the Oregon Health Authority announced funds had gone out to each county in the state.”²

“Measure 110 has reduced the deterrent effect of drug laws, making it more likely that people would use drugs.”

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.