Dear John,

April 20 is an annual holiday in many circles, particularly here in my neighborhood, Haight-Ashbury. It played a special role in the emergence of psychedelic counter-culture in the 1960s. And while the community has been dramatically gentrified in the years since then, it remains a beacon of the same ethos that drove so many to look beyond conventional wisdom.

I’m grateful, among other things, for the acceptance of traditional plant medicines expanding so far beyond my neighborhood. While laws decriminalizing cannabis at the state level continue to sweep across the United States, a great deal of work remains to be done. Congress needs not only to legalize cannabis at the federal level to enable banking services and interstate commerce, but also to legislate limits on grow operations to preserve space for small and family farmers and growers.

Can you donate $4.20 or $42 to strengthen Congress by adding a voice committed to ending the racist war on drugs?

The community that preceded the emergence of a cannabis industry is withering, as small and legacy growers find themselves squeezed by larger operations financed by corporate capital. Outrageously, some of that capital is coming from former corporate politicians like John Boehner, who built careers on the backs of incarcerated people, their families, and their communities, before now seeking profit from the very same activities they once criminalized.

Beyond legalizing cannabis and protecting opportunities for small growers, I also hope to work in Congress to legalize psychedelics. While they offer a safe and effective treatment for many conditions and alternatives to less effective and more dangerous corporate pharmaceuticals, my vision for legalizing psychedelics goes beyond the medical setting to include recreational and spiritual uses.

One reason it’s important to legalize mind-altering substances is to offer an alternative to the black market, where trade—and product safety—are effectively unregulated. San Francisco is reeling from a dramatic rise in overdoses, often suffered by people who didn’t realize that fentanyl had been added to what they thought was another substance.

Our policy vision threatens the prison, policing, and pharmaceutical industries (in addition to those manufacturing fossil fuels and weapons). Can you make a campaign contribution today to fuel our challenge to the corporate Democratic establishment?

Earlier today, we posted a short video (also available on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube) explaining part of the forgotten history behind the war on drugs. In particular, I observe the CIA's role, documented by journalist Gary Webb in his groundbreaking book Dark Alliance, and the implications of Webb's revelations in light of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s analysis of the three “intersecting evils” and Eisenhower’s parallel concerns about the military-industrial complex threatening democracy in America.

Ending the drug war will require more than criminal justice reform. And it will take more than electing District Attorneys critical of mass incarceration.

Ending the war on drugs will require making better decisions on issues from criminal justice to judicial nominations and foreign policy. It will require policymakers willing to challenge militarism, and support the whistleblowers and publishers—from Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden to Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner, and Julian Assange—who expose government secrets.

I'm eager to serve you, our democracy, and the future in that role.

Can you make a contribution today to help extend our reach as we close in on the primary election in just 7 weeks? We're working hard despite a dramatic deficit relative to the dynastic oligarch we're challenging. Your support helps level the playing field.  

Thank you for your support! It's your help that determines the strength and reach of our voice and the power of the alternative that we offer.

Shahid

PS — Not in a position to donate today? Join us as a volunteer! Your time can make an even bigger difference than a contribution, and opportunities abound from wherever you live.