How You Can Contribute to Our Campaign
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Donate if you can. It does require financial resources to get this done and this work is deserving of compensation. Please have a look at our summary of accomplishments and budget at the bottom of our About page if you'd like to know how your financial support will be invested. Our goal this year is to get 2,000 Philadelphians to donate $5/month. If you can give more, we would be grateful for your support.
Sign our petition if you haven't already and include a brief comment on how entheogens have helped you or someone you know, and encourage your friends, family and like-minded colleagues to do the same (yes, this is actually important!). Please ask for consent before sharing anyone else's identifying information! We feature the most compelling anecdotes on our Instagram account, anonymized out of respect for people's privacy and safety.
Email and call your councilmember as well as one councilmember-at-large, who you can find below. For at-large members, please focus on those who are in leadership positions on the Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services committees. Feel free to use our template below as a guideline but it's important that you personalize it with your own stories or those of people you know. Please cc us or send us a note after you contact them at info@decriminalizenaturephilly.org. We'd be happy to offer our feedback to help hone your communications and it would help us gauge metrics for our campaign's public support, which translates into greater political agency as it increases and becomes more active and sustained.
Follow up once every other week with, for example, brief excerpted highlights of articles from news sources that are generally recognized as well-credentialed. Please connect with us on Instagram (@decriminalizenaturephilly), our primary channel, for curated articles, op-eds, scientific reports, media analysis and commentary, etc. that you can send to your councilmember or refer to as examples. You're also welcome to follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn. Be intentional, succinct (<1 page), and polite.
Take a few minutes to make a phone call or write an email together with friends over coffee or brunch to keep it light and stay motivated and accountable. Debate with each other, alternating playing the role of skeptical or adversarial councilmember, to sharpen your thinking, communications, and persuasion skills.
Support us through other-than-monetary resources. Are you a petitioner, recruiter, digital marketer, writer, PR guru, event organizer, fundraiser, grassroots organizer, government affairs professional, networker, connector, or have other experience that you think could be helpful? Email us at info@decriminalizenaturephilly.org with some brief background info and your phone number and let's chat. There are many ways people can support this campaign, whether they feel comfortable being more out front or would prefer to work more discreetly behind the scenes.
Not sure what to say/write?
Use our call/email template below!
Hello,
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My name is [Name] and I'm one of [Councilmember[ ] ]'s constituents. I am [calling/writing] in support of Decriminalize Nature Philadelphia's campaign to get psychedelic/entheogenic plants and fungi decriminalized in Philadelphia and wanted to request that [Councilmember [ ] ] sponsor or co-sponsor a public hearing on the matter as well as vote in support of their resolution, which can be found on the home page of their website.
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Entheogens are plants and fungi that “inspire a feeling of the divine within” and have been used by many cultures around the world for thousands of years in sacred spiritual traditions. Scientific evidence gathered over the last several decades shows that entheogens have incredible potential to treat drug and alcohol addiction--even cases of treatment-resistant opioid and methamphetamine addiction--as well as post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental and related physical health conditions that so many Philadelphians live with.
According to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH)'s 2021 Health of the City report, adults diagnosed with a depressive disorder fluctuated 19-24% from 2011-2020, indicating no change in trends over a decade despite public health resources allocated. In 2020, 1,214 Philadelphians died of an overdose with 85% of cases involving an opioid, as reported by PDPH. In 2019, 270 Pennsylvania veterans took their own lives due to untreated trauma, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. This was nearly double the civilian suicide rate. In July 2021, CBS News reported that Philadelphia had the highest murder rate per capita among the 10 largest cities in the US. The COVID pandemic exacerbated these problems, but research shows that entheogens are able to help.
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For me, this issue matters because [tell a brief personal story in a short paragraph or two]*
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We should join other major cities including Denver, Oakland, Washington DC, Seattle, Detroit, San Francisco, et al. (25 cities in total) in decriminalizing entheogenic plants and fungi for psycho-spiritual exploration, healing, and growth. Since the early 1970s, federal law has made it a felony offense to use these natural medicines, declaring them as having no health value and high addiction risk despite abundant scientific evidence to the contrary even at the time--and prohibiting scientists from attempting to further demonstrate otherwise! Today, however, we have an important opportunity for Philadelphia to more effectively address the addiction, violence, and mental health issues that are hurting our communities and inhibiting greater economic growth and shared security and prosperity for all.
Decriminalize Nature Philadelphia has produced a two-page summary brief on the public health and safety as well as political risks and benefits of decriminalizing natural psychedelics, which is also available on the home page of their website along with a more detailed presentation. I encourage Councilmember [Last Name] and [gender pronoun] legislative team to review these documents if they have not already.
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Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response on this important matter. Again my name is [Name] and you can reach me at [Phone Number and/or Email]. For more information, please visit www.decriminalizenaturephilly.org and/or email Decriminalize Nature Philadelphia at info@decriminalizenaturephilly.org.
*Please exercise discretion when disclosing sensitive personal information such as details on recent experiences with entheogens if they occurred in places where they are not decriminalized.