SDG 18: The Protection of the Food of Life
We call the plants and different substances that open a spiritual dimension to human perception by their ancient generic name: the Food of Life. Science recently has baptized them with the term entheogens, generators of the divine within.
Our civilization’s turbulent history with entheogens disqualifies it at once to be a trustworthy partner in their defense and management. We are fortunate though that in the jungles and in the remaining pockets of the planet native peoples have been able to maintain their bond with nature through their consumption of the Food of Life. What they perceive through their consumption is a dimension that we have lost in the era of their prohibition. Thousands of years of withholding the Food of Life has dulled our minds to the point that we are only able to conceive of the world of the spirit as a realm of the imagination. The living spirit that connects all of creation and informs the native peoples about their natural environment no longer manifests in the ossified civilized brains.
It is incumbent upon the world and its global organization, the UNO, to defend at all costs the knowledge about nature that native peoples have been able to preserve. Nature speaks to these peoples; their voices translate nature’s needs and will be essential in its conservation and its rescue from extinction. Therefore, and as these people have been requesting over the last decades, it is incumbent upon the United Nations to help the native communities preserve their indigenous knowledge. This knowledge is an immaterial treasure we cannot afford to lose. Our civilized blindness can no longer be an excuse to ignore the healing power that the Food of Life offers, for the individual, society and nature alike.
Even though civilized humans have lost the power of perception that the native peoples still enjoy, their use of the Food of Life opens their minds to the unconscious parts of their selves. It allows their traumatized minds to heal and offers the harmonious and happy existence known as Life by the native peoples as well as by our own ancient forebears.
After a 1961 deceitful start with the management of the world’s Food of Life, the UN have the duty to amend their erroneous “drugs” policies.
First of all, with regards to the existential value of the different entheogens, a value that should be at the basis of radically new policies about their consumption and production. Secondly, these policies should be in respect of the human rights of their users, taking their mental health and happiness as their goal
Based on these considerations we propose the following targets for the protection of the Food of Life:
The targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 18
18.1 By 2030, the adoption of a drugs peace convention on the right to freedom of consumption, including production and distribution of consciousness altering substances, and the enjoyment of all other human rights and fundamental freedoms, without distinction based on consumption preference.
The exercise of the right to freedom of consumption can of course be restricted, but only by law and when necessary, in a democratic society to serve an evidence-based, legitimate aim of public interest.
18.2 By 2026, the organization of the transfer of information about the Food of Life to all people in charge of the well-being of other people who miss a basic understanding of the benefits and dangers of entheogenic substances and have been misinformed by a history-long stream of deception.
18.3 By 2030, the protection of the seeds of entheogenic plants and of the associated indigenous knowledge, the authority over the plants in their habitat and the recognition of the priority of the use by indigenous people in case of scarcity of these substance.
18.4 By 2030, the organization of the transfer of all non-crime related drugs subject-matters from the UNODC in Vienna to the OHCHR in Geneva.
18.5 By 2030, a request for pardon from the United Nations for the injustice done to all
people that have been criminally prosecuted for personal use and cultivation and production of mind-altering substances and proposals for expungement of criminal records and the reparation of financial loss and physical damage.
18.6 By 2028, the organization of a competition for the production of the text and melody of the Earth Anthem.
18.7 By 2028, the organization of yearly anthologies of stories on special joyful and/or meaningful relationships between humans and Earth.
18.8 By 2030, the development of an extension of genocide to include new categories of human groups selected by governments or other private or public entities vested with state power for the extermination by all modern means at their disposal.
18.9 By 2030, the development of international transitional law to cover the transition period from prohibition to health-focused drug control policies in the fastest possible way.
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