Screening of DOSED - May 1st | Decriminalize Denver

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It’s controversial, we know, but all the data we have points to one effective method of reducing the harmful impacts of drugs – both on the person and the society. That one method is decriminalization.

We wrote about it last December, see here, and this year decriminalize Denver is making legislative moves via Initiative 301, the decriminalization of mushrooms or what is officially called Psilocybin Mushroom Initiative. Decriminalize Denver – as part of their efforts to spread awareness of the positivity of decrimiliazation in hopes of seeing 301 pass (it’s an uphill battle) – presents a psychedelic medicine documentary event, the screening of the movie DOSED.

[Editor’s Note: the article was modified to reflect the fact that this event was a local screening of the rough cut of the film DOSED to help raise awareness towards decriminalization efforts with regard to Denver’s Inititative 301.]

On May 1st, Golden Teacher Films and Decriminalize Denver will present a screening of DOSED, a documentary about one of the most important mental health topics in the world. This film follows the journey of a suicidal woman who turns to underground healers to try and overcome her depression, anxiety, and opiate addiction [stop me if this sounds familiar, Colorado] with illegal psychedelic medicines like psilocybin or what we commonly call magic mushrooms and iboga. It’s a timely film because Colorado will vote, currently is voting, and will conclude voting by May 7th, and we will know if psilocybin will go the way of marijuana and become decriminalized in Denver. Colorado legalized marijuana, and steps like this will take us the rest of the way.

The Netherlands – Amsterdam specifically – is known as a legal place to do drugs. The idea of going there and getting stoned out of your mind, doing ecstasy, and smoking doobies in what Nederlanders call ‘coffee shops’, which are actually smoking spots, is often parodied in movies. In America, that motif is a cultural trope. In fact, the Netherlands has a policy regarding drugs that is commonly referred to as “illegal but officially tolerated”. They found that criminalization and prosecution of drug crimes is more costly and detrimental than providing support for drug users. In fact, when I lived there for two years, it was common to see the police offering free testing of cocaine or heroin because somebody was selling bad stuff and they wanted to make sure nobody died from it.

Better you feel safe coming to the police and making sure you’re not going to die then being scared of the police and dying.

The prime example of drug reform that most educated reformers point to, of course, is Portugal. The Portuguese experimented in the 90s with decriminalization and moved to full legalization of all drugs and that has had profound, net positive effects on society. The reduction, across-the-board, in drug crimes, drug theft, drug trafficking, drug deaths, spread of diseases like hepatitis C and HIV, and the profound cost of incarceration…all reduced. Treating drug addiction like a health crisis instead of a crime crisis has been and continues to be an amazing thing for Portugal, which reform laws globally beginning to be modeled on their efforts.

We are not, however, in Portugal. We’re in America where pharma-dollars dictate drug legislation and it takes Herculean efforts to make changes. Can Colorado lead the way on decriminalization once again? We’ll know by May 7th if Denver is going to take that step. For anyone who’s struggled with addiction – on any level – or has watched friends and family travel that path, this is an important film. This is an important moment in history. We have the chance to make things right, or at least better; to embrace the addicted with love and offer hope rather than consernation and incarceration.

The screening is May 1st, with a 7 pm showing at Landmark’s Mayan Theater in Denver, Colorado. Tickets are from $30 to $40 and are available on Eventbrite. Yellow Scene readers can get a discount with the code SHROOMS. Enjoy the trailer here.