The so-called war on drugs is not a war on pills, powder, plants and potions,” argues Richard Glen Boire, founder and executive director of the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE) in the Summer 2000 edition of the group’s Journal of Cognitive Liberties, in what amounted to a manifesto for the group. Instead, he writes, “it is a war on mental states—a war on consciousness itself—how much, what sort we are permitted to experience, and who gets to control it.

...) Many in the cognitive liberty camp connect the use of “entheogens” to “shamanistic” practices of the many indigenous peoples colonized by Europeans since the beginning of the 15th century. These practices reportedly provided direct access to sacred experiences, and threatened the clerical authority of the conquering powers. Thus, an attitude was born that not only criminalized but also demonized entheogens. This attitude has seeped into larger society, and now taints all substances that alter consciousness.

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