Dr. Bronner’s Celebrates Voter Initiatives

Dr. Bronner’s is celebrating the successful passage of two ballot initiatives that the company has funded as part of its Heal Soul Campaign, which supports public education efforts, advocacy organizations, and political campaigns around the country working to mainstream psychedelic-assisted therapy and medicines to treat depression, PTSD, addiction and end-of-life anxiety. Both the Oregon Psilocybin Therapy Initiative Yes on 109 in Oregon and Decriminalize Nature DC Initiative 81 in Washington, DC, reported victories on Election Day in November. 
 
Dr. Bronner’s said these victories “represent a pivotal shift among the American public in support of psychedelic-assisted therapy, and the need to decrease law enforcement prioritization of arrests for entheogenic plants.” 
 
Dr. Bronner’s said the passage of Measure 110 in Oregon that implements a “treatment not jail” approach to drug addiction, to which it donated $1 million.
 
Further, Dr. Bronner’s is pleased by the end of cannabis prohibition in Montana and South Dakota, and passage of a medical cannabis measure in Mississippi, to which collectively the company donated over $1 million, to make the case that this is a bipartisan issue and it is time to end prohibition at the federal level.  
 
“The Oregon Psilocybin Therapy Initiative creates a well-regulated program for psilocybin-assisted therapy for mental health d personal growth. This sets a nationwide precedent for how we should integrate the life-saving potential of psychedelics,” said David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s. “And in Washington DC, where people of color are disproportionately arrested for drug possession, the Decriminalize Nature campaign makes personal cultivation and use of entheogenic plants for healing, the lowest priority for law enforcement.”
 
The company has donated more than $5 million this year to support these and other efforts on behalf of psychedelic medicine, and created a special limited edition “Heal Soul!” label on its 32oz. Castile Liquid Soaps, which are now available nationwide. The label aims to educate the public about these life-saving therapies and medicines, and the advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives that are advancing this work. 





“Our world is grappling with epidemics of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction that modern pharmaceutical approaches often fail to adequately address.  Psychedelic-assisted therapy is life-saving medicine that the world needs now, especially highly traumatized populations like veterans, first responders and marginalized communities generally,” said David Bronner,  CEO of Dr. Bronner’s. “Our family is no stranger to severe depression and anxiety, and I’ve personally experienced the deep healing that these medicines can provide.”
 
“Used in the right settings, in combination with good diet, fitness, and other healthy lifestyle choices, psychedelic-assisted therapies and medicines offer dramatic healing for many people suffering from depression, end-of-life anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health conditions,” said Michael Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s. “Our Heal Soul message and campaign is about mainstreaming this conversation in a rational and compassionate way, to help enable access to these life-saving therapies as soon as possible with the goal of evaporating the misguided stigma that these medicines face.” 
 
Dr. Bronner’s Heal Soul campaign builds upon the company’s track record of more than two decades of advocacy and financial support of drug policy reform, including legalization of hemp farming in the US, ending cannabis prohibition, advancement of FDA approved clinical trials for MDMA and psilocybin-assisted therapy, and psilocybin decriminalization in Denver, CO, to name a few. The current landscape of advocacy in support of psychedelic medicine is composed of diverse policy and political strategies. These include the integration of psychedelic-assisted therapy into Western medicine, efforts to decriminalize safe individual use of plant medicines, and protections for sovereignty of use and cultivation among Indigenous Peoples. 
 
Dr. Bronner’s has committed $1 million to Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 2020, in fulfillment of the fourth year of a commitment of $10 million over ten years. MAPS is driving MDMA-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant PTSD through the FDA approval process. 

Dr. Bronner’s has committed more than $2 million to the 2020 Oregon Psilocybin Therapy Measure, Yes on 109. Measure 109 organizes a formal, licensed, state-regulated program that would, after a two-year program development period, allow access for all adults who can safely benefit to psilocybin-assisted therapy in licensed facilities, under the supervision of practitioners specifically trained in psychedelic facilitation. Among its provisions, Yes on 109 will ensure quality training of facilitators by setting minimum criteria for third-party therapist training programs.
 
Dr. Bronner’s has committed over $500,000 to the Decriminalize Nature DC campaign, Initiative 81. Organized by local DC residents as part of the national Decriminalize Nature movement, The Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020 seeks to lower law enforcement priorities regarding entheogenic plant and fungi medicines used for personal healing.