The Drug War is One Big Branding Operation to Demonize Mind and Mood Medicine

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The Drug War is One Big Branding Operation to Demonize Mind and Mood Medicine

a review of essay number 8 in Hallucinogens: A Reader, edited by Charles Grob

by Brian Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher

June 26, 2025

The following remarks are part of a series of responses to the essays contained in the 2001 book "Hallucinogens: A Reader," edited by Charles Grob ¹. The comments below are in response to essay number 8: "Using Psychedelics Wisely" by Myron J. Stolaroff

In introducing this essay, Grob tells us that Stolaroff did not believe that hallucinogenic experiences with drugs like LSD and mescaline are for everyone. But the idea that drugs are not for everyone is a highly debatable conclusion, especially if we accept a broad definition of the term "hallucinogenic." The conclusion makes sense at first blush, until one considers the vast array of circumstances and variables that surround drug use -- and the fact that we have never set out to glean all possible benefits from such use. To the contrary, we have resolved a priori to insist that no such benefits exist. In light of this superstitious and anti-scientific backstory, it is premature to claim that drug use of some kind is not for everybody, at least at some times, in some circumstances. How can we "know" such a thing when we dogmatically refuse to study the question with an open mind, when we dogmatically deny in advance that any benefits exist -- and when our otherwise massive arsenal of psychoactive drugs (existing and potential) has been outlawed?

The effects of drugs are so varied and so understudied and so demonized and so dependent on details that I am skeptical of any attempts to make definitive statements about who they may be for and who they may not be for. Most of what we "know" on this topic has been inspired by drug-war propaganda, which has made us fear drugs by playing up our fear for the safety of our kids, kids whom we refuse to educate about the psychoactive nature of the world in which they live. Meanwhile we censor all talk of positive, adult uses for drugs. Benefits for drug use are almost never mentioned in the media, ² and this censorship is almost never sufficiently recognized by Drug War pundits.

Even are most basic assumptions about drug use are highly debatable. It is piously assumed by most drug pundits that drugs are not for young people -- and yet the use of Ecstasy brought about unprecedented peace, love and understanding on the dance floors of Britain in the 1990s. It is amazing that neither Drug Warriors nor their opponents see any benefit in that drug use! We live on the brink of nuclear annihilation, and yet we have a jaundiced view of the kinds of drugs that could bring the world together. And what about the potential use of empathogens to treat kids who are hotheads and might otherwise shoot up grade schools? Thanks to our brainwashed view of drugs, we would rather have those kids shoot up schools -- and/or commit suicide -- than to "use drugs."

Ralph Metzner, in this "reader" that I am critiquing, sees no benefit in the use of Ecstasy during the rave scene: instead, he sees it as a problem. Apparently, he would have felt much better had the ravers been using hate-facilitating drugs like alcohol. And that is precisely what they were doing after the British MPs cracked down on Ecstasy use in the 1990s in response to the Drug War fearmongering that has so frightened the Ralph Metzners of the world. After the crackdown, the dance floors became so violent that concert organizers had to hire special forces troops to keep the peace. Needless to say, that prohibition-fueled violence was not covered by the media and so not a factor in Metzner's calculus about the propriety of drug use. This is why it cannot be said enough: the Drug War is a branding operation to make us feel a certain way about drugs, not to objectively inform us about them. This is why adult amphetamine users are cast as "meth heads" while kids with ADHD are cast as "good patients" for taking Ritalin. Apparently, mental concentration is good -- but only when the federal government wants you to be able to concentrate.

So you say that drug use is not for young people? I say that I would much prefer that a young person use medicines that elate and inspire rather than to have them commit suicide. And yet the Drug Warrior is so convinced that drug use can only be problematic that we prefer that the severely depressed commit suicide ³ or have brain-damaging shock therapy than to have them use "drugs." This is the result of letting racist politicians control language, turning the once-neutral word drugs into the putdown par excellence. And so the Drug War is one massive media-supported branding operation, designed to make us believe two enormous lies:

1) that there are no upsides to drug use,

and

2) that there are no downsides to drug prohibition.

Hallucinogens: a Reader, edited by Charles Grob

Notes:

1: Hallucinogens: a reader Grob, M.D., editor, Charles, Penguin Putnam, 2002 (up)
2: How the Media Puts Drugs on Show Trials: an open letter to Bennett Haeberle of NBC 5 Chicago DWP (up)
3: Why Americans Prefer Suicide to Drug Use DWP (up)

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against the hateful war on US

The drug war tells us that certain drugs have no potential uses and then turns that into a self-fulfilling prophecy by outlawing these drugs. This is insanely anti-scientific and anti-progress. We should never give up on looking for positive uses for ANY substance.

Big pharma drugs are designed to be hard to get off. Doctors write glowingly of "beta blockers" for anxiety, for instance, but ignore that fact that such drugs are hard -- and even dangerous -- to get off. We have outlawed all sorts of less dependence-causing alternatives.

There are hundreds of things that we should outlaw before drugs (like horseback riding) if, as claimed, we are targeting dangerous activities. Besides, drugs are only dangerous BECAUSE of prohibition, which compromises product purity and refuses to teach safe use.

Think you can handle a horse? So did Christopher Reeves. The fact is, NOBODY can handle a horse. This message brought to you by the Partnership for a Death Free America.

Almost every mainstream article about psychology and consciousness is nonsense these days because it ignores the way that drug prohibition has stymied our investigation of such subjects.

Let's pass a constitutional amendment to remove Kansas from the Union, and any other state where the racist politicians leverage the drug war to crack down on minorities.

People are talking about re-scheduling psilocybin, but they miss the point. We need to DE-schedule everything. It's anti-scientific to conclude in advance that any drug has no uses -- and it's a lie too, of course. End drug scheduling altogether! It's childish and wrong.

Trump supports the drug war and Big Pharma: the two forces that have turned me into a patient for life with dependence-causing antidepressants. Big Pharma makes the pills, and the drug war outlaws all viable alternatives.

Imagine someone starting their book about antibiotics by saying that he's not trying to suggest that we actually use them. We should not have to apologize for being honest about drugs. If prohibitionists think that honesty is wrong, that's their problem.

This is the mentality for today's materialist researcher when it comes to "laughing gas." He does not care that it merely cheers folks up. He wants to see what is REALLY going on with the substance, using electrodes and brain scans.

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