The Great Drug Debates
Policy Experts Debate Drug Use
These two policy mavens traveled North American college campuses for years battling out the debate over marijuana legalization. Now they’re back to debate whether shrooms work for therapy and whether we should legalize all drugs, including fentanyl.
ABOUT
Kevin Sabet, PhD
Former White House Official
Kevin Sabet is a distinguished figure in drug policy and advocacy. Notably, he served as a three-time advisor to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, a unique achievement being appointed by both Republican (George W. Bush's Administration) and Democrat administrations (Obama and Clinton). In 2013, he co-founded Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) alongside Patrick J. Kennedy, emerging as a prominent voice against marijuana legalization in the United States. In 2023, they established the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, aiming to address the addiction crisis. Sabet is a prolific author with books like "Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana" and "Smokescreen" under his belt. His contributions extend globally, having advised Pope Francis on drug policy and addressed prominent figures like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett at the Allen and Company Sun Valley Investor's Conference. Sabet's impressive career trajectory, including his education at the University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University, has firmly established him as a leading opponent of drug legalization. As the president of SAM, he has actively campaigned against marijuana legalization initiatives in multiple states, leaving a lasting impact on drug policy in the United States.
Aaron Houston
Activist, Advocate, Community Organizer
Aaron Houston is a dynamic and influential figure in the world of politics and advocacy who has made a lasting impact on the political landscape. Perhaps most inspiring is Aaron's commitment to community and social justice. He is a longtime homeless advocate, providing mutual aid to unhoused neighbors since his college years, demonstrating his dedication to making a positive impact at the grassroots level. In recent years while working in human services, Aaron has been on the front lines of the nation’s fentanyl crisis. Aaron was a key figure in passing the first-ever federal legal protections for medical marijuana patients and in passing the nation’s first ever state marijuana legalization law. He has graced the screens of NBC's the Today Show and The Colbert Report. His story also played a pivotal role in the Showtime feature-length documentary film "In Pot We Trust," a testament to his dedication to marijuana reform and advocacy. Aaron's commitment to change extends to education and empowerment. He is proud to have trained thousands of organizers on essential skills such as campaigning, messaging, and catalyzing legislative change.
AVAILABLE TALKS
Legalize(d) Marijuana: Success or Failure?
More than half the country has legalized marijuana; has this been good or bad for America? Critics point out stats showing higher car crash rates, mental illness, and other issues like secondhand smoke. Proponents think this is a small price to pay after what they call a decades-long failed war on marijuana. This debate goes into the science and societal implications of weed legalization.
Legalize All Drugs???
Everyone can agree fentanyl is a large problem and it is driving drug deaths. So, should we just legalize it, and other substances too, so that we can regulate and tax them? Users would know what they are getting, proponents say, and deaths would go down. Others say this approach would lead to more deaths from overdoses. This debate goes beyond just dissecting age-old arguments over whether we should we legalize drugs, delving into the nuances and nitty-gritty details. Should the overdose-reversal drug Naloxone be widely available? Does New York City’s experiment with safe injection sites cause more harm than good?
Shroom or Doom?
Can Elon Musk and Aaron Hernandez be wrong? Should we legalize psychedelics? For the first time in 50 years, shrooms, LSD, and the rest are having a renaissance — unseen since the Timothy Leary days of "turn on, tune in, drop out." Billions are being invested by both industry and the government to develop drugs like MDMA/ecstasy into both medicines and for everyday use. Is this good or bad? Are we going too fast? What are the downsides as well as upsides to using? Can veterans benefit from psychedelics for PTSD, or is it too untested to be safe?