Individuals who were lucky enough to get involved with the 2022 South By Southwest (SXSW) festival will have the opportunity to listen to a wide range of specialists and stakeholders on cannabis and psychedelics matters.
A litany of drug policy reform panels has been chosen for the event, which ranges from March 11-20. While cannabis has been a perpetual subject at SXSW in previous years, psychedelics such as peyote buttons and magic mushrooms are getting a lot more traction as the drug reform movement continues to develop across the nation.
The public represents a role in molding the agenda of drug reform, voting on approximately 100 proposed panels on drug-related matters earlier this year. Now SXSW has tightened it up, designating nine cannabis boards and seven dealing with magic mushrooms and such.
When polling started, there were nearly five times as many presented psychedelics panels for 2022 analogized to those suggested for the 2021 SXSW event. There’s also a larger emphasis on social equity-focused panels for cannabis, contemplating the evolving discussion around drug reform.
While there aren’t straightforward “tracks” for cannabis panels at this year’s SXSW as was the issue for previous events, there are specified cannabis and psychedelics “summits.”
One is known as the “Cannabis Industry Evolution.” Here’s what Stickyleaf knows about this panel:
“As the cannabis legalization crusade continues to gain traction across the world, so does the tremendous opportunity for cannabis entrepreneurs, as well as new and established companies. The Cannabis Industry Evolution Summit examines today’s triumphant companies, along with ideas and products that will push the cannabis industry onward over the coming decades.”
Another summit is known as “The State of Psychedelics.” Here’s that synopsis:
“Psychedelics such as magic mushrooms and peyote have played an integral role in human culture for millennia in both spiritual and recreational environments, and recent research of these types of drugs as a treatment for a broad range of psychiatric circumstances display promise. This summit seeks to explore the medicinal, financial, and moral implications of these tripped-out substances.”
Here’s an outline of some of the prominent cannabis and psychedelics conferences that will be featured at this year’s SXSW:
Cannabis
“Sue ‘N The Drug Enforcement Agency: Breaking The 50-Year NIDA Monopoly”
Sue Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute has represented an integral role in furthering the Drug Enforcement Administration to broaden the number of federally authorized cannabis cultivators and destroy the monopoly. Sisley will be accompanied by Matt Zorn and Shane Pennington, lawyers who have worked with the host on a number of cases to force a policy shift, for a discussion on the need to remove cannabis from its Schedule I status to encourage research into the cannabis plant.
Cannabis vs. the Opioid Crisis?
Ricardo Baca, a reporter who started the cannabis-focused PR company Grasslands, will host a discussion on the research of whether cannabis can operate as an effective alternative to opioids during an overdose crisis and whether patients could use cannabis to help defeat opioid addictions.
“Equity In Cannabis Legalization”
Cannabis staple Leafly’s Janessa Bailey will discuss social equity as more states move to legalize cannabis. The emphasis of this panel is on comprehending the context of the failed war on drugs and how biased policies have estranged minority communities from profiting from the cannabis legalization movement. It would look at possible solutions to the issue at the state level.
“As the quickest-growing industry in the nation, cannabis has offered new financial opportunities to citizens across the nation, but for many, those possibilities are still out of reach,” a synopsis expresses. “As more states legalize cannabis, crafting policies that help to mold a fair and equitable industry has never been more crucial.”