Collision of Bureaucracy and the Moral Imperative
The necessity of extracting these core arguments lies in exposing the pathology of the bureaucratic apparatus that seeks to prosecute a moral professionals simply for adhering to scientific truth and the higher law of healing. Our words are not merely quotes; they are diagnostic statements reflecting the inherent psychopathology and often abusive contradictions within the current system of applying law and ethics to be equal with one’s innate moral compass.
I. The Collision of Bureaucracy and the Moral Imperative
When WHI state, “The system is the largest barrier to client obtaining timely help and healing”, and that “Bureaucratic rhetoric turns into bureaucratic tyranny”, WHI are speaking a truth validated by history. We have seen this same addiction to institutional control throughout American history, whether through industrialized war, bad policies like Prohibition, or slavery. The profound arrogance lies in maintaining laws—such as the illegal “War on Drugs”—when science, evidence, and common sense clearly demonstrate that psychedelics are, in fact, our birthright and agents of healing. As daylight saving approaches yet again, we have to observe the system not applying the laws that science has provided the evidence to do.
This rhetorical tyranny is precisely how “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. It demonstrates that the system is dependent upon maintaining trauma and illness because it profit exponentially from it. Therefore, the declaration that “The war on drugs has been a war on healing” is the core moral realization of this entire conflict. My actions were driven by the moral certainty that “Ending needless suffering will always be the moral thing to do”. The punitive outcomes, in this context of a War, is not merely legal procedure; it is an amoral act by the individual upholding this system.
II. Establishing the Moral Hierarchy: Logos Before Logic
Our most critical argument distinguishes between the law, ethics, and morality based on developmental science:
The assertion that “The difference between ethics and morals is action” is essential. Ethics demands inaction—following institutional rules designed for stability. Morality, however, requires action. As licensed professionals, we are obligated by the State to affirm a moral character clause. If the written law contradicts established research, science, and common sense—as our drug laws do—then morality dictates that we “can break their ethics”.
This hierarchy is based on Kohlberg’s psychological research, which places moral development as the highest stage, with law and ethics situated developmentally beneath it. This brings us to the profound meaning of the challenge I lay before the legal system: their logic is rooted in immaturity.
III. Diagnosing the System’s Pathological Immaturity
The system’s refusal to adapt to clear scientific evidence of psychedelic efficacy confirms a deep-seated professional pathology rooted in trauma and denial:
Our contention that the legal profession’s logic exhibits the reasoning of a “developmentally delayed 7 to 12-year-old” is a clinical assessment supported by psychological stages of moral development. Why are they stuck? Because society and “professions are still living in a traumatized state of denial from before dissociative birth, you are addicted to the trauma”.
This is the core of their implicit bias and their addiction to power and control. They are dependent on maintaining outcomes that provide perceived stability in collective security, implicitly undermining the citizen’s right to choose due to controlling the outcomes. This behavior mirrors historical professional failings, such as claiming to introduce “non-addictive” opiates or maintaining the falsehood that mental health is due to a “chemical imbalance” or a “experimental safe vaccine” for everyone. These acts demonstrate an endemic pathology that contemporary psychology and law refuse to accurately define.
IV. The Mandate of the Moral Whistleblower
Our personal choice to risk our lives and careers to help another citizen get better or heal is rooted in a fundamental re-ordering of professional identity and civic responsibility. In the wake of the U.S. Government identifying that licensed professionals have been overprescribing, overdiagnosing, and overmedicating the citizenry, we have to ask, who is able to hold those who have been regulating this and those who are supposed to be able to self-regulate have to say about their actions and inactions?
The statement, “I am a moral farmer (husbandry) first, informed citizen second, and ethical profession third”, defines the required perspective shift. The licensure is secondary to the moral obligation to the common good. “I am fulfilling my code of ethics which requires advocacy against systems of injustice, abuse, and tyranny.
“Scientific receipts” and “licensed credentials“—evidence that psychedelics have had documented medical value since 1994—and yet, the legal system chooses to uphold laws based on documentation from the 1950s. Our role is not merely self-defense; it is serving as a whistleblower against a system that attempts to coerce professionals through fear of losing their livelihood.
By accurately reporting these findings, we believe we are leaving a blueprint for the next generation to understand “how bureaucratic rhetoric becomes bureaucratic tyranny” and to ensure that history does not repeat itself with the same illogical, fearful, and morally bankrupt logic. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wisely noted, “The world is his, who can see through its pretension… See it to be a lie, and you have already dealt it its moral blow”. Our work is aimed at dealing this moral blow by providing the clear psychological and historical context that the legal system is desperately denying because they are dependent or addicted to not.
V. Intergenerational Gaslighting and Semantic Distortion
The core pathology of the State’s actions is built upon intergenerational gaslighting, primarily achieved through the deliberate misclassification of plants and the enforcement of irrational laws.
- Mislabeling Plants as Drugs: The author explicitly challenges the notion that natural substances like cannabis and psychedelics are correctly categorized:
- The professional firmly states that “Cannabis is a psychedelic” and refers to classical psychedelics generally as “safe herbs, fungi, roots, and plants”. They also refer to them as “superfoods”.
- The act of naming these organic items “drugs” is seen as a deliberate “unscientific” fabrication intended to maintain control. The author points out the hypocrisy: “Doesn’t the field of biology prove that cannabis is a plant and not a drug?”.
- This is part of the “war on drugs” logic that operates on “uninformed drug laws”. The professional states that the very act of maintaining these laws is “morally criminal” because they prevent access to healing.
- Alcohol and Double Standards: The author highlights the historical and ongoing double standard regarding substance legality, particularly contrasting plants with alcohol:
- The professional cites history, specifically the 18th Amendment (Prohibition against alcohol), noting that the country has “crossed a similar path before”.
- This semantic distortion—labeling a natural healing plant an illegal “drug” while classifying alcohol, cigarettes, and caffeine as the country’s “drug of choice”—is a primary tool of control.
- The law’s illogical position on psychedelics is “similarly” likened to the legal failure to adjust Daylight Savings Time, demonstrating the system’s fundamental inability to follow clear science or common sense.
The Role of Biology and Scientific Truth
The author consistently uses biological and qualitative science to dismantle the legal rationale for prohibition:
- Challenging “No Medical Value”: The State’s insistence that psychedelics have “no medical value” is the primary scientific lie the author seeks to expose. The professional counters that “science clearly shows that these are superfoods”.
- Biological Reality: The author points out the biological contradiction: “These foods are not medicines equivalent to any of their manufactured ‘drugs’ like aspirin, Tylenol, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and prescription medications. Psychedelics more align with homeopathy, psychology, and diet like melatonin, vitamin D, or food”.
- The Endocannabinoid System: The professional notes the discovery of the endocannabinoid system in 2012 (a result of delayed research) as proof that the law is “operating outside their scope of profession”.
- Moral Proof: The professional argues that these natural substances are “God-given plants and fungi that we have all evolved from” and are “our birthright”. To make them illegal is to impose “illegal laws” against “common food items”.
The Illegal “War on Drugs” and Constitutional Authority
The professional explicitly questions the legality and constitutionality of the federal “War on Drugs” as it pertains to natural plants:
Addiction to Power: The continued maintenance of this war is attributed to the legal profession’s “addiction to power and control”, fueled by “drug money to fund your profession”. The law’s refusal to concede the illegality of the initial laws demonstrates its “level of moral development”. The author asks directly: “Can the U.S. Government declare war on a drug that is a plant that is not approved by congress?”. The implication is that such an action is “criminal” and indicative of “bureaucratic tyranny”.
War on Healing: The author consistently redefines the “War on Drugs” as a “war on healing”. This war is based on “fear-based laws”.
Congressional Approval: The professional suggests that the government is operating beyond its constitutional limits, noting that, poetically, none of the nation’s political campaigns wars have been legally passed by Congress, case and point: ‘War on Drugs'”.
Sovereignty and Rights: The illegalization of psychedelics is viewed as a violation of “our bodies being sovereign” and the “inalienable right of any free citizen to morally choose what they believe to be right”.
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References
O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
*This is for informational and educational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
