Countering the Drug War with Jordan Youkilis - The Matt Balaker Podcast

Jordan Youkilis is Wells Scholar, fund manager, and cannabis expert. What are his New Year's Resolutions? He's countering the Drug War. Listen to find out how.

Jordan Youkilis' Resolution:

This year, I’m resolving to write a revolutionary proposal for sensible drug policy.

50+ years into the War on Drugs, and my heart breaks as its devastation continues compounding. Despite trillions spent, addiction rates haven’t moved, and overdose deaths continue rising. The US has 5% of the total population, yet 25% of the prison population. Black men have a 1 in 3 chance of incarceration during their lifetime (vs. 1 in 17 for whites). Meanwhile, the opioid epidemic became the heroin epidemic, which became the fentanyl epidemic. We have the highest per capita cost of health insurance. Yet out pharmaceutical-focused system has taken America from one of the healthiest countries 40 years ago to dead last among industrialized nations.

It’s time we recognize that our drug policy is fundamentally flawed, and dramatic reform is required to fix it. Prohibition does not work, and the negative consequences exceed those of the substances themselves. Yet our politicians can’t even pass commonsense legislation like SAFE Banking – with bipartisan and overwhelming popular support. In the meantime, drugs continue to divide the nation along racial and party lines.

Therefore, I’m writing a proposal for our elected officials with revolutionary ideas to fix the War on Drugs once and for all. To the leaders in the movement for sensible drug policy, your input and support on this project is greatly appreciated. Some ideas I’m currently considering:

1. Immediate descheduling of cannabis and rescheduling of psychedelics.
2. Health policy that treats drug addicts as human beings suffering, not criminals to be locked in cages.
3. Broad criminal justice reform – incl. elimination of mandatory minimums and asset forfeitures.
4. Reparations to communities subjugated by the War on Drugs. Investments focused on local programs proven to reduce recidivism and break multi-generational cycles of poverty.
5. Full transparency into campaign financing. Specific scrutiny focused on funding from pharmaceutical co.’s, for-profit prisons, and A&D contractors.
6. Prevention of patenting naturally occurring cannabinoids and other plant molecules.
7. Independent investigation into the intelligence agencies’ involvement in the illicit drug trade. Officials complicit in drug trafficking should face criminal charges and be brought to justice.
8. Research funding into the benefits of cannabis and other alternative healing modalities.
9. Implement a path to repeal the Controlled Substances Act and UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

In the words of Dr. King, it’s time “to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.”

Let’s make 2023 the year we end the War on Drugs and restore the integrity of medicine. Love to you all!