During the second week of May, law enforcement arrested several activists and patients while they protested in front of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) building in Washington, D.C. They advocated for terminally ill Americans who needed access to psilocybin. Activists argued psilocybin should be made available to these patients under federal and state level Right to Try statutes. 

“We’re not asking DEA to be compassionate,” David Bronner, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps CEO, reportedly said at the opening of the protest, before becoming detained. “We’re asking them to follow established law.”

The crux of the problem comes from the DEA currently listing psilocybin as a Schedule I drug. Therefore, psilocybin remains highly regulated and difficult to obtain. Furthermore, advocates argue this is in direct conflict with the Right To Try statutes established federally and  in 41 states. These statutes should provide terminally ill patients with access to certain drugs not currently available to the general public. 

Activists are asking the DEA to classify psilocybin as a Schedule II drug, which would make it considerably less-restricted. Protesters are not the only ones making this request. 

Previous Legalization Attempts

In January of 2022 a bipartisan group of Congressmen sent a letter to the DEA to the same effect. The group argued that preventing terminally ill patients from having access to these drugs goes against “the letter and intent (of) Right to Try (RTT) laws.”

This most recent protest did involve acts of civil disobedience. Veterans, patients, and other advocates set off brightly colored smoke bombs and painted messages like “out of the way DEA” on the windows. They also plastered the building with violation notices, and held a die-in on the front steps.

When federal police first arrived on the scene, there were hopes of some kind of compromise between the DEA and protesters. However, 17 protesters were arrested before the end of the day after a compromise couldn’t be met.

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