Jacob Curtis - Psychedelic Photojournalism in Denver
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In this episode, Joe speaks with Jacob Curtis a photojournalist at Denver7, a Denver-based ABC affiliate.\\xa0
Curtis covered Alaska\\u2019s marijuana legalization in 2014, and as a photojournalist living in Denver, has been at the forefront of the Decriminalize Denver movement, even providing some of the first broadcasted footage of a local mushroom grow.\\xa0
Curtis speaks about attending Psychedelic Club meetings and meeting James Casey, wanting to be the person to bring this story to the mainstream, and how these meetings and growing interest from the community were ultimately the incubators for the Decriminalize Denver, and later, Decriminalize Nature and #thankyouplantmedicine movements.\\xa0
They also discuss the National Psychedelic Club (of which Joe reveals he is now on the Board of Directors), Edward Snowden and the dangers of speaking with the media,\\xa0and advice for how to protect one\\u2019s identity, the Telluride Mushroom Festival and documentaries like \\u201cDosed,\\u201d the Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel, new startups in the field like MindMed, the Denver Mushroom Cooperative, MkUltra experiments in Denver, the importance of the #thankyouplantmedicine hashtag, and ultimately, how much Covid-19 has impacted the speed of progress in bringing legalization to the mainstream.\\xa0
Resources:\\xa0
www.facebook.com/somasagas
Notable quotes
On James Casey: \\u201cHe was an awesome subject to sort of wrap the story around, and he was the perfect poster child because he had all the right ingredients- he was a veteran, really well-spoken, and just pretty straight-laced.\\u201d (9:41)
\\u201cIt is interesting to watch, how the media sort of responds and works with stories that are on the fringes and then move slowly towards the mainstream. \\xa0It\\u2019s one of those things about our culture- it bends and shifts. \\xa0The times change and what was radical 10 years ago is normal now.\\u201d\\xa0(13:51)
\\u201cWe\\u2019ve had so many huge events that have taken place in our lifetimes that this kind of seems trivial\\u2026 it\\u2019s not the highest priority anymore after we had the 2000 election, September 11th, the Iraq war. \\xa0Those things [psychedelics] aren\\u2019t as high on the list of things that we are supposed to be worried about anymore.\\u201d (14:45)
\\u201cI don\\u2019t think that we\\u2019re going to shy away from talking about psychedelics after a catastrophic virus collapses the world economy. \\xa0It\\u2019ll be an easy topic.\\u201d\\xa0(15:57)
On #thankyouplantmedicine: \\u201cI don\\u2019t think there was necessarily a hashtag for drug policy reform that has been a conscious effort like that before, so it definitely gained some attention... If anything, it brought people together. \\xa0If it didn\\u2019t get this big media splash, it definitely helped grow the network.\\u201d (53:09)
About Jacob
Jacob is a photojournalist at Denver7, a Denver-based ABC affiliate.\\xa0 He has been at the forefront of the Decriminalize Denver movement, even providing some of the first broadcasted footage of a local mushroom grow.
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