Chemophobia and taboo in drug prohibition

Chemophobia is an irrational fear of chemicals and chemistry. Many examples exist. Some individuals believe certain synthetic chemicals are toxins whereas “natural” or derived substances are safe, even though the two substances are identical in every other respect. Similar reactions occur with cannabis. Recreational marijuana is condemned while medical marijuana is acceptable, even though the marijuana flowers used recreationally or medicinally can originate from the same plant.

Chemophobics believe toxicity is determined by the substance alone. In point of fact the harm comes from excessive exposures or dosages. Levels of toxicity are measured by laboratory testing to determine toxicity for animals of a given body weight. A problem for prohibitionists who want THC and psilocybin use to remain criminalized, and its users stigmatized, is that no toxic levels can be determined for either of the two chemical compounds. Prohibitionists are left with few other options than to declare the two substances to be taboo.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, in his 1913 book Totem and Taboo, analyzed social phenomena and behavior which will likely be recognized by those caught up in the anguish and confusion emerging from the modern drug war:

The taboo restrictions are different from religious or moral prohibitions. They are not traced to a commandment of a god but really they themselves impose their own prohibitions; they are differentiated from moral prohibition by failing to be included in a system which declares abstinences in general to be necessary and gives reason for this necessity. The taboo prohibitions lack all justification and are of unknown origin. Though incomprehensible to us they are taken as a matter of course by those who are under their dominance. […]

Wherever the taboo was related to ideas of gods and demons, automatic punishment was expected from the poser of the godhead. In other cases, probably because of a further development of the idea, society took over the punishment of the offender whose action has endangered his companions. […]

The violation of a taboo makes the offender himself taboo … certain dangers resulting from the violation of a taboo may be exercised through acts of penance and ceremonies of purification. […]

We may say … we deal with a series of restrictions which these primitive people impose upon themselves; this and that is forbidden without any apparent reason; nor does it occur to them to question this matter, for they subject themselves to these restrictions as a matter of course and are convinced that any transgression will be punished automatically in the most severe manner. […]

The most peculiar part of it is that anyone who has violated such a prohibition assumes the nature of the forbidden object as if he had absorbed the whole dangerous charge. […]

Both this word and the system corresponding to it express a fragment of psychic life which really is not comprehensible to us. And indeed, it would seem that no understanding of it could be possible without entering into the study of the belief in spirits and demons which is so characteristic of these low grades of culture. […]

Taboos are a big business in the United States. Aside from drug enforcement, drug rehabilitation centers fulfill the role of providing acts of penance and ceremonies of purification for those caught using taboo substances. The drug rehab industry receives multi-billions of dollars in federal funding each year through Medicare, Medicaid, SAMSHA, and other HHS programs.

Until a cure for addictions can be found, drug rehabilitation programs offer fairly effective addiction treatments when combined with therapeutically prescribed drugs. Unfortunately, more than 95-percent of people needing drug rehabilitation in 2023 did not receive it.

Despite the promising results offered by psychedelic compounds for addiction treatment, lobbying costs for legalizing psychedelic use and therapies comes from psychedelic startups and not Big Pharma. Pharmaceutical companies are certain to lose revenue from drugs they currently market if any of their products are made obsolete by easy access to non-patentable psychedelics and THC.

Any individual who stands accused of assuming or absorbing the forbidden nature of a drug — according to taboos that equate the drug with a drug’s consumer — is a victim of an insane process leading to schemes that demonize and brand people. Prejudices and stereotypes make drug wars possible. Authoritarian governments promoting punishments of those whose drug use offends a particular culture’s god, guru, or religious beliefs, are virtually guaranteed to foment wars and inquisitions. The bloodiest European battle ever fought was the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Eight-million people were killed with what began as domestic clashes between established Catholics and dissident Protestants.

Despite all the warring parties, progress in combating drug taboos and drug wars is still achievable by employing education that reduces chemophobia through increasing public awareness of basic chemistry and other sciences. As with all social changes there are obstacles to overcome.

People avoid studying science or chemistry because it is abstract and therefore difficult. The topic requires studying physics and complicated math as well as chemicals and their molecular interactions. Science demands different ways of thinking from people who may have been continuously persuaded by ethnocentric cultures to never think for themselves. Science studies can take up much of a person’s time. Some students fear focusing on science because the workload could result in lowering their grade point average. Time spent on science studies can also force students to cut back on their social activities.

Another problem for American science education is that various religious groups deliberately steer their members away from science altogether. Books about dinosaurs are sometimes prohibited from appearing on the library bookshelves of publicly funded primary schools. Science instruction in some school districts is limited to middle and high school students. Even then it’s only offered in the form of elective courses. An ignorance of science is preferred to that of initiating quality science teaching early on in public primary schools where it can prove most interesting and mentally stimulating to younger audiences.

Among many other anti-medicine cults, sects and religions that reject modern medicine, the Christian Science religion doesn’t believe in the germ theory of disease or the use of drugs to treat disease. It demeans science knowledge among its members while promoting a theology of fatalism that says deaths from illnesses are predetermined and inevitable despite the existence of medicines that can treat or cure afflictions. The drug taboos pertain to Christian Science children as well as adults. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe blood transfusions are taboo. In their world view a blood transfer from one person to another is a form of cannibalism, so they reject common surgeries requiring transfusions that can save their own lives or the lives of their family members. Mormonism treats tea and coffee as taboo despite growing scientific evidence showing that moderate levels of caffeine in tea or coffee can help reduce the onset of dementia. Then there are the anti-vaxxers.

Reversing the annoying trend of America’s paranoid chemophobia would profoundly improve public health. People who seek to understand their own brain chemistry and that of others typically make better choices about drug use and vaccinations along with nearly everything else health related. Rather than saying no to drugs, they just say know to drugs, resulting in longer, happier, and better lives.