Everyone has heard of the movement to legalize marijuana that has been sweeping the nation. This movement sprouted from the injustices that come from making this drug a Schedule 1 drug, which sends a lot of innocent people, especially minorities, to jail. Troy Farah delves into a more obscure movement that seems to parallel the cannabis movement.
“Inside the push to legalize magic mushrooms for depression and PTSD”
His article is clearly favoring the use of psilocybin from the get-go as a therapeutic alternative to treat depression, PTSD, and a barrage of other ailments. Some of his evidence supporting the use of this new drug consists of perfectly placed anecdotes from users who have all experienced some kind of benefit from the magical fungi. In fact, the only time that Farah mentions the negative side effects of the drug, they are quickly dismissed because the user he refers to does not experience the side effects. This invalidates the negative capabilities of the drug and hurts his argument overall.
Farah goes in-depth about one startup and two grassroots movements. He explicitly talks about the improvements Compass, the startup, has done for the pro-psilocybin movement. However, what the author mentions implicitly reveals a lot more about his opinion towards the company. Through these specific pieces of evidence, Troy is able to have his criticisms fly under the radar.
The founder’s limited experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
The hefty price of $7,000 per gram of magic mushrooms.
The company starting as a non-profit and then switching to a for-profit.
Casually name dropping a rotten apple loosely correlated with the company. (and giving some context as to why he is a rotten apple).
The company’s patenting of a synthetic manufacturing process. (one of the big motivations for people to look at shrooms as a possible alternative to prescription drugs is the fact that they are natural and saying that a company is making synthetic shrooms does not have a nice ring to it.)
It does not provide any form of implicit criticism about the grassroots movements, (In fact it mentions how the leaders of these movements are wary of these big companies trying to monopolize the product).
Reading these points individually strengthens the big picture, giving the reader all the necessary information about the startup. But once you look at all these points, Troy’s true stance comes out of the shadows.
Farah also emphasizes the fact that the two smaller grassroots movements are just that, grassroots. By the people for the people. The leaders are people that have either experienced the effects of the drug or physicians that have seen the benefits of it. Farah provides research showing how voters in Oregon are open to the campaign legalizing the magic mushroom. Farah moves further south to two US locales that are ahead of the game on the issue. He begins with Decriminalize Denver and parallels the Colorado pro-psilocybin movement to the marijuana movement that legalized recreational cannabis use in the state and reminds the reader that it was, in fact, a progressive move. He then moves on to talking about a locale in New Mexico that ruled the growing shrooms for aesthetic purposes was within the people’s rights.
An interesting piece of evidence Farah uses is the Right to Try Act which allows patients to use new drugs still under FDA approval. He specifically mentions this act being passed by Trump. This rhetorical power move extends his audience from progressive and like-minded individuals to more conservative yet curious people. This choice by the author is not only beneficial to him as it might get him more readers but it also increases the potential of conservative people (that might not know a lot about the drug but are in dire need of alternative medicine) trying the fungi. Hyperlinking Trump’s act could give the reader that final push to seek help. Which brings me to my next point.
The use of Hyperlinks in Farah’s article is almost perfect. While talking about the effects of psychedelics he hyperlinks things that will only benefit the reader looking to know more about these effects. Hyperlinking phrases that either further develop his article or seem to persuade a person to safely seek psychoactive therapy and arm them with the information necessary to make that decision.
Farah’s background gives him the final seal of credibility to finalize his article. His twitter is filled with other more recent articles on the subject of not only psilocybin but also on cannabis so he is well versed on the multiple legalization movements. In a tweet, he displayed disappointment when a New Mexico Senate committee rejected a bill legalizing marijuana. His reference to the use of
cannabis might hurt his image in the eyes of a more conservative crowd but strengthens his credibility when it comes to discussing alternative drugs.
The article merges almost seamlessly the author’s point of view while also giving you all the information on the subject that might be available. This means that the article has a heartbeat. It isn’t stoic or boring and gives you an opportunity to see the forest through the trees but also to form your own opinion on the subject. The hyperlinks keep the article alive after you’ve finished reading because once you are done you might want to go back and read on. Farah gives you the choice of whether you want to further develop your own opinion.