Casey William Hardison
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Casey William Hardison (b. 1971), an American chemist and self-described medical anthropologist, was arrested in the United Kingdom in February 2004 and convicted of six offences of the Misuse Drugs Act of 1971: Production of 2C-B, production of DMT, production of LSD, possession of LSD, possession of 5-MeO-DMT, and exportation of MDMA.
Hardison, who is strongly committed to the idea of mental freedom, or Cognitive Liberty, which includes the use of psychoactive substances for mind-expansion and psychological healing, was synthesizing various indoleamines and phenethylamines in the United Kingdom as provisions for therapists doing clandestine psychotherapy using such substances, as well as for personal transcendence and healing.
In July 2003, Hardison mistakenly mailed a parcel containing MDMA, a chemical compound that is currently in the undergoing clinical trials for use in the treatment of post traumatic stress syndrome, to Thomas Carstensen in the United States. Carstensen, who Hardison describes as "having a substantial 'liberty interest,'" reported Hardison to the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), who later notified the UK government. This led to an investigation into Hardison's alleged production activities that began on October 30, 2003.
He is sometimes referred to as Casey "William Ezekiel Freeblood" Hardison.
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[edit] Legal Battle
Hardison has been sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in the UK for producing a variety of entheogenic drugs. He is fighting his case using a number of human rights based arguments, referring to the right to freedom of thought and freedom from discrimination, among other things.
One of his main arguments is that his right to freedom from discrimination is violated by the arbitrary difference in treatment between those who use illegal drugs and those who use often more harmful legal ones. This fits into a wider debate on the arguments for and against drug prohibition.
Hardison cites the lack of evidence supporting UK government decisions to classify certain drugs as more harmful than others. It is this classification process of drugs into classes A, B and C under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, that ultimately decides the corresponding punishments associated with the use, trade or production of a particular drug.
If the British government is unable to prove that the punishments associated with certain drugs are 'necessary in a democratic society', as human rights law requires , Hardison in theory should be set free.
[edit] Conviction
On June 29th 2006 Hardison's first appeal to the House of Lords was rejected and the ruling upheld. He still claims the charges are a violation of his human rights and describes himself as being victim of the "chemical apartheid". Justice Kieth of the Court of Appeal was quoted as saying "This was not an amateurish operation in a garden shed. It was a sophisticated and calculated attempt to introduce synthetic drugs in the UK market, which could have reaped great financial rewards."
His appeal is currently awaiting a hearing at the House of Lords, the highest court in the land, following the introduction of new evidence. Hardision is also awaiting a hearing in the European Court of Human Rights.
