Successful Stoners: Zara Snapp, The Mother And Activist Changing The Way We Understand Drugs

This special feature was made possible thanks to the Gabo Foundation and the Fund for Research and New Narratives on Drugs. You can read the original in Spanish on El Planteo.

Sitting with politicians or diplomats. Marching in the streets. In a radio booth recording a podcast. Being a mom. Zara Snapp lives those experiences on a daily basis. Half Mexican and half American, Zara has lived the war on drugs from academia and policy-making with her vision (and heart) divided between two nations that generated conflict in her: How is it possible that in Colorado hospitals and schools are being built with the money from the sale of cannabis while in Latin America the plant is persecuted and people are imprisoned for the same plant? The contradictions of having, on the one hand, governments that offer benefits to people while others militarize regions and collude with corruption (without achieving results in more than six decades of prohibition). Zara has taken the situation as an opportunity to participate in drug regulation at a continental level while maintaining a global vision. 

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Her master's studies in Public Policy at Harvard University gave her sharp scholastic tools to understand the concatenation of situations that led to the current international dichotomy, present in the way we approach drugs. Through her research, public participation, and the work developed through the Ria Institute—a think-tank that proposes innovative solutions to pursue new public policies framed within a sphere of social justice—Zara reminds us that the history of humans goes hand in hand with the history of substances that alter our consciousness. “Despite having always accompanied us, in reality, we don't know much about drugs, beyond what they instilled in us since we were children, either by tradition or propaganda. Hence the need for a book like the Diccionario de Drogas (Drug Dictionary).”

The Drug Dictionary is more than just a publication: it’s a manifesto. A repository of basic information that anyone—from politicians to professors—should have on hand to consult, but it’s also a graphic novel that serves as a guide for those who want to understand more about substances that alter our consciousness. “From coffee to cannabis, alcohol to amphetamines, the book includes all the drugs that are relevant to both users and those who are against them,” says Zara Snapp, author of the book. “Many of the people in charge of its regulation have never interacted with drugs, nor have they experienced their effects. Getting educated and having up-to-date knowledge is the least they owe to citizens.” 

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The author is recognized in the Mexican cannabis community as part of the endless struggle for the legalization of the plant (in 2019 the Supreme Court ruled the legal prohibition of cannabis use unconstitutional, but it has not yet been regulated). “As an activist, any interaction you have is an opportunity to share information and change mindsets,” Zara says, acknowledging that her voice is one of several participating in this transition to legalization. “There are many actors participating. The rhetoric is changing, but what we must all recognize is that the market already exists and that what we must do is organize it well, rethinking the way states approach these issues”.

Zara Snapp - Founder RIA Institute, Writer - Mexico

After so many years of political and legal work, it seems that one of Zara's greatest learnings has been that glocalization works (a mixture of having the pulse of legal events while working locally). That is why she was one of the first people to publicly request an amparo to consume cannabis, a permit issued by COFEPRIS (Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks) to be able to grow and consume your own marijuana, recreational or medicinal. “Coming out of the cannabis closet in a national newspaper was something important in my life,” says Zara, recalling the different conversations that had to happen with her close circle before taking that step. “They were concerned about my safety and my long-term job. But I knew that I was going to dedicate myself to this drug issue, and I had to face my reality publicly.” 

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Zara doesn't want to just change a couple of laws here and there; she advocates for a reform movement that not only changes the landscape for cannabis and psychedelics but for all drugs. "It’s the only way to demand a true social justice approach, otherwise the process ends up being violated by the market," says Zara. “Colombia is a clear example, regarding medical cannabis. Large foreign investors are benefiting, but the communities most affected by the violence receive little. The native peoples of all the Americas should have the same or more possibilities and support to generate drug resources like the large international laboratories that are entering our region.” But sometimes her voice ends up being appeased by the patriarchal structures that profit from this war. 

The issue falls doubly on Zara; she’s not only a woman who demands state recognition as a consumer (in a very macho country), but she is also a mother who generates discomfort within the most traditional sectors of society. In her social networks, it’s normal to find publications about how she breastfeeds her children followed by something about drug policy, going from photos where she appears very formal, attending the debates in the Senate of the Republic, to other more casual ones, where she shows us how she makes a smoothie with one of the marijuana plants that grew in her garden (a male, unable to produce a flower but perfect for a chlorophyll boost). Coming out once in the national media is enough for people to know where you stand in the debate, but when she brought it up with the family, the situation generated more resistance than expected.

"You don't talk about drugs just once with the family—it's something that’s repeated over time," says Zara as she shares anecdotes in which she clashed with her mother, only to generate spaces for discussion in where both shared their points of view and apologized individually (one for carrying taboos and the other for disrespecting someone else's house rules). "Even among friends, it was always necessary to talk about why I was consuming edibles while pregnant, even if it seemed normal to them that the doctor would recommend having a drink from time to time." After the birth of her son, consumption habits went from being a tool to continue integrating socially (without the need to drink alcohol) to being more therapeutic. “While I was breastfeeding I navigated through very strong hormonal changes and the edibles helped me. Everything went very well before and after the pregnancy. I think the important thing is that you, as a mother, are well—regardless of whether we consume or not. If we are fine, our families will be fine.”

Illustration by @chyataller

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