For decades, retired narcotics officer Dale “The Hammer” Griftman built a sterling reputation by arresting thousands of Americans for possessing substances now sold in sleek minimalist packaging by venture-backed wellness startups. But this week, the 68-year-old former lieutenant made headlines after going on the Joe Rogan podcast and demanding priority access to taxpayer-funded psychedelic therapy for what he describes as “career-induced trauma.”
“I’ve inadvertently absorbed ketamine, psilocybin and MDMA through my skin and nasal passages during illegal searches and seizures for years, but now that the Overton window has shifted I deserve to do them intentionally,” Griftman told reporters while adjusting a Punisher skull baseball cap outside a ketamine clinic ribbon-cutting ceremony in Los Angeles. “You spend thirty years kicking down doors over eighths of weed and a couple grams of mushrooms, eventually it takes a toll on the nervous system.”
Court records show Griftman personally oversaw hundreds of non-violent drug arrests throughout the 80s and 90s, often citing Harry Anslinger era drug rhetoric in local news reports. Today, however, the retired officer says psychedelic-assisted therapy represents “the future of mental health” and believes the enforcement arm veterans of the War on Drugs deserve “front-of-the-line access.”
The comments sparked outrage among former defendants, many of whom caught felonies over trumped up charges tied to arrest reports from ‘The Hammer’. Several noted the irony of a man who once described psilocybin users as “degenerate addicts” now seeking taxpayer-funded psilocybin therapy in a room filled with Himalayan salt lamps and ambient flute music.
Still, members of the emerging psychedelic industry were quick to embrace him.
“We believe healing should include everyone, especially when right-leaning philanthropists want to generously fund first responder psychedelic therapy non-profits,” said a former Guantanamo Bay officer who also demands ‘immediate access to Igobaine therapy’ [sic]
Until he is granted taxpayer funding to get zooted on ketamine and psilocybin in luxury clinics domestically, The Hammer said he will continue to travel to Mexico with other former law enforcement buddies to heal together in Cabo.
“People deserve the opportunity to break free from the trauma accrued from their pasts — unless they were non-violent illegal drug users I arrested, in which case the felony charges will remain”