The order of 10,000 perforated filter tip fliers has arrived! To offset the cost of giving them away to dedicated activists, we are selling batches of 10 or 100 fliers for a donation of $4.20 or $42, respectively.
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Catharsis
Photos & Video of Catharsis on the Mall
A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who helped make Catharsis on the Mall: A Vigil for Healing the Drug War a HUGE success. To pay for this free event, we are still trying to hit our goal of $4,000, so please donate a little green! We hope to organize this type vigil again and have created a Facebook Page to help get the word out. Donations are used entirely to offset costs of building materials, permits, and rentals.
Michael Verdon’s Temple of Essence was open to the public for 24 hours allowing people to write on the walls inside messages about the drug war.(Photo by Kenny Reff)
More than 1000 people attended a midnight burning of artist Michael Verdon’s Temple of Essence on the national Mall on November 21, 2015. Contained inside the temple were all copies of petitions signed by 56,000 people that put Initiative 71 on the ballot to legalize marijuana. (Photo by Cherry Savoy)
Once burning Verdon’s temple transformed by fire into a rendition of a jail cell. Only when the lotus shaped temple burned down could one see the bars of the cell which eventually collapsed to the cheers of all in attendance. (Photo by Kenny Reff)
Check out some more photos from Catharsis: DCist, Kenny Reff, Ben Droz, Matt Eclair, William Tanksley, and many more on the Facebook Event Page.
‘TRANSFORMATIVE’ SCULPTURE SET TO BURN ON NATIONAL MALL TO HONOR VICTIMS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 12, 2015 |
MEDIA CONTACT: Kenny Reff KR@LimelightDC.com Office: 703-242-4596 Mobile: 703-626-3167 |
‘TRANSFORMATIVE’ SCULPTURE SET TO BURN ON NATIONAL MALL TO HONOR VICTIMS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS
Washington, DC – In an act of collective healing, an interactive art installation dedicated to victims of the war on drugs will be burned in the shadow of the Washington Monument on Saturday, November 21, 2015. “Temple of Essence” is the centerpiece of a 48-hour vigil beginning November 20. Catharsis on the Mall: A Vigil for Healing the Drug War is open to the public and will feature nationally-known speakers, exhibits, art, music, and dance.
Among the speakers: Billy Murphy, Jr., the nationally-recognized civil rights attorney; Ifetayo Harvey, who lost her father at age four to prison and deportation for a first-time drug offense; and Anthony Papa, sentenced to fifteen years to life imprisonment for a first-time drug offense. The public will also be invited to share their stories during open mic sessions.
“Through art and peaceful expression, we are demonstrating the transition to a more compassionate society,” said event organizer and civil rights attorney, Robert Haferd. “This vigil is the first of its kind on the National Mall, and we are delighted that the National Park Service, Park Police, and the D.C. Fire Department have partnered with us to make it possible.”
The highlight of the vigil will be the burning of Temple of Essence at 11:00pm on November 21. The temple is peace-building structure that offers a space for healing personal and collective trauma, engaging community, and allowing the release of negative energy. Prior to the burn, participants are invited to share their thoughts and stories by writing within the temple’s walls and leaving small mementos.
“People will see they are not alone in this struggle,” said Michael Verdon, temple artist and U.S. Air Force veteran. Verdon’s most recent work was installed at George Mason University this past May where more than one thousand people participated in its burn. “As the temple burns, we will turn our individual experiences into a collective memory and heal as a community,” Verdon explained. “Afterwards, our vigil will continue with cathartic dancing until sunrise.”
Catharsis on the Mall is organized by Washington DC-area artists, social justice advocates, and Burning Man participants. Speakers and installations will be provided by national and local drug policy organizations, including Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). The vigil coincides with the International Drug Policy Reform Conference, which will bring more than one thousand researchers, academics and advocates to our nation’s capital to work toward ending the war on drugs.
“From the recently-leaked United Nations document calling for drug decriminalization, to growing bipartisan support for ending mass incarceration and encouraging cannabis research, we are transitioning from the traumatic war on drugs to policies grounded in public health and human rights,” said Natalie Lyla Ginsberg, event organizer and Policy and Advocacy Manager for MAPS. “It’s time to come together to celebrate and heal.”

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Click here to download a PDF of this press release
Catharsis – A Vigil for Healing the Drug War
You are invited to participate in Catharsis, a 3-day vigil near the Washington Monument on November 20-22. The focus of the vigil will be the burning of a ceremonial a wooden temple dedicated to our healing from the War on Drugs on the night of Saturday, November 21.
This vigil is needed because often our society doesn’t mark a transition from a destructive and harmful policy to a more compassionate one. As more voices call for an end to the War on Drugs, it’s crucial like-minded artists, activists, and the community play a public role in healing and transforming to compassionate harm reduction policies.
CATHARSIS (noun) – The purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
WHO: Victims of the Drug War
WHAT: Catharsis: A Vigil for Healing the Drug War
WHEN: Friday, November 20 to Sunday November 22, 2015. The ceremonial vigil will start at 10:30pm on Saturday, November 21
WHERE: Northwest of the Washington Monument on the National Mall
Please Click Here to RSVP on Facebook
Interested in volunteering at Catharsis? Please fill out this Google Form!
Watch NBC4 footage of a similar ceremonial vigil that took place at GMU last May: