Quick links that talk about the legality of the industry
Malta may legalize cannabis, but residents don’t want the reforms to stop there.
In a recent survey, 447 people in Malta were asked if they think the country should legalize any other substances beyond cannabis. Magic mushrooms was the most popular response with 45% in favour of its legalization.
LSD was the next most common response at 27%, but 56% did not see a need for any other drugs to be legalized.
Oakland could legalize the sale of psychedelics as early as next year!
The city decriminalized the use and cultivation of many entheogens back in 2019, and now, activists are building on their progress with a “Go Local” Legislative Initiative. The initiative would create a community-based model to allow people to legally purchase natural psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca from local producers.
The initiative, which is backed by a key City Council member, will gather research on how best to implement the model over the next year and will introduce a legislation in the summer of 2022.
Some possible reforms being considered include allowing commercial agriculture in residential zones, creating “sacred plant adult farmer’s market permits”, and allowing cannabis dispensaries with 100% local ownership to sell entheogens, among may others. All products would have to be grown, produced, and tested locally.
With a unanimous vote, Arata became the third city in California to decriminalize psychedelics!
The possession, cultivation and distributions of entheogens including psilocybin and ayahuasca will become the city’s lowest law enforcement priority, but commercial sale will remain illegal.
The measure represents “a pivotal point in history by reclaiming our sovereign right to explore our consciousness, and to choose the path of healing that we see best fit for ourselves,” according to an organizer of the activist group Decriminalize Nature Humboldt.
It’s been over two years since Denver decriminalized mushrooms, and a recent report shows that people are using psilocybin responsibly.
The Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel, which is comprised of local officials, law enforcement, and scientific experts, unanimously agreed that there’ve been no significant public health or safety risks as a result of the reform.
The panel proposed that the city’s next steps should be to train first responders to respond to psychedelic crises, create public service announcements on psychedelic safety, and deprioritize the sharing, gifting, and communal use of psilocybin, among other recommendations.
The push for psilocybin research is gaining traction in Pennsylvania.
Twenty one lawmakers from both parties sponsored a bill called the Public Heath Benefits of Psilocybin Act, which would set up a research framework to optimize psilocybin’s public health benefits. Studies focused on veterans, retired first responders, and their families would be prioritized.
“A growing body of research provides a reason for hope that psilocybin, administered in a controlled setting, will be the most effective tool at our disposal to combat the suicide, opioid and overall mental health crisis burdening the Commonwealth,” the group wrote to colleagues.
“The science regarding psilocybin is real, cannot be ignored, and soon will be a universally-accepted form of treatment in the U.S.,” said Rep. Michael Grieco (D) of Florida.
That’s why he and Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) filed bills that would require the state to study the medical potential of psilocybin and MDMA.
The bills were modeled on the measure enacted in Texas earlier this year to study psychedelic therapy for veterans with PTSD, but with an even broader scope. If enacted, the Department of Health would be directed to research other conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, chronic pain and migraines.
It’s time for the federal government to catch up with the rest of America.
At a psychedelics policy symposium organized by Harvard’s Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said he plans to bring drug reform to the Capitol this year!
“I promise you I will do my part—not only assisting in the evolution of the Oregon [psilocybin] program, but I plan on bringing this movement to Capitol Hill this year in the same way we developed the foundation for the support of our cannabis work,” he vowed.
With a unanimous vote, a new legislation was passed to decriminalize the possession, cultivation, and sharing of psychedelic mushrooms, ayahuasca, ibogaine and non-peyote-derived mescaline.
Peyote was intentionally excluded from the measure, as it’s in danger of extinction due to the increase in illegal harvesting. In fact, Santa Cruz recently removed peyote and other mescaline-containing cacti from the city’s decriminalization policy after pushback from Indigenous groups that consider the entheogens to be sacred.
Some of the youngest state legislators in the US want to decriminalize all drugs.
Tony Labranche, a 19-year-old Rep. of New Hampshire, is pushing to establish a regulated cannabis sales system and decriminalize the possession of magic mushrooms, as well as all other controlled substances. The reform proposals are bold for a GOP-controlled state, but they’re sparking more dialog about the need to end the war on drugs.
Back in February, a 20-year-old lawmaker filed a bill to broadly decriminalize drug possession in Kansas, noting that drug use should be treated as a mental health problem rather than a criminal one.
Canada is following suit, with the city of Toronto preparing to ask Health Canada to decriminalize all drugs, similar to Vancouver’s request in May.
In a 5-2 vote, Grand Rapids, Michigan approved a psychedelics decriminalization resolution, yet activists feel the measure falls short.
The resolution calls for law enforcement deprioritization for use and possession of psilocybin, peyote, ayahuasca, and ibogaine, but it doesn’t address the cultivation, purchase, transportation or distribution of the entheogens, unlike the measure passed in Ann Arbor.
On the bright side, the measure notes that the Mayor and City Commission will support efforts to decriminalize the entheogenic plants and fungi on a local, state, and federal level.
