Denver voters are likely to decide this spring whether to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms after supporters turned in more than enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure.
The group of backers, Decriminalize Denver, said it had submitted more than 8,000 signatures to the Denver County Board of Elections. Of those, at least 4,726 signatures must be valid to qualify the measure.
The ballot measure would prohibit city law enforcement officials from using public resources to impose criminal penalties for the possession or use of mushrooms containing the psychoactive ingredient psilocybin.
It would only apply to those over the age of 21 who possess those mushrooms for personal use, so long as the drugs are not displayed or used in public. Sales of psychedelic mushrooms would remain illegal and punishable under the law.
And it would require the city to appoint a Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel, including two members of the city council, who would be tasked with assessing the impact of decriminalization.
The ballot measure is at least the second attempt in recent years to decriminalize the use of psychedelic mushrooms in the United States. Another group of supporters circulated petitions to get a similar measure on California’s ballot in 2018, though they came up short of the number of signatures required to qualify their version.
“There is a cultural fascination with mushrooms that goes really deep,” Kevin Saunders, the activist behind the California measure, told The Hill in 2017. “The soccer moms are all pretty much, for lack of a better term, high now, and some of them are taking mushrooms.”
Psilocybin is a Schedule 1 substance under federal law, which means the federal government considers it ripe for potential abuse with no widely accepted medical use. Other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, LSD, ecstasy and bath salts.
Marijuana is also included as a Schedule 1 drug on the federal list, even though ten states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Another 22 states have legalized marijuana for medial use.
Supporters of legalizing psilocybin say research conducted by the National Institutes of Health and other top medical research facilities have found the drug can contribute to reduced psychological distress and suicidal thoughts. They also say studies have shown the drug is associated with reduced risk of opioid abuse and dependence.
Oregon’s attorney general has approved ballot language for another measure that would make psilocybin-containing mushrooms legal. The Oregon Psilocybin Society, the group leading the campaign, has begun collecting the 140,000 signatures necessary to qualify that measure for the 2020 ballot.