DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado voters appear to draw the line at legal marijuana, according to a new poll.

Most voters don’t support legalizing psychedelics, although there is a large segment of voters who haven’t made up their minds, according to a FOX31/Channel 2/Emerson College/The Hill poll. 

Proposition 122 would decriminalize and regulate the distribution of the psychedelic fungi psilocybin, or magic mushrooms. It would also open the door to decriminalizing the psychedelics dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine and mescaline in a few years.

Among all voters, 41% said they would oppose the ballot measure if they could vote on it right now. A narrowly smaller portion of 36% of all voters said they would support it. About 23% of voters said they are unsure.

Keep reading at kdvr.com

When Denver resident Connie Boyd found out Coloradans will vote on whether to legalize psychoactive mushrooms this fall, she felt incredibly angry — and worried.

“My fear is that (Colorado is) going to legalize mushrooms and 10 years from now, there’s going to be a bunch of really sick people,” she said. “And the state 10 years from now is going to say: ‘Oh, gee, we’re sorry.’”

Boyd voted for cannabis legalization a decade ago. But her views changed after her son — a star athlete and student — reacted badly to trying edibles, an experience she said triggered lasting consequences.

“He had a severe psychotic episode,” she said. “At the age of 29, he was living in a nursing home for people with schizophrenia. It’s a very sad thing.” 

Read more at cpr.org

Colorado could become the second state in the country to legalize and regulate the market for psilocybin and psilocin, the psychedelic ingredient found in so-called “magic mushrooms” – thanks to a Washington, D.C.-based group that has been pouring in millions of dollars to support ballot measures in Colorado.

Behind the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 is an entity called New Approach PAC. Based in the nation’s capital, the group has put more than $3 million into ballot measures in Colorado in the last two years.

The PAC, for example, contributed $250,000 to the 2020 paid family leave initiative. The rest of its money went to the campaign committee Natural Medicine Colorado, which is pushing Initiative 58, which claims that magic mushrooms would be a tool to address mental health issues.

Keep reading at Colorado Politics

Since the wave of marijuana legalization and decriminalization that swept the country in recent years, employers have grown concerned about whether employees are working while high on cannabis. Now they have something else to worry about: Are your workers under the influence of small doses of hallucinogens?

The spreading practice is called microdosing and consists of a person taking small fractional doses of these psychoactive drugs. Supposedly, these doses are not enough to soar into the stratosphere on what used to be quaintly called a trip, but just enough to be high while still being capable of functioning while at work and even driving—at least that is supposed to be the case.

Read the full story at EHS Today

This article was originally published on Psychedelic Spotlight and appears here with permission.

As psychedelics continue to gain mainstream acceptance, these 5 states have started the process to legalize psychedelics

Across the USA –as scientific evidence grows that psychedelics such as psilocybin are not only safe to consume, but also can be effective in improving mental health— states have begun the process needed to decriminalize or even legalize psychedelics for both personal consumption and for use in psychedelic healing therapy centers.

In this article, we are walking through 5 States that are Likely to Legalize Psychedelics in the Near Future.

Read the full story at benzinga.com

• It’s not legal to sell psilocybin or “shrooms” in Canada, but one activist shop owner does anyway.
• He’s trying to push Vancouver to manage or legalize it, as cannabis sellers did in 2015.
• “If you’re like me, and you’re willing to take a risk and kind of push it forward, you find the resistance isn’t very strong,” he told Insider.

Psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms or “shrooms,” is not allowed to be sold under Canadian federal law, but that hasn’t stopped some Vancouver store owners from selling it anyway.

“There’s not a strong resistance to people doing this kind of stuff. If you’re like me, and you’re willing to take a risk and kind of push it forward, you find the resistance isn’t very strong,” Dana Larsen, the owner of the Medicinal Mushroom Dispensary, told Insider.

Read more at Business Insider

What was something of a taboo issue half a decade ago is now the subject of bills from both Republicans and Democrats in more than a dozen states. They range from proposals to study the medical benefits of psychedelics to bills that would allow adults to consume such drugs under supervision.

“It’s gone viral and sparked an interest nationwide,” said Democratic Washington state Sen. Jesse Salomon, who is sponsoring a bill that would allow psilocybin use among adults over age 21 under supervision. “I just didn’t know there were so many like-minded people on this.”

Oregon led the nation when voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 to legalize and regulate psilocybin therapy, alongside another decriminalizing drug possession more broadly.

Read the full story at Politico

In November 2020, voters in Oregon passed a pair of historic drug policy ballot measures. The first was Measure 110, a proposal to decriminalize low-level drug possession, with 58 percent in favor; the second was Measure 109, a proposal to grant legal access to psilocybin (the psychoactive component in magic mushrooms) for mental health treatment, with 56 percent in favor. It was an unprecedented turn of events in drug policy. But as always in the United States, businessmen were waiting in the wings. 

Compass Pathways, a biotech firm backed by the right-wing Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, had been preparing for a “psychedelic revolution” and the subsequent investor windfall, accumulating patents here and abroad for its synthesized formulation of psilocybin and its use in therapy.

Keep reading at The Nation

California activists on Wednesday announced that they have come up short on collecting enough signatures to qualify a measure to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for the state’s November ballot, though they aren’t giving up on a future election cycle bid.

Decriminalize California was first cleared by the state’s attorney general’s officeto begin signature gathering in September, giving them 180 days to collect 623,212 valid signatures from registered voters. On an all-volunteer basis, the group collected about 46 percent of those signatures, but that was pre-validation, meaning a significant portion would likely have been deemed invalid for one reason or another.

“We were doing great there collecting and then in mid-December just about everyone of our core volunteers got COVID and most of the events we were scheduled at either closed, postponed or had an extremely weak turnout,” campaign manager Ryan Munevar said in an e-mail blast to supporters.

Read the full story at Marijuana Movement

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon has released draft rules for the therapeutic use of psilocybin, commonly called magic mushrooms.

Voters approved Measure 109 in November of 2020, giving the state two years to set up the framework to regulate legal magic mushrooms in the state, The Oregonian/OregonLive reports.

Researchers believe psilocybin could help treat depression, PTSD and addiction, and Oregon’s system would allow for consumption of the substance in a therapeutic setting for anyone 21 years or older. No prescription or diagnosis would be required to take part in the program.

The rules released last week by the Oregon Health Authority are not complete and are not yet adopted, but they give a glimpse into what the program might look like.

The draft rules deal with how training programs for those administering psilocybin will be evaluated and credentialed, what the psilocybin itself will be and how that substance will be tested.

Read more at The Lewiston Tribune.

He’s been struggling with depression for nearly 20 years. Traditional antidepressants weren’t working.

Losing hope of being cured, he began researching alternative treatments. That’s when he read about psilocybin, the hallucinogenic drug found in “magic mushrooms,” and how it was emerging as a promising treatment for major depressive disorder.

In 2015, he took the leap. Because psilocybin is an illegal drug, he had to be discreet. He secured the psychedelic fungus from black market sources, then found people he trusted to stay with him and guide him through the experience. He lay down, put on a blindfold and headphones playing music, and embarked on an inward journey.

“There’s no words to explain it,” said the 43-year-old man, whose first name is Patrick. The newspaper agreed to not use his full name or identify him because the drug is illegal and he fears criminal enforcement.

Get the full story at pressherald.com

The legislation echoes a program launched in 2020 by neighboring Oregon, where a ballot bill allowed for the creation of a state-licensed psilocybin therapy program which is now in the final stages of its two-year set-up period.

Adding to a wave of psychedelics legalization measures that are sweeping across the American Northwest, lawmakers in Washington State introduced a bill that would create a state-licensed program to provide medical treatment with psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms.

The Psilocybin Wellness and Opportunity Act would legalize “supported psilocybin experiences” for adults 21 and older, who would be allowed to consume products containing psilocybin and psilocin, under the support of a trained and state-licensed service administrator, Marijuana Moment reported.

The Fresh Toast has the full story.

Tony Head was depressed and fearing death from stage 4 prostate cancer when, as part of a supervised scientific trial, he took a large dose of the psychedelic agent in “magic mushrooms,” psilocybin.

Head donned a mask and headphones to shut out the world around him, and had an experience that changed the course of his life.

“At some point in that time I felt like a higher power or something — I didn’t see anything, I didn’t see any type of image — I felt like something connected and touched me and as soon as it did, I just started crying,” Head, an award-nominated actor who lives in New York City, said in an interview with HealthDay Now.

He said the one-time therapy helped relieve much of the anxiety surrounding his prognosis.

Read more at upi.com

In May 2019, by popular vote, Denver became the first US city to decriminalize psilocybin. A naturally occurring psychedelic found in certain mushrooms, psilocybin is currently a Schedule I narcotic under federal law.

Voters approved Initiative 301 (I-301), better-known as “Decriminalize Denver,” which stated that personal possession, use and cultivation of psilocybin (no specified amount) would be the “lowest law enforcement priority.” The sale and purchase of psilocybin is still illegal, but the bill prohibits police and prosecutors from using any public funding to prosecute those charges. The initiative took effect immediately.

It also required the city to create a psilocybin policy review board comprising local officials, law enforcement, scientific experts and advocates.

“In the past two years since this passed, the sky has not fallen,” Decriminalize Denver Campaign Director and psilocybin review board member Kevin Matthews told Filter.

Keep reading at Filter.

Digital health and therapeutics will play a crucial role in the future of medicine. Across medical and mental health industries, companies are realizing that the confluence of healthcare and digital platforms will be part of the future of medicine.

Digital therapeutics seem to be especially important in the burgeoning psychedelic medicine industry. The future of psychedelics will be more than simply taking FDA-approved medication, as such potent compounds call for a more holistic and experiential approach to therapy. Therefore digital platforms will likely play a key role in developing this fast-growing sector.

Here are some companies positioning themselves as digital leaders in the growing psychedelic medicine space.

Keep reading at Benzinga.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber has announced that the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures on September 16, 2021.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

DECRIMINALIZES PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. For individuals 21 and over, decriminalizes under state law the cultivation, manufacture, processing, distribution, transportation, possession, storage, consumption, and retail sale of psilocybin mushrooms, the hallucinogenic chemical compounds contained in them, and edible products and extracts derived from psilocybin mushrooms.

Keep reading at Sierra Sun Times.

(The Center Square) – Two Democratic senators sponsored a bill aiming to decriminalize the possession of a range of psychedelics, including psilocybin and mescaline to better treat depression and other diseases.

Democratic Sens. Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor and Adam Hollier of Detroit sponsored Senate Bill 631.

Irwin says the War on Drugs is the “granddaddy of all failed big government programs.” Like in 2018 when Michiganders legalized marijuana, he argues lumping psilocybin and other hallucinogenic drugs that aren’t prone to abuse next to addictive drugs like heroin and meth is a mistake.

“These are just not the type of drugs that suck people into that vortex of addiction that can sometimes be such a problem,” Irwin said in a phone interview with The Center Square.

Read the story at The Center Square.

Marijuana was legalized in Canada just a few years back and we are certain there are not too many who are truly upset with this. Psilocybin, however, the chemical compound found in “magic mushrooms”, is still illegal. It has been since 1974. This needs to change.

Enter Spencer Hawkswell. He’s the CEO of a new Victoria based non-profit called TheraPsil. He helped co-found this venture with his friend and mentor Dr. Bruce Tobin, a psychotherapist. Together they’ve helped a small group of Canadians in their time of need, specifically end of life treatment.

In doing so they’ve given those individuals at this time a new medicine with which to work with, one that isn’t addictive and completely natural. The results have been life changing. They want to help all Canadians, but until Health Canada changes the law regarding the manufacture, production and use of psilocybin, their hands are largely tied.

Read more at Scout Magazine.