Oakland Votes Unanimously to Decriminalize Natural Psychedelics

KTLA:

Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to become the first U.S. city to decriminalize the adult use and possession of psychoactive plants like ayahuasca and peyote, and the second to make the same move for hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The resolution makes the adult use and possession of all entheogenic, or psychoactive, plants and fungi the lowest priority for police. That means, along with psilocybin mushrooms, it applies to cacti like peyote, the shrub iboga that has been used to treat opioid dependence and a variety of plants used to brew ayahuasca, among other things.

Huge news out of Oakland late last night.

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Oakland Lawmakers Advance Psychedelic Decriminalization Measure

Chris Roberts, writing for Marijuana Moment:

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted—with three ayes and one abstention—to advance to the full Council a measure that would declare enforcement of laws prohibiting the possession of “entheogenic plants” among adults the “lowest priority” for police.

The measure would also seek to block officials from using “any city funds or resources to assist” in enforcing bans on naturally derived psychedelics.

If the resolution sponsored by City Councilmember Noel Gallo is enacted, Oakland would follow Denver—where voters narrowly approved a psilocybin decriminalization measure earlier this month—in declaring its support for allowing adults to possess certain psychedelics without fear of arrest, fines and imprisonment.

With last night’s victory, Oakland is now one step closer to decriminalizing multiple natural psychedelics in one fell swoop. The resolution will go in front of the full city council next Tuesday. If approved, the city will join the small list of other places in America (New Mexico, Louisiana, and Denver) that have decriminalized natural psychedelics in some shape or form.

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TSA Updates Marijuana Rules to Allow Hemp-Derived CBD on Flights

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) updated its policy on cannabis over the Memorial Day weekend, changing the medical marijuana section of its “What Can I Bring?” webpage from reading “no” to “yes” (with “special instructions”).

Specifically, the agency is clarifying that hemp-derived CBD products may now be carried on planes under certain circumstances.

Hemp-derived CBD is now allowed on flights “as long as it is produced within the regulations defined by the law under the Agriculture Improvement Act 2018.”

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Oakland Council May Board Magic Bus by Decriminalizing Natural Psychedelics

Erin Allday and Sarah Ravani, writing for San Francisco Chronicle:

Oakland could become the second city in the country to decriminalize certain natural psychedelics — including “magic mushrooms” — if elected leaders approve a resolution that would instruct law enforcement to stop investigating and prosecuting people using the drugs.

The resolution is scheduled for its first public hearing before the City Council’s public safety committee Tuesday night and could go before the full council as early as June 4. It applies only to psychedelics that come from plants or fungi, not synthetic drugs like LSD or MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

Less than a month after Denver voted to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, another U.S. city is on the verge of decriminalizing natural psychedelics. Decriminalize Nature Oakland is the education campaign leading the charge to decriminalize several entheogenic plants, fungi, and natural sources in Oakland, CA:

• Mushrooms

• Cacti

• Iboga-containing plants

• Extracted combinations of plants similar to Ayahuasca

The definition of “natural psychedelics” will be limited to those containing either indole amines, tryptamines, or phenethlamines.

It’s been amazing watching the psychedelic legalization movement winning recently. Now the million dollar question is, “Will Oakland be able to keep the streak going?”

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Denver Voters Approve Measure to Decriminalize Psychedelic Mushrooms

Tom Angell, writing for Forbes:

Voters in Denver, Colorado made their city the first in the U.S. to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms by approving a ballot measure on the issue on Tuesday.

The measure, which was behind in early returns on election night but edged closer with each new batch of ballots counted, ended up pulling ahead with a 51 percent to 49 percent margin in the final unofficial results posted on Wednesday afternoon.

Its provisions prohibit the city government from using any resources to impose criminal penalties against adults over 21 years of age for personal use and possession of psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called "magic mushrooms."

Initiative 301 also specifies that going after people for the mushrooms is the city's “lowest law enforcement priority” and establishes a review panel to assess and report on the effects of the change by early 2021.

This was a thrilling race to follow. All throughout yesterday news outlets were running stories saying that the measure had been defeated, but that was with ~40k votes still remaining to be tallied.

Even though the vote occurred on Tuesday, the last votes weren’t counted until 5PM (Mountain Time) on Wednesday, at which point it was announced that the measure had in fact passed after all—by a thin margin of ~2000 votes.

The Denver Elections Division still needs to verify the final tally, so the official approval of this measure won’t be granted until May 16th. Assuming it goes off without a hitch, Denver will become the first city in the nation to have decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms via ballot initiative. However, it technically won’t be the first place in America where psychedelic fungi are decriminalized—courts in New Mexico and Louisiana previously ruled in favor of allowing the cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms. Up next are Oregon and California, where there are movements hoping to pass their own psilocybin policy reform ballot measures next year.

Regardless of who was first and who will be next, Denver residents should soon be able to possess, use, and grow psilocybin mushrooms without any fear of being criminally charged. This victory is a huge step forward in the fight to reform laws concerning psychedelic drugs and it should be celebrated (in proper fashion, hopefully) by psychonauts everywhere.

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