The Aspen, Colorado City Council on Monday discussed the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and proposals to decriminalize such substances. But members said, as it stands, enacting a reform would be more better handled at the state level while entheogens remain strictly federally controlled.<\/p>\n
While numerous cities across the U.S. have adopted measures to deprioritize enforcement of laws against entheogenic plants and fungi\u2014and Oregon voted to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for medical use<\/a>\u2014the local legislators did not take action beyond talking about psychedelics research and outlining the various policy challenges associated with state and federal prohibition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re heading in this direction\u2014it\u2019s just research needs to be done and the groundwork needs to be laid,\u201d one member said at the work session, which was first reported<\/a> by Aspen Daily News.<\/p>\n Watch the Aspen lawmakers discuss psychedelics policy, starting around 14:25 into the video below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n There was considerable discussion during the meeting about Denver\u2019s historic move to decriminalize psilocybin in 2019<\/a>. But while one member said the council \u201ccould take similar actions,\u201d another member pointed out that there is no municipal law prohibiting the substance as it stands, and so it would require a state law change to actually decriminalize.<\/p>\n Also, if Aspen moved to loosen restrictions on psychedelics on its own, some members worried that could make them targets of federal enforcement.<\/p>\n So instead of moving to independently enact a policy change, members could \u201cinformally\u201d express support for \u201cresearch to see what the benefits of these drugs are and how they can be used in therapy.\u201d They could do that \u201cby resolution or not,\u201d the member said.<\/p>\n But in the end, there was no direction for council staff to write up a resolution. Several members said it would put too much of a workload on staff, and others said that formally promoting decriminalization could create complications for law enforcement.<\/p>\n Last year, the Colorado Springs City Council also talked about decriminalizing psychedelics<\/a>\u2014with the body\u2019s president sharing a personal anecdote about psilocybin treatment for a relative who had cancer\u2014but no action was taken at that meeting either.<\/p>\n While the Aspen City Council might not be ready to unilaterally advance reform, numerous other local governments have moved to stop criminalizing people over entheogens since Denver became the first city in the nation to decriminalize psilocybin via voter initiative.<\/p>\n The Northampton, Massachusetts City Council is the latest example, with members unanimously adopting a resolution<\/a> last month to deprioritize enforcement of laws against the possession, use and distribution of a wide range of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ayahuasca.<\/p>\n Two other Massachusetts cities\u2014Somerville<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cambridge<\/a>\u2014have also moved to effectively decriminalize psychedelics. Outside of that state, four other cities\u2014Oakland<\/a>,\u00a0Santa Cruz<\/a>,\u00a0Ann Arbor<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Washington, D.C.<\/a>\u2014have also decriminalized possession of plant-and fungi-based psychedelics.<\/p>\n In Oakland, the first city where a city council voted to broadly deprioritize criminalization of entheogenic substances, lawmakers\u00a0approved a follow-up resolution<\/a>\u00a0in December that calls for the policy change to be adopted statewide and for local jurisdictions to be allowed to permit healing ceremonies where people could use psychedelics.<\/p>\n After Ann Arbor legislators passed a decriminalization resolution last year, a county prosecutor recently announced\u00a0that his office will not be pursuing charges<\/a>\u00a0over possessing entheogenic plants and fungi\u2014\u201cregardless of the amount at issue.\u201d<\/p>\n At the state level, the Texas House of Representatives approved to a bill last week that would require the state to conduct a study into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics<\/a> like psilocybin and MDMA.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, two Senate committees in California have recently approved a bill to legalize possession of a wide range of psychedelics<\/a> and create a working group to study broader reform.<\/p>\n Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Could \u2018Absolutely\u2019 Pass Full Legislature If GOP Senate Allows A Vote, Sponsor Says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype<\/a> and Apollo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Local Colorado Lawmakers Say Psychedelics Reform Needs To Be Handled At State Or Federal Level<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Aspen, Colorado City Council on Monday discussed the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and proposals to decriminalize such substances. But members said, as it stands, enacting a reform would be more better handled at the state level while entheogens remain strictly federally controlled. While numerous cities across theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47643,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47642\/revisions\/47643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Local Colorado Lawmakers Say Psychedelics Reform Needs To Be Handled At State Or Federal Level<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"