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A California senator sponsoring a bill to legalize possession of psychedelics in the state says the proposal is a step toward eventually decriminalizing all drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to get there,\u201d he said in a recent meeting with activists and researchers, though he added that it\u2019s possible the broader reform would need to be decided by voters.<\/p>\n
Sen. Scott Wiener (D) made the comments last week in a chat hosted by the Psychedelic and Entheogen Academic Council (PEAC), discussing next steps for his psychedelics legislation after it passed in the Senate earlier this month<\/a>. He said advancing the measure in the Assembly will be \u201cvery challenging\u201d due to a number of factors, but he sees progress in the legislature.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also unclear where Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) stands on the reform, he said\u2014though the governor has long been an outspoken opponent of the war on drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time that this idea has ever been introduced in the legislature,\u201d Wiener said. \u201cIt\u2019s a brand new idea\u201d that \u201cmany of my colleagues have never interacted with.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0bill<\/a> originally included record sealing and resentencing provisions for people previously convicted of psychedelics possession offenses, but that language was removed in its last committee stop prior to the Senate floor vote as part of an amendment from the sponsor.<\/p>\n Wiener said the reasoning behind that deletion was that the policy \u201cended up generating a huge price tag\u201d based on a fiscal analysis, but it could be addressed in separate legislation if the main bill passes.<\/p>\n Since clearing the Senate, SB 519 has been referred to two Assembly committees\u2014Public Safety and Health\u2014but the clock is ticking to move it this session. The senator said it must be heard by the panels by July 15, and then it would go the the Appropriations Committee, which would need to take action by late August.<\/p>\n If all goes well, Wiener told<\/a> the PEAC members that a floor vote in the Assembly would happen in early September. Should the chamber approve it, the bill would go back to the Senate for concurrence on any amendments (or otherwise go right to Newson\u2019s desk). The governor would need to receive the bill by September 10, and then he would have 30 days to act on it.<\/p>\n Assembly passage is far from a given, however. There are \u201crivalries\u201d and \u201ctensions\u201d between the two chambers, Wiener said, despite the fact that they\u2019re controlled by the same party.<\/p>\n Colleagues in the same chamber might be more willing to \u201cgive you a benefit of the doubt in helping you move forward bills,\u201d he said. What\u2019s more, members in the Assembly go up for reelection more frequently than in the Senate, making them less inclined to back novel legislation like the psychedelics proposal.<\/p>\n The senator said one possible amendment that could be expected in the Assembly would be to remove ketamine from the list of psychedelics that would be included in the reform.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are disagreements within the psychedelic world on it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt might come out. My view as you keep things in until you have to make a give, and that\u2019s one that we could potentially give on. You don\u2019t want to spontaneously give on things without getting some ability to move the bill forward as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n Mescaline, a psychoactive compound derived from peyote and other cacti, is another controversial psychedelic.<\/p>\n It was specifically excluded from the bill\u2019s reform provisions in peyote-derived form, but the possession of the compound would be allowed if it comes from other plants such as \u201cthe Bolivian Torch Cactus, San Pedro Cactus, or Peruvian Torch Cactus.\u201d<\/p>\n That decision on the peyote exclusion was informed by native groups who have strongly pushed back against decriminalizing the cacti<\/a> for conservationist reasons and because of its sacred value for their communities.<\/p>\n If enacted into law, the bill would remove criminal penalties for possessing or sharing numerous psychedelics\u2014including psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, ibogaine, LSD and MDMA\u2014for adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n \u2014 The state Department of Public Health would be required to establish a working group \u201cto study and make recommendations regarding possible regulatory systems that California could adopt to promote safe and equitable access to certain substances in permitted legal contexts.\u201d Those recommendations would be due by January 1, 2024.<\/p>\n For psilocybin specifically, the legislation would repeal provisions in California statute that prohibit the cultivation or transportation of \u201cany spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material\u201d that contain the psychoactive ingredient.<\/p>\n But this bill, Wiener emphasized at the beginning of the meeting, is ultimately an incremental step to ending the drug war.<\/p>\n \u201cMy view is we should be decriminalizing possession and use of all drugs\u2014and we want to get there,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a step just like cannabis [legalization] was a step. And ultimately we may need to go to the voters for the broader drug decriminalization like Oregon.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n For the time being, however, the senator encouraged PEAC members in San Francisco, where lawmakers are more amenable to psychedelics reform, to reach out to people in other areas of the state to apply pressure on their representatives.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a group of California activists announced plans earlier this year to put an\u00a0initiative to legalize the use and retail sale of psilocybin<\/a>\u00a0on the state\u2019s 2022 ballot. That group, Decriminalize California, said that it would first work to convince lawmakers to pursue reform and then take the issue directly to the people if the legislature fails to act.<\/p>\n The psychedelics effort in the California legislature, which\u00a0Wiener first previewed back in November<\/a>, comes as activists are stepping up the push to enact psychedelics reform locally in cities in the state and across the country. The bill notes those efforts in an explanation of the proposal.<\/p>\n The Northampton, Massachusetts City Council\u00a0passed a resolution<\/a>\u00a0in April\u00a0to deprioritize enforcement of laws against the possession, use and distribution of a wide range of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ayahuasca. It\u2019s the third city in the state to advance the policy change, following\u00a0Somerville<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cambridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n These are some of the latest iterations of a national psychedelics reform movement that\u2019s spread rapidly since\u00a0Denver became the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n Besides the cities in Massachusetts, four others\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 Oregon, November\u2019s election saw the passage of a historic initiatives to\u00a0legalize psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic purposes<\/a>\u00a0and more broadly\u00a0decriminalize possession of all drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor of Connecticut signed legislation last week that includes language requiring the state to carry out a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Texas lawmakers also recently sent their governor a bill to require the state study the medical benefits of psychedelics for military veterans<\/a>.<\/p>\n A New York lawmaker introduced a bill this month that would require the state to establish an institute to similarly research the medical value of psychedelics<\/a>.<\/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 The Aspen, Colorado City Council\u00a0discussed the therapeutic potential of psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0like psilocybin and proposals to decriminalize such substances at a meeting last month. 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 Seattle lawmakers also recently sent a letter to members of a local task force focused on the opioid overdose epidemic, imploring the group to investigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelics<\/a> like ayahuasca and ibogaine in curbing addiction.<\/p>\n Texas Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Wikimedia\/Mushroom Observer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post California Senator Previews Next Steps For Psychedelics Bill And Says It\u2019s A Step Toward Decriminalizing All Drugs<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A California senator sponsoring a bill to legalize possession of psychedelics in the state says the proposal is a step toward eventually decriminalizing all drugs. \u201cWe want to get there,\u201d he said in a recent meeting with activists and researchers, though he added that it\u2019s possible the broader reform wouldContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":48290,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48289"}],"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=48289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48291,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48289\/revisions\/48291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: California Senator Previews Next Steps For Psychedelics Bill And Says It\u2019s A Step Toward Decriminalizing All Drugs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"