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A California Assembly committee on Tuesday approved a Senate-passed bill to legalize possession of psychedelics, clearing its first major hurdle in the chamber.<\/p>\n
The Assembly Public Safety Committee advanced the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D), in a 5-3 vote.<\/p>\n
This comes one day after the senator held a rally<\/a> with military veterans, law enforcement and health officials to build support for the proposal.<\/p>\n SB 519 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 The sponsor supported a committee amendment that removed ketamine from the list of psychedelics included in the reform. That\u2019s in addition to a series of technical revisions that were made to the legislation.<\/p>\n The full Senate approved the bill earlier this month<\/a>, and it still has two more Assembly panel stops\u2014the Public Health and Appropriations Committees\u2014before moving to the floor and then, potentially, to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder SB 519, we will no longer arrest people and incarcerate them for the simple personal possession of psychedelics for personal or shared use,\u201d Wiener told the committee on Tuesday. \u201cThat\u2019s really the question here: Do we believe that we should be arresting someone because they possess psychedelics for personal use? I don\u2019t think we should. Frankly, I think most people don\u2019t think we should be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Assembly Public Safety Committee just passed our legislation to decriminalize possession of psychedelics in California (#SB519<\/a>).<\/p>\n Another step toward ending the failed & racist War on Drugs & expanding access to mental health & addiction treatment.<\/p>\n Thank you, colleagues!<\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) June 29, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Wiener has described its prospects going forward as \u201cvery challenging,\u201d but he made the case at Monday\u2019s press event that it is a necessary policy change to advance mental health reform and end criminalization.<\/p>\n Under the measure, 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 The\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0originally 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 \u2014 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 Speaking at an event hosted by the Psychedelic and Entheogen Academic Council (PEAC) this month, the senator said advancing the legislation would be\u00a0first step toward decriminalizing all currently illicit drugs<\/a>.\u00a0He reiterated that point on Monday, stating that \u201cthis bill is one step in the direction of ending the failed war on drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n He reiterated that position on Tuesday, saying he\u2019s \u201cof the view that the war on drugs in general has been a failure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to arrest our way out of drug use and addiction for 50 years, and it hasn\u2019t improved anything whatsoever,\u201d Wiener said. \u201cPeople are still using. People are still getting addicted\u2014not to psychedelics, because these are generally not addictive, but to other drugs. And all we\u2019ve done is fill up our prison with drug crimes, and we\u2019re not safer and we\u2019ve just spent a whole lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n While the bill is being described by lawmakers and advocates as simple \u201cdecriminalization,\u201d the official legislative analysis of the proposal states that it would \u201cmake lawful\u201d the personal possession and social sharing of these substances.<\/p>\n If the bill does ultimately clear the Assembly, it still remains unclear whether Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) would sign it\u2014though the governor has long been an outspoken critic of the war on drugs.<\/p>\n Wiener backed the new ketamine-related amendment in an effort to build support for the legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are disagreements within the psychedelic world on it,\u201d the senator said earlier this month in a meeting with activists. \u201cMy 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\u00a0strongly pushed back against decriminalizing the cacti<\/a>\u00a0for conservationist reasons and because of its sacred value for their communities.<\/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 this month that includes language requiring the state to carry out\u00a0a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Texas also recently enacted a bill to require the state\u00a0study 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\u00a0research 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\u00a0investigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0like ayahuasca and ibogaine in curbing addiction.<\/p>\n New Mexico Marijuana Legalization Law Officially Takes Effect<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post California Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Psychedelics Possession In Committee<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A California Assembly committee on Tuesday approved a Senate-passed bill to legalize possession of psychedelics, clearing its first major hurdle in the chamber. The Assembly Public Safety Committee advanced the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D), in a 5-3 vote. This comes one day after the senator held aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":48571,"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\/48570"}],"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=48570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48572,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48570\/revisions\/48572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: California Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Psychedelics Possession In Committee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"