California psychedelics activists are embarking on a bold journey, filing a petition for the 2022 ballot to make the state the first in the nation to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for any use.<\/p>\n
The measure\u2014titled the California Psilocybin Initiative\u2014would legalize the \u201cpersonal, medical, therapeutic, religious, spiritual, and dietary use of Psilocybin Mushrooms\u201d for adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n
Further, the initiative would allow for the cultivation, retail sale, social sharing and on-site consumption of the psychedelic.<\/p>\n
There would be no limits on personal possession\u2014a policy that has stirred controversy in the state legislature over separate legislation to legalize possession of a wide range of psychedelics<\/a> that has already passed the Senate but which in its most recent Assembly committee consideration had certain limits added in an effort to build support.<\/p>\n Activists with Decriminalize California submitted the petition to the state attorney general\u2019s office on Monday. That initiated a 30-day public comment period that will last until August 11. If the office accepts the measure and assigns it a title and summary, the group will need to collect 623,212 valid signatures from registered voters within 180 days.<\/p>\n While this proposal goes further than the psilocybin measure that Oregon voters approved last year<\/a>, which made it legal for therapeutic use in a clinically supervised setting, it does still have a specific medical component.<\/p>\n Healthcare professionals \u201cmay recommend Psilocybin or Psilocybin Mushrooms for use in minors and adults under the age of 21, for the treatment of specific and appropriate indications,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n The California Department of Food and Agriculture would be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the program overall. Meanwhile the state Department of Consumer Affairs and the Health and Human Services Agency would be required to \u201cadopt and implement the qualification requirements and protocols for Psilocybin Mushroom-assisted therapy created by an independent professional certifying body. \u201d<\/p>\n Activists made a concerted effort in the measure to ensure the psilocybin products are generally treated like other legal commodities. For example, the products would not be subject to any licensing requirements, fees or taxes that \u201cexceed the amount charged or assessed for comparable non-Psilocybin Mushroom related businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Psilocybin that\u2019s sold for \u201cmedical, therapeutic, religious or spiritual purposes\u201d wouldn\u2019t be subject to any sales or excise tax at all. Those that are marketed as dietary supplements would be taxed \u201cat the local sales tax rate at the point of sale.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPsilocybin Mushrooms and Psilocybin Mushroom Businesses shall be regulated as closely as practicable to non-psychoactive agriculturally produced mushrooms\u201d except for specific labelling requirements, the measure says. The labels must include a universal symbol and a warning statement advising consumers to keep them out of reach of children and advising about impairment. Packaging must also explain the content of product, including milligrams of active ingredients per package and per serving.<\/p>\n Researchers, healthcare professionals and therapists would have specific protections related to psilocybin that are carved into the initiative. The psychedelic also couldn\u2019t be used as the sole basis to revoke parental rights.<\/p>\n \u201cStarting January 1, 2023, any Psilocybin Mushroom Business operating on land that is zoned for commercial agricultural production and approved by the COPA for food production can begin the cultivation, manufacturing, and wholesale distribution of Psilocybin Mushrooms,\u201d the measure states. \u201cStarting April 19, 2023, any business that is incorporated in California and possesses a California Seller\u2019s Permit can begin retail sales.\u201d<\/p>\n Local jurisdictions would be able to ban or limit psilocybin businesses from operating in their area if voters approve the restriction via citizen initiative or a petition submitted by a governing body.<\/p>\n Except for safety-sensitive positions \u201cno person shall refuse to provide services or benefits or increase the charge for services or benefits, based on the lawful use, cultivation, possession, storage, or sales of Psilocybin Mushrooms,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of this act is to implement a comprehensive, statewide scheme authorizing and regulating the cultivation, processing, and distribution of Psilocybin Mushrooms and the chemical compounds contained therein for personal, medical, therapeutic, spiritual, religious, and dietary use,\u201d Ryan Munevar, campaign director of Decriminalize California, said<\/a> in an email blast to supporters.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIf all goes well and society isn\u2019t shut down from another round of the plague, murder hornets, or an alien invasion (my personal favorite) then we should begin collecting signatures starting in early September of this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Decriminalize California previously said that it would first work to convince lawmakers to pursue reform and then take the issue directly to the people if the legislature failed to act.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear if the group has lost faith in a Senate-passed psychedelics decriminalization bill sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D) that advanced through its second Assembly committee this week or if it simply wishes to pursue a different route, legalizing psilocybin alone and allowing for its commercial sale.<\/p>\n The group attempted to get a similar measure on the November 2020 ballot<\/a>, but they faced signature gathering complications due to the coronavirus pandemic and ultimately abandoned that effort.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically what we have already done is the truest most sincere form of open source politics and brings us one step closer to a proper direct democracy by electronic debate,\u201d Munevar said.<\/p>\n Activists are also stepping up the push to enact psychedelics reform locally in other cities in the state and across the country.<\/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 An Arcata, California<\/a> councilmember announced this month that she would sponsor a measure to decriminalize 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 recently 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 last 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 in May. 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 Read the text of the California psilocybin legalization initiative below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n California psilocybin initi\u2026<\/a> by Marijuana Moment<\/a><\/p>\n Virginia Governor Too \u2018Busy\u2019 To Smoke Marijuana Following Legalization, He Says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Wikimedia\/Mushroom Observer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post California Activists File Psilocybin Legalization Ballot Measure As Legislature Advances Broader Psychedelics Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
California psychedelics activists are embarking on a bold journey, filing a petition for the 2022 ballot to make the state the first in the nation to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for any use. The measure\u2014titled the California Psilocybin Initiative\u2014would legalize the \u201cpersonal, medical, therapeutic, religious, spiritual, and dietary use of PsilocybinContinue 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":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48871"}],"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=48871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48872,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48871\/revisions\/48872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: California Activists File Psilocybin Legalization Ballot Measure As Legislature Advances Broader Psychedelics Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"