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A Senate-passed bill to legalize possession of certain psychedelics in California cleared a procedural hurdle on Monday\u2014but it faces another critical challenge in the Assembly next week that could decide its fate.<\/p>\n
After passing the Senate earlier this year<\/a>, the legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) has moved through two Assembly committees<\/a> so far. It advanced through a second reading on the chamber\u2019s floor on Monday and was re-referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n Now advocates are focusing on what happens on August 26, when the measure is expected to be considered by the panel during a \u201csuspense hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n It passed there, it will be eligible for third reading passage on the floor. If it clears the full Assembly then, it would need to go back to the Senate for concurrence on recent amendments by September 10 in order to reach the governor\u2019s desk this year. If that doesn\u2019t happen, it could remain floor eligible but wouldn\u2019t be acted upon until January at the earliest.<\/p>\n The worst case scenario for advocates is if the bill is \u201cheld on suspense\u201d in Appropriations next week, which means it\u2019s effectively dead.<\/p>\n Wiener has spent significant energy building support for the reform proposal as it has moved through the full Senate and two Assembly committees, including by holding a recent rally<\/a>\u00a0with military veterans, law enforcement and health officials.<\/p>\n SB 519 would remove criminal penalties for possessing numerous psychedelics\u2014including psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, ibogaine, LSD and MDMA\u2014for adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n As a result of changes approved by the latest panel last month, the bill includes language laying out the limits for what is an allowable personal possession amount for each substance. That\u2019s led Decriminalize Nature (DN), a group that\u2019s worked to enact psychedelics reform across the country, to call for the tabling of the legislation while disagreements are worked out.<\/p>\n Carlos Plazola, co-founder of the organization, recently told DoubleBlind that the only provision of the legislation that \u201cwe\u2019ll die on the hill for is limits.\u201d He said<\/a> Decriminalize Nature\u2019s \u201cofficial position is neutral with a request that they park the bill and remove limits for natural plant medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n But Wiener told the outlet that he doesn\u2019t want to lose momentum by slowing things down, and said his goal is to \u201cpass this bill this year and to have it signed into law this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Other advocates say they are taking a practical position on the revision, accepting the possession limits in the interest of advancing the reform through a legislature that could otherwise defeat the bill if it contained no such restrictions. That would leave criminalization in place across the board.<\/p>\n As currently drafted, these are the prescribed limits for personal possession that would be legalized:<\/strong><\/p>\n -2 grams of DMT<\/p>\n -15 grams of ibogaine<\/p>\n -0.01 grams of LSD<\/p>\n -4 grams of mescaline<\/p>\n -2 grams of the controlled substance psilocybin or 4 ounces of a plant or fungi containing the controlled substance psilocybin.<\/p>\n -2 grams of the controlled substance psilocyn or 4 ounces of a plant or fungi containing the controlled substance of psilocyn<\/p>\n -4 grams of MDMA.<\/p>\n It should be noted that while personal possession limits would be imposed under the revision, facilitators could have aggregate amounts for group use, meaning they could possess the allowable amount for each individual involved in a ceremony. And when it comes to personal cultivation, there would not be any limits.<\/p>\n In a prior Assembly panel, Wiener supported a committee amendment that removed ketamine from the list of psychedelics<\/a> included in the reform. That\u2019s in addition to a series of technical revisions that have been made to the legislation since it was first introduced.<\/p>\n Wiener has described its prospects going forward as \u201cvery challenging,\u201d but he made the case at a recent 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) in June, the senator said advancing the legislation would be first step toward decriminalizing all currently illicit drugs<\/a>. He later reiterated that point, stating that \u201cthis bill is one step in the direction of ending the failed war on drugs.\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 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 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, California activists recently filed\u00a0a petition for the 2022 ballot<\/a> to make the state the first in the nation to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for any use.<\/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 Psychedelics reform is currently advancing<\/a> in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Easthampton, Massachusetts and Arcata, California, for example.<\/p>\n Other Massachusetts cities that have enacted the policy change are:\u00a0Northampton<\/a>,\u00a0Somerville<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cambridge<\/a>. And earlier this month, state lawmakers\u00a0also heard testimony about a bill<\/a>\u00a0to create a task force charged with\u00a0studying the implications of legalizing psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca<\/a>.<\/p>\n In California,\u00a0Oakland<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Santa Cruz<\/a>\u00a0have already enacted psychedelics decriminalization.<\/p>\n The Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council approved the policy change last year<\/a>\u2014and last week, local lawmakers passed a resolution to officially designate September as Entheogenic Plants and Fungi Awareness Month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Voters in Washington, D.C. approved a ballot measure to\u00a0decriminalize psychedelics in the nation\u2019s capital<\/a>\u00a0in November.<\/p>\n For the most part, the burgeoning psychedelics movement has been limited to decriminalization\u2014with the exception or Oregon, where voters elected to\u00a0legalize psilocybin for therapeutic purposes<\/a> during last year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n All of these latest developments are some of the latest iterations of a national psychedelics reform movement that\u2019s spread since\u00a0Denver became the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/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 The psychedelics conversation is also catching on at the federal level.<\/p>\n But in a setback for advocates, the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted against a proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that\u00a0would have removed a spending bill rider<\/a>\u00a0that advocates say has restricted federal funds for research into Schedule I drugs, including psychedelics such as psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine. However, it picked up considerably more votes this round than\u00a0when the congresswoman first introduced it<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n Report provisions of separate, House-passed spending legislation also touch on the need to\u00a0expand cannabis and psychedelics research<\/a>. The panel urged the National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support expanded marijuana studies, for example<\/p>\n It further says that federal health agencies should\u00a0pursue research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0for military veterans suffering from a host of mental health conditions.<\/p>\n When it comes to broader drug policy reform, Oregon voters also approved an initiative in November to\u00a0decriminalize possession of all drugs<\/a>. This year, the Maine House of Representatives\u00a0passed a drug decriminalization bill<\/a>, but it later\u00a0died in the Senate<\/a>.<\/p>\n In May, lawmakers in Congress filed the\u00a0first-ever legislation to federally decriminalize possession<\/a>\u00a0of illicit substances.<\/p>\n IRS Hosts Marijuana And Cryptocurrency Tax Event That Highlights Legalization Support<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post California Bill To Legalize Possession Of Psychedelics Clears Another Hurdle But Faces Key Challenge Next Week<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Senate-passed bill to legalize possession of certain psychedelics in California cleared a procedural hurdle on Monday\u2014but it faces another critical challenge in the Assembly next week that could decide its fate. After passing the Senate earlier this year, the legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) has moved through twoContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49502,"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\/49501"}],"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=49501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49503,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49501\/revisions\/49503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: California Bill To Legalize Possession Of Psychedelics Clears Another Hurdle But Faces Key Challenge Next Week<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"