The varieties of 'psychedelic decriminalization'

In this interesting piece on US psychedelic decriminalization, the author writes: "Over 50 US states and cities have recently voted on, or are currently considering, different types of psychedelic policy reform. Two states - Oregon and Colorado - have already passed psychedelic policies, in 2020 and 2022 respectively,, and other states including California could soon follow. Many of these policy proposals are presented as moves to “decriminalize psychedelics.”  However, the words “psychedelic decriminalization” on their own tell us very little about what a given policy proposal would actually do, and there are often very significant and consequential differences between particular policies.  Through a large number of conversations over the past couple of years, I’ve found that people (both inside and outside of the psychedelic space) are often very surprised, sometimes even shocked, to learn about the full scope of policy proposals that have been presented as “decriminalizing psychedelics.”  For example, most of the people I spoke with here in the Bay Area were aware that the city of Oakland had “decriminalized mushrooms,” but nearly all were very surprised when they found out that Oakland’s policy allows for people to open up psilocybin mushroom distribution operations, like the one above.  Many people have told me that they changed their positions on particular “psychedelic decriminalization” policy proposals once they found out what these proposals would actually do. So, if someone asks you if you support a particular “psychedelic decriminalization” proposal, your response should probably be “what’s in the proposal?”  To make an informed answer, you would need to ask (at least) these two questions: 1) What type of “decriminalization” would this policy proposal implement? 2) Which specific activities does this policy proposal apply to?"

For more psychedelic news and research, visit the psychedelic health professional network homepage.