Denver votes to become first U.S. city to decriminalize 'magic mushrooms'
Denver will become the first city in the United States to decriminalize magic mushrooms, based on final unofficial results on Wednesday of a ballot initiative about the hallucinogenic drug.
The initiative called for Colorado's capital to end the imposition of criminal penalties for individuals at least 21 years of age for using or possessing psilocybin, widely known as magic mushrooms.
The Denver Elections Divisions will certify results on May 16, but the final count on its website on Wednesday was 50.56 percent of voters in favor and 49.44 percent against.
If the initiative is approved, psilocybin would still remain illegal under both Colorado and federal law. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies the drug as a Schedule 1 substance, meaning the agency has deemed that it has a high potential for abuse with no accepted medical application.
Also at NYT:
"It's surreal," said Travis Tyler Fluck, a field organizer for the campaign to pass the measure, suggesting that Denver had a sizable population of "psychedelic constituents." "People just don't see it as a threat," he added. "Compared to the 'sinister' LSD, magic mushrooms are tame."
Oof. 🚲 🍄
Previously: Denver, Colorado Will Vote on Psilocybin Decriminalization Initiative on May 7
Related: Study Suggests Psilocybin "Resets" the Brains of Depressed People
Shrooms Safest, Comparatively Speaking
Related Stories
An fMRI study has found evidence of a reduction in depressive symptoms after treatment with psilocybin:
A hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms can "reset" the brains of people with untreatable depression, raising hopes of a future treatment, scans suggest.
The small study gave 19 patients a single dose of the psychedelic ingredient psilocybin. Half of patients ceased to be depressed and experienced changes in their brain activity that lasted about five weeks.
However, the team at Imperial College London says people should not self-medicate.
There has been a series of small studies suggesting psilocybin could have a role in depression by acting as a "lubricant for the mind" that allows people to escape a cycle of depressive symptoms. But the precise impact it might be having on brain activity was not known.
Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13282-7) (DX)
Turns out, 'magic' mushrooms are responsible for the lowest percentage of emergency ward visits, followed by cannabis in second place, and LSD and cocaine in joint third place.
At the other end of the chart, methamphetamine, synthetic cannabis, and alcohol carried the most risk of a trip to the local emergency ward, leaving MDMA (ecstasy) and amphetamines in the middle of the drug safety table.
The survey took in responses from 115,523 people across more than 50 countries. Nearly 10,000 participants said they had tried magic mushrooms in the past year, with 0.2 percent of those needing a trip to the hospital after their drug-induced trip.
That was the lowest percentage figure in the survey by some distance, but researchers are keen to point out that no drug use is entirely harmless - and there are plenty of other risks associated with drugs that don't necessarily land you in hospital.
Denver's Initiative 301 would decriminalize the use and possession of mushrooms containing the psychedelic compound psilocybin by making shrooms Denver's "lowest law enforcement priority". The vote is on Tuesday, May 7, alongside general elections for mayor, city auditor, city clerk and recorder, and all 13 city council seats. The initiative is supported by Decriminalize Denver, the Denver Green Party, and the Libertarian Party of Colorado. Opponents include the Centennial Institute, a conservative think tank from Colorado Christian University.
Will Denver Vote to Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms?
In 2005, Denver residents voted to become the first major U.S. city to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Two years later, they voted to decriminalize cannabis entirely. For the city's elections this spring, they're being asked if they want to do the same thing for psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms.
If passed, Initiative 301 would decriminalize the possession and use of a drug that is illegal in all states and at the federal level. No matter the result, it marks the first time in United States history that the legal status of psilocybin has been challenged, and it's putting Denver once again at the center of a debate on drug policy.
[...] State laws would remain unchanged, meaning state prosecutors could continue to bring psilocybin cases to court in Denver. While this type of decriminalization law may reduce drug arrests, drug policy experts consider it more of a symbolic gesture that could precede full legalization, much as cannabis laws did in the mid-2000s.
That fact hasn't been lost in Denver's debate over the issue. Opponents say decriminalization of psilocybin could eventually lead to full legalization, putting Denver—a city already known for its embrace of recreational marijuana—down the path toward becoming a drug haven.
Efforts To Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms Beginning To Sprout Nationally
Denver and Oakland recently passed measures decriminalizing magic mushrooms, and it appears to be part of a larger, slow-moving movement to make psilocybin (the mushrooms' psychedelic ingredient) available for treatments for depression and other medicinal purposes, and, of course, recreational purposes.
- Oregon: The Pacific Northwest is considering a 2020 ballot measure to allow Oregonians to use "guided psilocybin services" for therapeutic purposes. The Psilocybin Service Initiative is the organization behind the measure, and it is working to get the 100,000 petition signatures needed to secure a place on the state's 2020 election ballot.
- California: After the Oakland measure passed, an organization called Decriminalize California is working on a statewide decriminalization measure for the 2020 election. (A similar measure failed to garner enough petition signatures last year.) According to the organization's strategy timeline, it is fundraising in advance of its fall campaign for petition signatures and promotion.
- Iowa: State Representative Jeff Shipley, a Republican with a libertarian streak, introduced two magic mushroom-focused bills in February. One bill would remove psilocybin from Iowa's list of controlled substances, and the second would allow medical usage of the substance. Since their introduction, the bills have languished in Iowa's house.
Oakland's decriminalization covers hallucinogens derived from plants or fungi, including but not limited to psilocybin-containing mushrooms and mescaline-containing peyote.
See also: Oakland City Council looks to decriminalize 'magic mushrooms' after Denver vote
Oakland Second US City to Legalize Magic Mushrooms
Oakland Decriminalizes Hallucinogenic 'Magic Mushrooms' And Peyote
Previously: Denver, Colorado Will Vote on Psilocybin Decriminalization Initiative on May 7
Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Narrowly Approved in Denver, Colorado
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @11:56AM
He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Coming home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @12:40PM (11 children)
What is this based on?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @12:52PM (7 children)
It's just that guy's opinion of what other people believe. But I don't think he's wrong. LSD seems to be perceived as dangerous (although it's not addictive and it's difficult to overdose on, it's commonly believed to cause permanent brain alterations - although there's little real science on the topic). Mushrooms are generally perceived as something more harmless.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:09PM (4 children)
I wouldn't say "evil" so much as "powerful". And just as with cars or fire, powerful things are dangerous when used recklessly (as is commonly the case with drug usage in the partying scene).
And actually there's a *lot* or real science about permanent brain alterations. There's nothing obvious for most people, most of the time, but it's well documented that some people will experience various degrees of apparently permanent brain alterations, some on their first exposure. At the very least, that deserves a prominent warning on the box.
Heck, before it was banned there was a lot of really promising research on using it therapeutically - a day or two of tripping balls in the company of a psychologist managed to apparently permanently cure long-term alcoholism in several experimental subjects, as one example. It's not much of a stretch to assume that more negative long-term consequences can potentially result from invoking that kind of power carelessly.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Friday May 10 2019, @12:24AM (3 children)
This is the right answer: A reasonable (and I would say, important) role of government is to educate, to provide worthwhile information.
The US government, at present, has instead taken the (very) low road, viciously interfering with informed personal/consensual choice.
The government can, and should, stick its oar in to see that we are informed as reasonably possible.
It should not interfere with informed consent. That's tyranny. Or worse.
More on these ideas in: Should There be a Law? [fyngyrz.com]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday May 10 2019, @12:37AM (2 children)
I agree, with a bit of a proviso for general purposes: to
>It should not interfere with informed consent.
I would add "provided there's a variety of alternatives"
For example, when you have monopoly or oligopoly situations, especially on valuable or necessary goods or services, I think it's perfectly reasonable for government to step in to limit the sort of abuse that people can make an informed "consent" to.
But that's more a matter of limiting what providers can offer to the stupid or desperate, individuals/consumers should be allowed to do as they like, so long as nobody else is harmed by their actions.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Friday May 10 2019, @01:56AM (1 child)
Yes. Corporations are not at all like people, except in that they often resemble sociopaths and psychopaths. Monopoly is almost always bad. Large established monopolies are almost impossible to compete against, and that is one place (of many) where I think the government should step in.
For instance, at retail, I think that bulk discounts to a retailer should not be allowed. If huge retailer X gets discount Z, then tiny retailer should also be offered discount Z — regardless of quantity. Quantity discounts are another way for large retailers to lock out small ones. Likewise, shipping costs should be an even playfield, regardless of location within the nation. Just as telephone communications (and now, the Internet) needed to go everywhere because people are everywhere, so too do retailers where one can buy product X, particularly in the area of necessary goods as you mentioned. Food, fuel, etc. Goods in general. It's fine that a retail operation needs a base population to be practical; population nexuses are very common in (relatively) unpopulated areas, though large retail operations are not.
Regulation isn't all bad, far from it. Without it, evil people will tilt the playfield. We see this all the time.
I do think automation is going to change the picture pretty soon, but it will likely be very painful getting there.
There are lots of other issues that extend beyond the issue of laws that affect personal and informed consent; pollution, education, healthcare, infrastructure, access to the airwaves, monopolies as you mentioned, rehabilitation vs. revenge. None of them should retard or threaten the individual's ability to make valid personal or consensual choices. The monopoly issue is about making sure they have legitimate choices, as opposed to imposed consequences.
--
Any pizza can be a personal pizza if you believe in yourself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @02:31AM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JNCF on Friday May 10 2019, @01:31AM (1 child)
I've heard multiple people describe LSD as more "masculine," and mushrooms as more "feminine." It sounds weird assigning gender to a molecule and a hermaphroditic fungus, but it also kind of rings true. My darkest thoughts on LSD have been far more base and animalistic than anything that mushrooms has made me experience, and LSD has has never made me feel as if I was communing with a divine feminine entity. If I had to pick only one of my LSD or mushroom trips to remember, it would be one of the mushroom trips. That being said, I appreciate the effects of microdosing LSD more than comparable levels of psilocybin, and if I had to never use one of those drugs ever again I'd say goodbye to the shrooms.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @01:49AM
I almost think it's the opposite. Primal shrooms, groovy LSD. Maybe my mindset was different at different times.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:10PM (2 children)
LSD and shrooms are very similar in how they work so the comparison is intresting. Now LSD you can dose more precisely because it's a matter of dilution, but even so the LSD molecule is leagues more powerful than shrooms (as in more than hundreds time more effective). The average dose for an LSD blotter will more often than not induce actual hallucinations while the average trip on shrooms will just deform what you see.
Now both molecules are less toxic than caffeine, but overdoses can incur psychological damage or serotonin syndrome. If only from a statistic pov, serotonin syndrome is very rare in taker of shrooms that don't have previous medication (such as SRIs) while it's frequent enough to consider for LSD.
And as a footnote on the matter of public safety, unless you're brewing yourself and doing the dilutions, it's a crapshoot how concentrated a blotter is, just like for pills. Fresh product is harder to dose precisely but your margin of error is always small.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:44PM (1 child)
It's not at all clear to me that the two do the same thing or act the same way. "Powerful" assumes that you have a decent scale that you are rating both on, and, AFAIK, the only such scale we have is news stories...which isn't a very reliable scale. You could also put caffeine on that scale, and alcohol, and, for that matter, sugar. They're all psycho-active. But it's not a very reasonable thing to measure them the same way.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:58PM
Ok, let's devellop: both are serotoninergic psychedelic hallucinogens. They both work by overstimulating serotonin receptors by bonding to them. This is why it's meaningful to compare them, because they do the same thing you can compare strength by how well and how long they do the thing.
Meanwhile you wouldn't put alcohol or caffeine on that scale, because while they may affect serotonin receptor activation in the big picture, that's not their primary effect.
Serotonin syndrome is a chemical imbalance that follows very high spikes in serotonin receptor excitation. LSD is a well known cause of serotonin syndrome while psylocibin induced cases are rare. This is nothing like a study, but it's a reasoning based on facts. The way you are being dismissive, you read like someone who doesn't even want to consider the matter.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @12:54PM (7 children)
Notice the "freedom" that you are being granted.
Not the freedom to actually question things which challenge power, but the freedom to addle your mind by being distracted by a fantasy world.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:15PM (1 child)
You just did. You just did. I mean, you didn't put a Question Mark. But it's what's commonly referred to as questioning.
I'll tell you, I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't questioned, and challenged power. I asked, what about Benghazi? What about the acid-washed EMAILS? What about Uranium One (Russia)? What about Vince Foster (RIP!)? What about Seth Rich (RIP!)? What about the Clinton Foundation -- Slush Fund where "ruining people was considered sport" (Vince F)? I'm glad I asked. I'm so glad I asked. And now I'm asking, what about the coup, what about the attempted overthrow of the United States government? Often referred to as the Witch Hunt.
Keep on questioning. Keep on challenging. But, don't tell us we can't!!!!
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Thursday May 09 2019, @11:49PM
Lists 30+ years of Republican witch hunts, (you forgot Whitewater) then overstates 2 years of
Democratic witch hunts as a 'Coup.'
Professional level of disingenuous behavior.
Yes Donnie boy, we shall keep on questioning.
And investigating.
And indicting.
Tricky Dick Nixon thought he was above the law too.
Clinton thought he could get away with lying about a blow job.
You lie about everything, even when the truth would serve you better.
Oh yeah, how's that 'easy to win' trade war coming along? Looks to me like it's about to send the one good thing about your administration (the economy) into the crapper.
But maybe, that was the plan all along, to sow enough discord, to actually do what Republicans believed Obama (one of the better Republican Presidents, ran as a D, governed like an R) was going to do (Jade Helm is a practice run for a coup!) and create a presidency without term limits, like you've publicly stated (*) and apparently the entirety of your party is OK with, as long as it's Republican and not Democratic. After all when you float trial balloons like this, you merely backtrack by saying 'I was joking,' (**) something that of course, is only valid for an R, but if a D does it, well, that's never a joke.
We see though your fakery.
Your fucking proof positive the Evangelicals would bend over backwards and suck the Anti-Christs cock if such a thing actually existed. Hypocrites deluxe.
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-again-jokes-about-staying-on-as-president-for-more-than-two-terms/2019/04/18/05a5afce-6207-11e9-9ff2-abc984dc9eec_story.html?utm_term=.6f5d20c76e6d [washingtonpost.com]
** https://news.yahoo.com/trump-jokes-150223195.html [yahoo.com]
Yes it's an off-topic rant, but he's just so damned convincing, the best troll here, and my personal favorite!! (Thanks RDT) You may now eat a few magic mushrooms and float about the room....Peace out!
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:27PM
You've got it mixed up.
You aren't being granted the freedom to take or sell a substance. You are (in part) being granted the freedom to not have your head smashed into the pavement and life ruined over merely possessing a substance.
Also, many of the people who supported this initiative are less interested in being addled/distracted, and more interested in the therapeutic benefits. They would probably try microdosing before anything serious.
In reality though, state and federal authorities could still ruin your life because you chose to grow a substance. I suspect even the local cops could find a way to subvert the intent of the initiative.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Sourcery42 on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:08PM
Shut up and take your soma, AC.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JNCF on Friday May 10 2019, @01:43AM (2 children)
Uhm, I'm not so sure of that. I've seen more than one person veer towards anarchism or communism after doing copious amounts of psychedelics. I think they actually do make you question things, and make you more open to considering questions posed by others. They're extremely thought-provoking drugs, more so than any others I'm aware of. I suspect this was the biggest factor in them being outlawed; the CIA played with them and said "nope, people will start tearing apart society as we know it if they see this; put the back genie back in the bottle and put the bottle in solitary confinement."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @02:42AM (1 child)
What happens if someone in an anarchist or communist country does it?
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Friday May 10 2019, @03:10AM
I'm not claiming that radical questioning of government while under the influence of these drugs is universal (just widespread enough to scare the powers that be), and I'm not sure what you mean by "an anarchist country" (well, I do, I'm just being pedantic), but I think these drugs make you more open to questioning the status quo and arriving at extreme conclusions. I also think anarchism and communism are extreme conclusions about government; the state is nothing, or the state is everything. Theoretically the extreme groupman communist state that has never actually existed is supposed to converge with the stateless society; the government, we're told, becomes unnecessary as a specific structure when everybody universally embodies it perfectly, we just need an authoritarian government to help us transition into that state of being. I don't think anarchism and communism in their pure forms are really obtainable goals, and as we move in one direction on that continuum the extremes of the continuum are redefined in reference to where we currently are. A limit can only be approached, never reached.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:30PM
"Rocky Mountain High," indeed. How often are we gonna see Search & Rescue called out now to save hikers tripping in the Flatirons?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:50PM (3 children)
It's been over 10 years since I last did shrooms. I really want to do them again.
Last time I did it, there were a few of us having a fire in a friend's backyard. It was a great night.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:57PM (1 child)
Context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:21PM
Very bad situation and the same thing happened in Paris. Should have used flying water tankers to put it out!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:30PM
i want to grow some and take them again too.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:16PM (4 children)
Ever tried visiting Yellowstone tripping on acid? Between the fucking bears and Geysers you're going to get screwed... Then there's literally every other sight. Why can't they have some mellow beaches or some shit? Man... It's bike trail this... Ass freezing mountain peak ski resort that... Dude, I just want to get baked! Stop telling me about the fucking trees! I can hear them! They're complaining about you too!
Fucking Colorado man... Sheesh.
(Score: 4, Funny) by istartedi on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:08PM (2 children)
You tripped so hard that Yellowstone went to Colorado.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:36PM (1 child)
Take a little more and you’ll be seeing Yogi bear in Jellystone national park.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday May 10 2019, @12:01AM
hEY MAn, i jUSt RaN iNTO bOO Boo BEAr, hE Had a bLOODY kNife AND sAID he kILLed YoGI BeCAUse:
"i NEVER get any of the goodies out of the Pic-a-nic baskets we steal! Now Mr. Ranger won't be so stressed, but he better stay clear of ME! I got a KNIFE, and I CUT people, just like that nice church lady....."
https://www.newsweek.com/megachurch-hope-carpenter-knife-john-gray-aventer-gray-south-carolina-1381669 [newsweek.com]
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday May 09 2019, @08:17PM
All right, you've now actually made me excited to watch a sequel to the Yogi Bear movie.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:26PM (1 child)
"The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies the drug as a Schedule 1 substance, meaning the agency has deemed that it has a high potential for abuse with no accepted medical application."
clearly lying pieces of shit. someone should eradicate the DEA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @10:37PM
Somebody should tell them about the usefulness of treating cluster headaches with LSD and shrooms, or the growing body of evidence suggesting their use in treating psychological disorders.