CA Moves To Legalize Magic Mushrooms And Other Psychedelics

SACRAMENTO, CA — California is one step closer to decriminalizing magic mushrooms and other psychedelics after a state assembly vote Wednesday.

The body voted 42-13 in favor of Senate Bill 58, which would remove criminal penalties for personal possession and use of limited amounts of psilocybin and psilocin, dimethyltryptamine — also known as DMT — and mescaline, with the exception of peyote. The bill would also trigger a regulatory process to craft policy proposals for the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

The legislation will return to the state senate and then go to the governor’s desk.

“California’s veterans, first responders, and others struggling with PTSD, depression, and addiction deserve access to these promising plant medicines,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, the San Francisco Democrat who introduced the bill, said in a news release.

“We know these substances are not addictive, and they show tremendous promise in treating many of the most intractable conditions driving our nation’s mental health crisis. It’s time to stop criminalizing people who use psychedelics for healing or personal well-being.”

If approved, the law would go into effect Jan. 1, 2025. Amendments to the bill would establish a working group under the state’s Health and Human Services Agency to recommend a framework for future therapeutic use of the substances. The group would be required to issue a report by the time the decriminalization law goes into effect, with therapies contingent on future legislation.

“Psychedelics helped heal the unseen scars from my service in the War on Terror after traditional medicine failed me for years,” Jesse Gould, veteran and founder of the Heroic Hearts Project, said in the news release from Wiener’s office.

The bill has received some opposition, however, specifically from a group called the California Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education, whose members include parents with children whose deaths were among the rare cases in which using psychedelics turned fatal, according to SFGATE.

“We’re very concerned about decriminalization without — at the same time — putting in place guardrails so that we won’t see further deaths and untoward consequences,” attorney and coalition member Beth Parker told SFGATE in a July article.