Portobello, shiitake, or psychedelic?
In early October, Portland’s city council voted 6-3 to deprioritize the prosecution for possession of natural psychedelics like psilocybin, which are more colloquially known as mushrooms. Before you get too excited, this move does not decriminalize psychedelics; It simply shifts the city’s priority-level of those crimes.
One of the groups championing this resolution is Decriminalize Maine, a self-described “grassroots organization that promotes the decriminalization of cultivation, possession, and adult use of plant and fungal medicines.” While the organization aims to protect people from potential criminal penalties, interim director Aaron Parker noted that they’re also “looking to reduce the stigma around these substances.”
Earlier this year, a bill to decriminalize and regulate psilocybin was introduced and ultimately tabled by the Maine legislature. Many testified in support of the legislation, including Nicolas Hamlin, an Army veteran who believes that magic mushrooms saved his life. Suffering from PTSD and anxiety, the Portland native turned to psilocybin for its healing properties.
“This has helped me and many others maintain productive lifestyles,” Hamlin said. “I wish that psilocybin as a treatment option be available to those that will benefit from it.”
Other proponents of the bill argued that “treatment outcomes are better when given without fear of prosecution,” according to News Center Maine. “This fear propagates riskier use,” corroborated Dr. Selma Holden, an associate professor at the University of New England and physician at Riverbird Clinic in Portland.
Looking ahead to January, Maine lawmakers will debate a related bill to decriminalize psychedelic plants and fungi, as well as to create “a regulated framework for legislation,” according to Maine Public Radio.
From coast to coast.
Just days after the vote in Portland, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill to decriminalize the possession and personal use of some natural psychedelics, arguing that the state needs to establish regulations for these substances before they can be legalized for therapeutic use.
Jennifer Mitchell, a professor of neurology at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, echoed Newsom’s statement. “My biggest concern is that it seeks to decriminalize personal use before developing an infrastructure that would ensure safety and education,” she told the LA Times.
Despite the veto, some California cities have implemented their own measures to deprioritize the prosecution of psychedelic possession and use on a local level.