BREAKING: City of Seattle decriminalizes psychedelics

In an ongoing trend across the country as cities are taking steps to decriminalize possession of certain amounts of all types of psychedelics, Seattle joined the herd this week by voting in favor of non-prosecution of possession of certain entheogens, well known as psychedelics, to formalize. We were particularly pleased with the result of the vote as John Rapp and Mason Marks from our office worked hard behind the scenes on it.

Resolution 32021, which was passed on Monday (see the current ordinance here), which basically designates the “investigation, arrest and prosecution of anyone involved in entheogen-related activities” as one of the lowest “law enforcement priorities”. Specifically, the regulation says:

“. . . the investigation, arrest and prosecution of persons involved in entheogen-related activities including, but not limited to, cultivating entheogens for use in religious, spiritual, healing, or personal growth practices; and sharing entheogens with co-practitioners without financial aid or other considerations should be among the lowest enforcement priorities in the City of Seattle. “

Almost more importantly, in the regulation the Council openly expresses its full support for the decriminalization of the above activities and instructs the Office for Interstate Relations to add the full decriminalization of psychedelics under national law to its 2022 Agenda.

Photo by eskymaks / Getty Images

At the moment, the current enforcement practice of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in Seattle with respect to entheogens is “. . . not to arrest or arrest persons or to seize these substances from persons solely on suspicion of violations or violations of [Washington’s Controlled Substances Act]. ”Nonetheless, this ordinance means that the SPD will formally codify this practice of“ non-enforcement ”, including the actual formalization of protection against arrest, prosecution, etc. for those who“. . . Cultivate entheogens for use in religious, spiritual, healing, or personal growth practices and those who share entheogens with others for no financial or other consideration ”. The council expects the SPD to fully commit to non-enforcement by reporting to it on the status of the non-enforcement efforts and establishing a timetable for completing the institutionalization of these efforts.

RELATED: Drug Decriminalization vs. Legalization – Here’s the Difference

Just like any other city that embraces decriminalization, it’s important to note that any commercial activity involving psychedelics is expressly prohibited in Seattle. As we wrote on other similar decriminal measures at the local level:

“[e]Each of these decriminalization measures are different, but basically they are the same in that they don’t really make psychedelics legal. All they really do is enforce law enforcement directly in these cities to make enforcement of existing criminal laws a low priority, and only then for non-commercial possession and use. Decriminalization measures do not really change state or federal law and not even local law. “

Ordinance 32021 is not that different from these other local decrim lite ordinances that we have issued in other cities. In that sense, it’s a bit better, because Seattle is so very influential on what happens in the state’s capital (Olympia), there is a solid chance the state will embark on extensive decriminalization in the near future. Additionally, as was first reported in late 2020, Washington is also flirting with legalizing psilocybin through the referendum process for 2022 (similar to Oregon in 2020). Washington is obviously no stranger to being a pioneer in emerging industries – after all, it legalized cannabis as early as 2021 along with Colorado, which was huge at the time.

RELATED: Michigan State Senators Introduce Bill To Decriminalize Psychedelics

In the end, Seattle’s current Entheogen Regulation is an important avenue for major changes toward legalization and commercialization at the state level. So stay tuned!

Hilary Bricken is a partner at Harris Bricken. This story was originally published on the Canna Law Blog and reposted with permission.