California is moving with a sensational new law to decriminalize psychedelic drugs

Could California be on the verge of decriminalizing psychedelics? A proposal designed to do just that cleared a major legislative hurdle on Monday when it was approved by the state senate.

The bill will now be submitted to the California General Assembly. Senate Bill 519 “would lawful the possession for personal use as described and social sharing as defined of psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine and 3. 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), by and with people aged 21 or older ”, so the text of the draft law, which was drafted by State Senator Scott Wiener.

In a message posted on Twitter on Monday, Wiener trumpeted the passage of the bill in the state senate as a “big step for this law and the movement” as well as a step towards “a more health and science-based approach and move away”. before the criminalization of drugs. “

He also thanked supporters for helping promote the law.

In an interview with local television broadcaster FOX40 last month, Wiener said that regardless of what you think about drugs, “the question is, ‘Should we arrest and detain people for possession and use of drugs?’ And I think the answer is absolutely no. “

He also said that psychedelic drugs “have significant benefits for both mental health and addiction treatment”.

That such a proposal passed half the legislature in the nation’s most populous state may have been shocking a decade ago – and is yet another sign of the developing national drug debate in the United States.

Psychedelic decriminalization can inundate the nation

In November, Oregon voters voted for two measures that decriminalized the possession of all drugs and legalized the therapeutic use of psilocybin. That same month, a New Jersey legislature voted on a proposal that would reduce penalties for owning small amounts of psilocybin mushrooms.

Last month, New York Mayor Andrew Yang hoped that if elected, he would advance a program that would offer the use of psychedelic therapies to veterans in need, including those suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The bill passed by the California Senate references the reforms passed in Oregon while also stating that “nearly 20 countries around the world, including Portugal, the Czech Republic and Spain, explicitly or effectively limit the personal use of any substance have decriminalized “.

Wiener’s proposal to the California legislature aims at further comprehensive reforms related to psychedelics.

“Applicable law prohibits the cultivation, transfer or transportation, as indicated, of spores or mycelium that can produce fungi or other material containing psilocybin or psilocyn,” the law states, stating that it “does Repeal provisions ”.

The bill would also “require that the State Department of Public Health, as indicated, convene a working group to research and make recommendations to lawmakers regarding, among other things, the regulation and use of the substances permitted by this bill as indicated.” . “

In addition, the law contains a number of declarations on the war on drugs that state that the federal government-led efforts have “incurred overwhelming financial and societal costs, and the policies behind them neither reflect nor accurately reflect a modern understanding of drug use”. the potential therapeutic benefit or harm of various substances ”and that the criminalization of drugs“ has not deterred drug use, but rather made it less safe ”, but instead“ created an unregulated underground market in which dosages are difficult to verify and the presence of adulterants , including fentanyl, makes illicit drug supplies dangerous. “

“The lack of honest drug education has laid the foundation for decades of misinformation, stigma and cultural appropriation, all of which have contributed to increasing the dangers of drug use,” the bill reads.