Portland, Maine, prioritizes psilocybin prosecutions

The city council in Portland, Maine, voted “6-3 to pass a resolution prioritizing prosecution for possession” of magic mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs, according to local news outlet News Center Maine and an NBC affiliate.

The outlet noted that the resolution does not decriminalize such psychedelics, as has been reported elsewhere.

Instead, “official city policy is set to place these crimes at the lowest priority for prosecution,” News Center Maine reported.

The outlet reported: “When reached for comment on Wednesday, Maeghan Maloney, district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset Counties and president of the Maine Prosecutors Association, wanted to warn Maine residents not to feel a false sense of security when joining moving to Portland would choose to use psychedelics.”

“If someone interprets that [resolution] “To say that this criminal law will no longer be enforced would be a misinterpretation,” Maloney said, as quoted by News Center Maine.

Decriminalize Maine Interim Director Aaron Parker said the resolution is a good foundation for broader reform.

“If there’s already a part of the city government saying, ‘Okay, we don’t want to waste our time and our resources criminalizing people for these things,’ then it’s a lot easier next time to be like, ‘Okay,’ and we will rewrite the regulations,” Parker told the outlet.

Decriminazlie Maine, which describes itself as a “grassroots organization promoting the decriminalization of the cultivation, possession and use of plant and fungal medicines by adults,” was one of the groups that pushed for the resolution.

“In our work, we recognize the importance of practices based on decolonization, sustainability and conscious community building, consciousness expansion and transformative justice. Decriminalize Maine empowers the community through education on decriminalization and risk reduction; In this work, we enthusiastically work with complementary organizations. We also support, promote and disseminate professional and academic research. “Our work relies on financial support from foundations and the community,” the organization says on its website.

On Monday, the group celebrated the resolution’s passage on its Instagram account, but also noted that it was fundamentally a good starting point.

“The city council wants to treat drugs as a public health issue (good), but that’s just an opinion. Ending the war on drugs and using savings to voluntarily support drug users is a policy supported by ample evidence and the success of the nationwide rollout in Portugal (the country),” the organization said in the Instagram post . “Hopefully this statement from the council can be used by harm reduction (or risk reduction, if you prefer that term) advocates to build support for things like safe consumption sites, permanent supportive housing, and perhaps even a safe care program.”

Parker said it will ultimately be up to the Maine state legislature to decriminalize psilocybin.

“I don’t think the resolution really adequately decriminalizes anything in Portland. “While we want to protect people from possible criminal penalties, we are also trying to reduce the stigmatization of these substances, which is an important part of harm reduction for this type of material,” he told Maine Public Radio.

According to Maine Public Radio, state lawmakers “will debate a similar bill in January that would decriminalize psychedelic plants and mushrooms and create a regulated framework for legalization.”

A bill to decriminalize and regulate psilocybin in the state was introduced in the Maine legislature earlier this year but was defeated.

Lawmakers there held a hearing in May where they heard testimony in support of the law.

Spectrum News reported on the hearing at the time and highlighted the testimony of Army veteran Nicolas Hamlin.

“I stand before you today as living proof of the healing power that psilocybin has to offer, and I advocate for the approval of psilocybin.” [the bill]” he told the Veterans Affairs and Legal Affairs Committee, as quoted by Spectrum News.

“This has helped me and many others maintain a productive lifestyle,” he added. “I would like to see psilocybin available as a treatment option to those who benefit from it.”

Spectrum had more details on Hamlin’s statement and the proposed law:

“A native Portlander, [Hamlin] joined the military in 2000 and served multiple tours in the Middle East. After completing his service, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and “my own demons”… Hamlin was one of many people who testified Monday in support of the bill that would task the Maine Department of Health and Human Services with drafting regulations allowing doctors would allow its use in certain establishments to be recommended for persons aged 21 and over.”

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Donna Bailey, modeled the proposal “on laws in Colorado and Oregon, where the substance has been legalized,” according to Spectrum.