San Francisco regulators vote to decriminalize psychedelics

San Francisco’s board of directors voted last week to pass a measure to decriminalize natural psychedelics like magic mushrooms, unanimously approving a proposal to reform the city’s policy on drugs that show promise in treating several serious mental illnesses.

The order calls on the San Francisco Police Department to make enforcement of laws banning the possession, use, cultivation and transmission by adults of entheogenic plants and mushrooms, including psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca, “among the lowest priorities for… to make the City and County of San Francisco,” the text of the proposal reads. The ordinance also requires that city resources not be used for “investigations, detentions, arrests, or prosecutions arising out of alleged violations of state and federal law regarding the use of entheogenic plants listed on Schedule 1 of the Federally Controlled Substances list are listed”.

The measure notes that psychedelics “may benefit mental and physical health” and “have been shown to be beneficial” for people dealing with addiction, trauma and anxiety. In addition, the ordinance encourages the state of California to reform its laws to decriminalize natural psychedelic drugs statewide.

Psychedelics for Mental Health

The proposal was tabled in July by supervisors Hillary Ronen and Dean Preston with support from Decriminalize Nature, a group working to end the ban on entheogenic plants and fungi. Noting that the natural medicines have the potential to treat serious mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, grief and end-of-life fears, the group said that “there is an unmet need in San Francisco communities for compassion.” and effective care that these medicines provide.”

“I’m proud to be working with Decrim Nature to bring San Francisco on record in support of the decriminalization of psychedelics and entheogens,” Preston said in a statement after the action was approved by the Board of Directors on Sept. 6. “San Francisco joins a growing list of cities and countries that are taking a fresh look at these herbal medicines by pursuing science and data, and destigmatizing their use and cultivation. Today’s unanimous vote is an exciting step forward.”

After introducing the measure earlier this year, Preston noted that the measure would align San Francisco politics with the movement to see psychedelics in a new light after decades of stigma and criminalization.

“The law hasn’t evolved at all since then, and these substances are being treated the way they have always been,” Preston said. “At the same time, the scientific community has expanded its studies and research into its therapeutic use.”

With the vote of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the city is the largest municipality in the country to enact a decriminalization measure for psychedelics. Denver was the first city in the country to decriminalize psychedelics in 2019, and since then others including Washington, DC, Oakland and Santa Cruz, California, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Easthampton, Massachusetts have passed similar ordinances. And two years ago, Oregon voters passed landmark legislation to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use.

The San Francisco ordinance is similar to a California bill introduced by Democratic Senator Scott Wiener that would have decriminalized psychedelics nationwide. After encountering opposition, the legislation was amended to drop the decriminalization provisions and instead only authorize an investigation into the drugs.

“While I am very disappointed with this outcome, I intend to reintroduce this law next year and continue to advocate that it is time to end the war on drugs,” Wiener said after the law was gutted. “Non-addictive psychedelic drugs show incredible promise when it comes to mental health and addiction treatment. We will not give up.”

Joshua Kappel, founding partner and head of the entheogenes and emerging therapies practice at the law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, commended the unanimous approval of the board of directors for the regulation after the vote.

“This is a huge step forward for any city, but it’s surprising that it took San Francisco over three years after Denver and Oakland decriminalized certain plants and fungi,” Kappel wrote in an email to High Times. “Hopefully this paves the way for meaningful reforms at the state level.”