Colorado voters next month will decide whether to legalize psilocybin and psilocin, the psychoactive compounds found in what is colloquially known as magic mushrooms, for therapeutic purposes, Colorado News Online reports. If approved, the Natural Medicine Act – or Proposition 122 – would also decriminalize personal possession of the fungi and allow people to grow their own.
The measure would allow licensed “healing centers” to provide psilocybin and psilocyn for therapeutic purposes.
Natural Medicine Colorado, the group backing the effort, told Colorado News Online that “Natural psychedelic medicines are non-addictive and can have profound benefits for people struggling with challenging mental health conditions including depression and anxiety and those struggling to find peace at the end of their lives.”
An issue committee supporting the reforms reported more than $2.8 million in contributions, with nearly all of that funding coming from Washington, D.C.-based New Approach PAC, according to campaign finance disclosures outlined by Colorado News Online. New Approach PAC also supported the successful natural psychedelic decriminalization measures in Oregon and Washington, D.C., in 2020. Psychedelic mushrooms are already decimalized in Denver, which approved a measure in 2019 to make possession of the substances the city’s “lowest law enforcement priority.”
Protect Colorado Kids, which opposes the reforms and was also opposed to broad cannabis legalization in the state, has reported raising just $750.
If passed, the Natural Medicine Act would create a 15-member Natural Medicine Advisory Board to oversee the regulation of psychedelic substances. The first licenses for providers would be issued in September 2024. Pending recommendations from the advisory board, including adding other substances, such as DMT and mescaline, could be added to the program in 2026.
According to a FOX31/Channel 2/Emerson College/The Hill poll published in September, 36% of voters said they would support the measure, with 41% opposed, and 23% unsure.
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