Colorado could become 2nd state to decriminalize mushrooms

After returning from his third tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Lopez woke up in crisis at a family gathering in Colorado. The soldier thought he was in a battle and threw the coffee table across the living room.

"I was coming out of an intense panic situation, thinking I was in, literally, hand-to-hand combat, and not knowing whether I was dreaming or what was reality," Lopez said.

Lopez dismissed the use of synthetic drugs because he was experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. He turned to the mushrooms he had been using for a long time.

Lopez is among a group of veterans, natural medicine proponents, mental health advocates and entrepreneurs backing a ballot initiative in Colorado that would decriminalize so-called "magic mushrooms" for those 21 and older and create state- regulated "healing centers" where participants can experience the drug under the influence Lopez is a military veteran who is trying to get lawmakers to study the benefits of using mushrooms for therapeutic purposes.

The hallucinogenic chemicals found in some mushrooms would be regulated if the initiative passes. The advisory board in Colorado will be allowed to add other plant-based drugs to the program after June 1, 2020.

Ten years ago, Colorado voted to legalise recreational marijuana, which led to a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of dispensary popping up across the state.

Proponents argue that jailing people for non-violent offenses costs taxpayers money. They say the state's approach to mental health has failed and that naturally occurring psychedelics, which have been used for hundreds of years, can treat depression, anxiety, addiction and other conditions.

It opens my eyes to the beauty of the world that I have for the world. It doesn't matter if you're angry or frustrated. Lopez was involved in the successful campaign to legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado.

Critics of the latest ballot initiative point out that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of the drug as medicine. Allowing private use of drugs, as well as allowing healing centers to operate, would endanger public safety and send the wrong message to kids and adults that the substances are healthy, according to them.

The head of the ballot committee Protect Colorado's Kids is going to take medical advice from doctors and scientists every day of the week. The American Psychiatric Association is a good place to start. The FDA needs to be listened to. Our doctors should be listening to us. People with profit incentives should not be listened to.

The same deep-pocketed players who have pushed for legalization of recreational marijuana in various states are behind the latest initiative and are using a "drug legalization playbook" to create a commercial market that could eventually lead to recreational dispensary.

The group behind the initiative has raised over five million dollars. New Approach PAC is a national drug policy group that is funding marijuana measures in some other states.

They began with medical marijuana and then went to recreational marijuana. They are going to start with medical drugs. Niforatos said that they can only assume that they'll go to recreational psychedelics from here. He warned that the use of the drugs could lead to psychotic disorders and impaired driving.

The push to decriminalize mushrooms and other natural substances is different from the recreational marijuana campaign because voters are not being asked to allow a dispensary.

Tvert is a partner at a Denver-based drug policy and public affairs consulting firm.

If the initiative passes, the drugs that would be decriminalized are drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

The FDA has designated the drug psilocybin as a breakthrough therapy for major depression. If a drug offers substantial improvements over existing treatments, it can be designated a drug.

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it was found that some patients with hard-to-treat depression may benefit from the use of the drug. People who had gotten little relief from standard antidepressants were helped by the modest effects.

Those over the age of 21 would be allowed to use, grow, possess and share the substances, but not sell them for personal use. It would allow people who have been convicted of drug related offenses to have their records sealed.

If you want to use mushrooms, you don't need a doctor's permission. In addition to being able to grow and use their own mushrooms, those who want to try the therapy could do so through the healing centers, which would be allowed to supply clients with mushrooms but not sell them. Clients would pay for the services of the facility.

In 2020, Oregon became the first state in the nation to allow supervised use of the drug. The state of Colorado allows counties to opt out of the program if their citizens do.

The regulation of healing centers in Colorado would not be banned.

If passed, Oregon will take effect at the beginning of next year, and Colorado will have regulations in place by the beginning of 2024.

Law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C., and Denver must treat mushrooms as their lowest priority if they want to decriminalize them. Even if Colorado's initiative passes, the substances are still illegal under federal law.

That's right.

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