If you want to go on a psychedelic journey, but still have respect for the laws, then it looks like a trip to Denver, Colorado is in the cards. On Tuesday, May 7th 2019, Denver, Colorado became the first city in the United States to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms. According to Forbes, the new ordinance would “prohibit the city government from using any resources to impose criminal penalties against adults over 21 years of age for personal use and possession of psilocybin.”
The measure also prohibits the city from spending money on the pursuit of criminal penalties related to use or possession of psilocybin. All of it is a real legal way of saying, you can have magic mushrooms, but you shouldn’t buy them, and definitely don’t sell them because they’re still illegal, and classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under federal law.
Psilocybin is the active ingredient in what, well, we’ll call them “foragers,” call magic mushrooms. If you’ve ever experienced magic mushrooms, you probably already know this since you definitely have that annoying friend who wears bucket hats and insists on calling magic mushrooms psilocybin instead of, you know, “shrooms.”
No Randall, I DO NOT prefer to take my “psilocybin” in the form of a tea!
The new ordinance, Measure 301, passed narrowly on the ballot, winning with just 51% in favor, and will be subject to review and assessment in early 2021. While it isn’t quite legalization, it should be noted that Denver is more than capable of handling this challenge. Colorado became the first state to legalize the recreational sale and use of marijuana, so if anyone understands how to transition a previously illegal substance into being decriminalized and eventually legalized — not to mention one that understands the ins and outs of the possible tax revenue surrounding it — it’s Colorado.
The decriminalization of magic mushrooms is not all fun and games though, recent research has shown that psilocybin may be helpful for people who suffer from depression, addiction, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
