Magic Mushroom Retreats Coming to California?
As the world marches every closer to the legalization of psychedelics, it’s nice to see the path open up before us, and next on that path might just be Senate Bill 58, which aims to decriminalize psilocybin/psilocyn (magic mushrooms), DMT (Ayahuasca), mescaline (San Pedro – though peyote was specifically excluded for some strange reason), and ibogaine.
The bill lays out how psychedelics have shown great promise in studies that focused on treating mental health and substance use disorders, and it mentions how psilocybin has been shown to reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant depression.
Interestingly, it also mentions that there’s “evidence that psychedelics can help with smoking cessation“, which is a new one on me – even being an avid supporter of natures gifts to humanity.
Notably, the bill is sponsored by the Heroic Hearts Project, which is a veteran mental health support organization.
Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill, was quoted as saying:
Psychedelics have tremendous capacity to help people heal, but right now, using them is a criminal offense. These drugs literally save lives and are some of the most promising treatments we have for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and addiction. We need to end the outdated, racist, failed War on Drugs and finally pursue drug policies that help people instead of incarcerating them.
Former San Francisco Police Sergeant Carl Tennenbaum added:
As a former law enforcement professional, I have seen what works and what doesn’t. Removing criminal penalties for psychedelics will improve public safety in California, allow law enforcement to focus on the violent crime that threatens all of us, and it will give hope to first responders and many others that suffer from PTSD, depression by allowing personal use of psychedelic medicines for healing. We’re in a mental health crisis, it’s time California did something about it.
As decriminalization usually goes, this bill wouldn’t allow for the sale of these plant medicines though – only the use and possession of them – and it apparently limits gifting by giving specific allowable amounts.
So while it would be a great step in the right direction, it would not allow for magic mushroom retreats to be ‘above ground’ in California.
You might also have picked up on the fact that LSD and MDMA seem to be noticeably absent, and to that, Sen. Wiener was quoted by the Marijuana Moment as saying:
Listen, I would love to have them included. I think they should be included, but we also need to be able to pass a good bill. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of stereotypes about LSD and MDMA, and so we decided, let’s get it passed for non-synthetics—which will still be a major game changer with psilocybin, ibogaine, ayahuasca and others—and then we can come back later to address synthetics.
This is surprising because those are two of the most studied of psychedelics in recent history, but I’ll take the hope for progress where I can get it!
It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out!
In the meantime, you might like to know that Bird Song Visions in Maine lists magic mushrooms in their offerings!
Until next time,
Tim G.
AyaAdvisors.org
