California Senate Reintroduces Bill To Decriminalize Mushrooms

The California Senate has reintroduced a bill which, if passed, would decriminalize ayahuasca or “magic mushrooms” in the state, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

Further, the news outlet noted that Senate Bill 58 is being backed by mental health professionals and veterans; however, the measure is expected to encounter opposition among law enforcement groups, “which have raised concerns in recent years with the possible public safety risks associated with hallucinogens.”

The bill was reintroduced by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) after an earlier version was gutted in an Assembly committee following opposition from law enforcement and a “handful of Democrats” who teamed up with Republicans against it.

The bill refers only to mushrooms and not synthetic psychedelics such as LDA and MDMA (the latter better known to aficionados as “ecstasy”).

If passed, the bill could be a boon for the mental health community. Said Joshua Kappel, a founding partner at cannabis and psychedelic law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP: “California SB 58 is an important piece of legislation both for California and the psychedelic industry. We’ve seen a lot of research from UCLA, John Hopkins and other institutions showing the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapy in treating addiction, depression, and PTSD. As the country grapples with a mental health crisis, it’s important to have more treatment options available, and SB 58 decriminalizes natural medicines and creates a pathway for supervised therapeutic use.”

So far, Oregon and Colorado have legalized mushrooms while several California cities, which include San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Oakland, have already decriminalized posession of psychedelics.