A Denver advocacy group states that the health and healing benefits are so clear and long-established that “one arrest is too many for something with such low and manageable risks.”
The targeted subject matter of that Decriminalize Denver utterance is what is formally called psilocybin. Much of the general public might likely be more familiar with the tag hallucinogenic mushroom.
Psilocybin mushrooms have been a drug culture mainstay for decades, given psilocybin’s high-inducing properties. Federal authorities have been unrelentingly hostile toward efforts over years to decriminalize possession or use of the mushrooms. Federal law flatly deems psilocybin as an unlawful Schedule 1 controlled substance.
Among other things, that determination posits psilocybin as having no medical value.
There is a broad-based and diverse band of critics who strenuously oppose that view. They include Johns Hopkins researchers, who say psilocybin should be taken off the Schedule 1 list. Many advocates point to the mushrooms’ noted efficacy in treating medical conditions, especially depression.
A majority of Denver voters agree with that view, as indicated by an unprecedented vote tally last week. Although the final results will be certified on May 16, it appears clear that Denver is now the first city in the country to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms.
Ordinance 301 does not flatly legalize mushrooms, but it does “prohibit the city from spending resources to impose criminal penalties” on consumers.
Some city residents and other Coloradans might reasonably have questions concerning the legislation. They can direct their queries or concerns to attorneys at a proven Denver criminal defense law firm.