Colorado voters have passed a ballot initiative to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for people 21 and older and to create state-regulated centers where participants can experience the drug
FILE - Rabbi Ben Gorelick, measures out a precise amount Sacrament, psilocybin mushrooms, during Sacred Tribe Sacrament ceremony at the Synagogue, his home, on Nov. 6, 2021, in Denver. Colorado voters are deciding whether theirs will be the second state, after Oregon, to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for those 21 and older. A ballot measure would create state-regulated"healing centers" for patients to experience the drug.
Critics warned that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the substances as medicine. They also argued that allowing “healing centers” to operate, and allowing private personal use of the drugs, would jeopardize public safety and send the wrong message to kids and adults alike that the substances are healthy.
The move comes a decade after Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana after initially allowing its use for medical reasons, which led to a multibillion-dollar industry with hundreds of dispensaries popping up across the state. Critics of the latest ballot initiative say the same deep-pocketed players who were involved in legalizing recreational marijuana are using a similar playbook to create a commercial market, and eventually recreational dispensaries, for dangerous substances.
Even so, the FDA has designated psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” to treat major depressive disorder. The designation can expedite research, development and review of a drug if it might offer substantial improvements over existing treatments.
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