Will Psychedelics Follow In Weed's Footsteps?

The legalization of marijuana seems to trigger the emergence of activists wanting to legalize other psychoactive compounds. Here we go through this topic.

As the cannabis legalization movement is gaining ground, many psychoactive substances are gaining attention. Recently, people are taking strong initiative to decriminalize the possession and consumption of psylocybin, a psychoactive compound present in magic mushrooms. Here we go through some of the recent events surrounding this topic.

DECRIMINALIZE SHROOMS!

An activist group called Denver for Psilocybin want to legalize psilocybin in Denver, as their name clearly suggests. They propose that people above the age of 21, the possession of 2 ounces (app. 56g) of dried mushrooms or two pounds (app. 907g) of wet mushrooms for personal use, should be decriminalized. That’s quite a significant amount of shrooms. They aim to place these demands on a ballot when they receive enough signatures. The ballot is scheduled for November 2018. Denver for Psilocybin wants to downgrade the law enforcement priority on psilocybin and remove felony charges associated with the criminalization of the drug. They aim to implement a law, which states that if someone is caught with mushrooms who didn’t follow the specific guidelines, the maximum fine would be $99 for the first offense and increasing amounts for recurring offenses up to $999. Denver for Psilocybin asked the citizens of Denver what they want the laws to be like, and the vast majority of the respondents were pro decriminalization, with 80% of the respondents approved lighter sentences. Californian psilocybin activists are aiming at adding psilocybin to the ballot in November as well.

THE STEP FROM MARIJUANA TO PSYCHADELICS

The arguments used to promote the legalization of marijuana are in many cases equally applicable for legalizing other psychoactive substances. For example, the black market of marijuana provides gangsters with money and not legitimate businesses that pay taxes. The same argument can be applied to legalize other psychoactive drugs. Here's another example, marijuana is widely available already, the prohibition doesn't curb the supply and demand, therefore we should legalize and regulate the substance. Well, psychoactive mushrooms grow very easily in small boxes and in nature in general. Another classic argument, if we legalize pot, we will have better control the contents of the drugs. The same argument can be used for any drug really. Also, there’s a narrative that the consumption rates of cannabis will not rise under a legal mandate, so then why should the legalization of other psychoactive substances be any different?

Cannabis is a much safer substance than alcohol, according to the infamous study conducted by David Nutt. On the chart included in the study, mushrooms and LSD are significantly safer than alcohol, even more so than cannabis. Therefore, all arguments for the legalization of marijuana that are based on the comparison with alcohol on the premise that alcohol is a legal substance even though it's more dangerous than marijuana, all these arguments technically apply to mushrooms and LSD as well.

It’s only since the year 2000 that scientific research on the effects of psilocybin began to gain ground. Therefore there still a lot to uncover about the potential of psilocybin and other psychoactive compounds, which many find beneficial for a variety of reasons. There are reports of people quitting smoking and using psilocybin to alleviate migraines. The direction in which the marijuana legalization is going, it's not hard to think of a future where psychoactive compounds will be a part of the legalized market.