Psychedelic News: The Oregon Psilocybin Initiative

"Under the Oregon psilocybin ballot measure, adults would be able to access the psychedelic in a medically supervised environment. There aren’t any limitations on the types of conditions that would make a patient eligible for the treatment.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) told Marijuana Moment in January that he was in favor of the psilocybin reform proposal and that he would be working to boost the campaign as the election approaches. Last month, he wrote in an email blast that passing the measure is necessary “because it tackles an important issue in our community, mental health, and it does so in an innovative and responsible way.”

The campaign behind the separate drug decriminalization and treatment funding initiative recently released its first ad urging Oregonians to support it."

"David Bronner, CEO of the soap company Dr. Bronner’s, has helped finance a slew of marijuana and psychedelics reform campaigns for years, including the psilocybin legalization initiative. Private messages that DN decided to release show the executive expressing concern about certain internal politics within the movement, including disputes between DN and the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative about including peyote within the scope of decriminalization measures.

In a blog post, he wrote that Dr. Bronner’s “is fully committed to the Decriminalize Nature (DN) movement, but have recently lost faith in its national leadership.” Regardless, “we still fully support regional DN campaigns such as DC’s effort to decriminalize plant medicines.”

In turn, DN alleged that Bronner “is resorting to divide and conquer tactics to control the Decriminalize Nature movement.”

What do you think? Will passing measures 109 & 110 enable or hinder getting these much needed plant medicines to the people who need them most?

"While celebrating the passage of a new measure to decriminalize psychedelic plants and fungi in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the national leadership of Decriminalize Nature has published a series of statements this week defending its political strategies and denouncing fellow activists, including David Bronner, the CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. 

The statements, which include the publication of 85 pages of private correspondence, reveal ongoing conflicts in the decriminalization movement that could impact the passage of Oregon ballot Measure 109, which supports psilocybin therapy, as well as Decriminalize Nature initiatives such as the new Oakland Community Healing Initiative (OCHI).

Just over a year after the Oakland City Council unanimously passed a resolution decriminalizing “natural entheogens,” activists in the Bay Area and around the U.S. are grappling with new questions about the goals and tactics of the decriminalization movement, who speaks for users of traditional plant medicines, and how best to provide legal protections for those communities. Controlling the narrative of decriminalization has become part of the story. 

The Oakland resolution decriminalizing entheogenic plants and fungi was brought to the City Council by Decriminalize Nature in June 2019, which then spread the movement across the U.S. 

On September 21, Ann Arbor, Michigan became the third city after Oakland and Santa Cruz, California to pass a decriminalization measure through the City Council, following the Decriminalize Nature playbook. Denver passed a ballot initiative to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms a month ahead of Oakland, in May 2019. 

Decriminalize Nature plans to present the Oakland Community Healing Initiative (OCHI) to the Oakland City Council for a vote before the November election. While the OCHI offers an ambitious plan to institutionalize and normalize healing with plant medicines, it arrives at a time of deepening rifts among activists once united around decriminalization campaigns. 

A September 20 blog post on the Decriminalize Nature (DN) website by Carlos Plazola, the chairman of the board of the organization, has drawn attention to these discussions. Originally titled, “Who Owns Peyote…or Ayahuasca, or Iboga, or Mushrooms, or Huachuma, or Plants or Fungi?” the title was later changed to “IPCI, Decriminalize Nature and Peyote Dialogues.” 

In the blog post, Plazola provides his perspective on what he refers to as “dialogues” that have taken place around the inclusion of peyote in decriminalization resolutions over the last several months. 

Plazola says these discussions were underway when a joint statement was issued by the National Council of Native American Churches (NCNAC) and the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative (IPCI) in March criticizing Decriminalize Nature for including peyote without first reaching out to indigenous communities. 

As Lucid News reported in July, the joint statement argues that inclusion of peyote in decriminalization resolutions could increase demand, stress fragile ecosystems where the cactus is wild harvested, and “compromise the decades long work on the part of Native American peyote spiritual leaders and allies.” 

In response to this statement, the local branch of Decriminalize Nature in Santa Cruz, which passed a local resolution similar to Oakland’s in January, released an official apology for including peyote in its list of decriminalized entheogens.

In an article in the Los Angeles Times published in March soon after the joint statement, Plazola said DN agreed to remove language supporting the decriminalization of peyote from its website and would encourage other local DN groups to remove it from future resolutions. 

However, in April, DN published a statement on their website suggesting that they still favored including peyote in decriminalization efforts. “Decriminalization will allow for legal propagation outside of the traditional sites where peyote grows wild and is harvested,” reads the text."

"The Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council voted unanimously to decriminalize a wide range of psychedelics on Monday.

The proposal, which was brought before local lawmakers by Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, makes enforcement of laws against a wide range of entheogenic substances such as psilocybin and ayahuasca among the city’s lowest law enforcement priorities.

Council Members Anne Bannister (D) and Jeff Hayner (D) sponsored the resolution, which is similar those those previously approved by legislators in Oakland and Santa Cruz, California.

“Decriminalization of naturally occurring medicines is necessary for progress,” Hayner said in a press release. “We can no longer turn a blind eye towards the wisdom of indigenous peoples, and the bounty the earth provides. I have been moved by the testimonies of those who have found profound relief from the use of entheogenic plants.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council voted unanimously to decriminalize a wide range of psychedelics on Monday.

The proposal, which was brought before local lawmakers by Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, makes enforcement of laws against a wide range of entheogenic substances such as psilocybin and ayahuasca among the city’s lowest law enforcement priorities.

Council Members Anne Bannister (D) and Jeff Hayner (D) sponsored the resolution, which is similar those those previously approved by legislators in Oakland and Santa Cruz, California.

“Decriminalization of naturally occurring medicines is necessary for progress,” Hayner said in a press release. “We can no longer turn a blind eye towards the wisdom of indigenous peoples, and the bounty the earth provides. I have been moved by the testimonies of those who have found profound relief from the use of entheogenic plants.”

Julie Barron, chair of Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, told Marijuana Moment that as a therapist, “I see people everyday at the end of their rope trying to get help. There’s so much scientific evidence and current clinical trials with entheogenic plants/fungi, but they’re not currently available to the people of Ann Arbor.”

“This resolution is about restoring our connection to ourselves and restoring our connection to nature,” she said. “Our ancestors used these plants and fungi, and there is much early documentation of this. Western society sadly has almost eliminated the use of these natural compounds.”

“It’s incredible to see the unanimous support of our resolution by the Ann Arbor City Council. Four city council members co-sponsored the resolution….Hayner, Bannister, Ramlawi, and Griswold, and even the most conservative council members voted for our resolution. Entheogenic plants and fungi are officially decriminalized in the City of Ann Arbor. We are humbled and proud and can’t wait to work with the city and the community on harm reduction and community education.”