Voters in Colorado approved a ballot issue to establish psilocybin “healing centers” and make it legal to possess certain psychedelics.
Two million three hundred and sixty-eight thousand and nine hundred and eighty votes were tallied. There were a total 1,263,025 who voted yes according to an article in Marijuana Moment.
More than four years after Denver decriminalized so-called “magic mushrooms”, sparking a national reform movement, the state has now legalized low-level possession of a variety of psychedelics.
The Natural Medicine Health Act project will do the following:
- Adults 21 and older will be able to own, use, grow, and share psilocybin, ibogaine, mescaline (not made from peyote), DMT, and psilocyn, and there will be no limit on how much they can own. There won’t be a part for recreational sales.
- The Department of Regulatory Agencies will be in charge of making rules for a therapeutic psychedelics program. People over the age of 21 will be able to go to a licensed healing center and get help from a trained facilitator.
- There will be a two-tiered regulatory model, and until June 2026, licensed healing centers will only be able to use psilocybin and psilocyn for therapeutic purposes. After that, the government can decide if DMT, ibogaine, and mescaline can also be used for medical purposes under strict rules.
- A new 15-person Natural Medicine Advisory Board will be in charge of making suggestions about what substances should be added to the program. These suggestions could then be approved by the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
- On the advisory board, there will be a lot of people who have both scientific and religious experience with psychedelic medicine.
- People who have already served their time for a crime that was made legal by the act will be able to ask the courts to seal their records. If the district attorney doesn’t say anything, the court will have to clear that record on its own.
