The City of Oakland’s supervisors voted on Tuesday to decriminalize “magic mushrooms” and other natural psychedelic drugs, becoming the second city in the U.S. to do so after Denver voters approved a similar ballot measure last month.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
The resolution instructs law enforcement to stop investigating and prosecuting people using the drugs. It applies to psychedelics that come from plants or fungi, not synthetic drugs like LSD or MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
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Councilman Loren Taylor added an amendment that stated the approved resolution does not authorize commercial sales or manufacturing of the plants, possessing or distributing in schools or driving under the influence.
The amendment also clarifies that people dealing with depression or post-traumatic stress disorder should first see a doctor. It also stated that the use of natural psychedelics should be used in small doses for inexperienced users and “don’t go solo.”
California also legalized recreational marijuana in 2016 through a ballot initiative, though problems have plagued the implementation of the new law and tax revenues have been lower than initially anticipated.
The Denver ballot measure is similar to the Oakland resolution, as Agency France Presse noted last month:
The new ordinance loosens restrictions on the personal use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms, also known as “magic mushrooms,” by people over the age of 21.
The new law, however, does not make it legal to buy, sell or possess the drug. It instructs police officers to treat psilocybin users as their lowest priority.
The resolution passed by a thin margin after it initially appeared headed for defeat.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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