Monthly Archives: August 2021

Over two years ago, in June 2019, the city of Oakland, California became the first in the US to decriminalize plant-based entheogens including psilocybin, iboga, ayahuasca and mescaline cacti. Since then, the reform seems to be having its intended effect of preventing arrests for these substances. However, as the psychedelic decriminalization movement grows in the city and state, how much help will it lend in the efforts to decriminalize all drugs and prevent overdose deaths?

We have not heard of any arrests in Oakland for entheogens, Carlos Plazola, co-founder of Decriminalize Nature, told Filter. His organization was instrumental in lobbying the city to decriminalize.

The only known instance of arrests around entheogen use post-decriminalization involved an August 2020 raid on a religious establishment, the Zide Door Church. The organization was reportedly exchanging and selling cannabis and mushrooms for spiritual use under a member-owner cooperative model. It attracted attention from health authorities and law enforcement, and was shut down.

Its all positive in terms of enforcement.

But even in this case, Plazola said that Oakland Police Department (OPD) omitted psilocybin from the arrest warrant, in an effort to respect the decriminalization measure. Its all positive in terms of enforcement, he said, adding that weve had no reported emergencies of anyone using mushrooms and doing something stupid.

Plazola who does not himself communicate with the OPD, cited Oakland Councilman Noel Gallo, who sponsored the successful psychedelic resolution, in reporting this information. The Oakland City Attorneys Office did not respond to Filters requests for comment.

The Alameda County Health Department toldFilter that in the last six months of 2019, across the whole county they recorded five emergency room visits and two hospitalizations for all hallucinogens (not LSD). There is no discernible patterns and nothing is statistically significantly different from before and after June 5, 2019, they said.

Its important to note that the apparent virtual absence of entheogen arrests comes in the context of rates that were already low. Prior to decriminalization, the OPD reported only 19 cases of psilocybin confiscation in five years, but kept no data on arrests for other entheogens.

There was not significant enforcement of psychedelics prior to 2019, Savannah ONeill, associate director of capacity building at the National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC), told Filter. It is great to have this victory to show a public shift around drug use, but in terms of enforcement it isnt the bulk of drug enforcement.

It hasnt significantly impacted how police engage with people who use [other] drugs.

Neither does she believe that psychedelic decriminalization has created any domino effect to improve how police interact with people who use other drugs in the city where she lives. It hasnt significantly impacted how police engage with people who use drugs in Oakland.

Arrest data from the state justice department for Alameda County, home to Oakland, suggest a larger trend. The most recent peak for felony drug arrests saw over 4,800 made in 2014. But numbers have dropped every year since, falling to only 641 arrests in 2020. It was in 2014 that California passing Proposition 47, reclassifying certain felony offenses as misdemeanors.

The data here are limited, as we dont know how many misdemeanor arrests were made for drugs, nor how many drug arrests occurred just in Oakland. So no solid conclusion can yet be reached on the impact of psychedelic decriminalization on arrests for other drugs.

Still, the impact of the Oakland resolution goes beyond preventing arrests. In a policy lens, ONeill said, it has created more room to talk about decriminalizing drugs, treating drugs as a public health issue and talking about the benefits of different drugs.

And Plazola said with pride that the reform has inspired more people in the city to learn about and work with entheogens. Its something that means a lot to him personally.

Growing up, In my Chicano community in San Jose, we only knew psychedelics as dangerous drugs the same as PCP or heroin, he said. It wasnt until I was in my late 40s that I learned about their healing potential.

When I tried it my immediate reaction was, why are these illegal? These should be readily available. Here we have all these Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous communities on the losing end of the War on Drugs, and we need to heal this trauma.

In all these communities, word is out. People are healing.

The work of Decriminalize Nature, he said, includes reaching out to the communities in Oakland that have the least. Since 2019 they have helped share educational resourcesabout entheogens with veterans, including unhoused folks, and with local organizations working in Black, Brown and Asian communities.Plazola was wary of getting into specifics about this work to protect the privacy of other parties involved.

Plazola also claimedciting an anonymous sourcethat home-growing of psilocybin for personal use has increased significantly since 2019.

More and more people are using mushrooms and entheogens to heal, he said. We hear from our ayahuasca churches that their participants have diversified, more Black, Brown and Asian participants, which was our goal.

In all these communities, word is out, he continued. People are healing. You go to a farmers market in East Oakland, theyre talking about mushrooms, they might even be exchanging them. You go to social justice community organizations, and theyre talking about these substances. Its everywhere.

Plazola and his organization are now looking to build upon the original reform by winning city residents the right to use these substances in communal settings. In December 2020, Decriminalize Nature successfully lobbied the City Council to pass the Oakland Community Healing Initiative resolution.It simply calls on the state government to give the city legal protection to allow people to use entheogens in group healing ceremonies.

Plazola explained that group healing ceremonies are technically decriminalized in the city of Oakland. People can gather together in, say, an ayahuasca center, and not seriously risk arrest from city police. These organizations may even solicit donations from participants, which is not technically legal but police are not focusing on itwith the exception of the Zide Door Church.

But city law doesnt prevent state or federal authorities from enforcing their own drug laws. Thats why the Oakland Community Healing Initiative calls for the state government to legally guarantee that cities allowing group healing ceremonies will not be raided.

Statewide psychedelic decriminalization is now a step closer to becoming reality. On June 29, a California Senate committee approved Senate Bill 519, which would remove criminal penalties for possession or sharing of psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine, LSD and MDMA. It would also require the state health department to study how California could regulate safe and equitable access to certain substances in permitted legal contexts. State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco sponsored the bill.

Plazola is encouraged by this progress, and clear-eyed about the end-goal, as he sees it, of access for all.

But while it is clear that psychedelic decriminalization in Oaklandand Californiais rapidly picking up steam, the success of this very specific movement raises a question: Will it bring the city or state any closer to decriminalization of all drugs?

In November 2020, Californias neighbor to the north, Oregon, became the first US state to decriminalize all drugs. This year, there are efforts to follow suit in a handful of other statesincluding from lawmakers in New York, Massachusetts and (at least in terms of studying the issue) Virginia. Reported lobbying efforts in Washington state may also result in a bill being introduced.

But California is not on this list. Why not?

We do have concerns with this approach, because it is our nature to create a false narrative that there are good versus bad drugs.

Jeanette Zanipatin, the California state director for the Drug Policy Alliance, told Filter that her organization initially considered lobbying to introduce a decriminalization bill in the legislature. However, after assessing the best prospects for meaningful success, DPA shifted its focus to supporting a 2024 ballot initiative to decriminalizewith a focus on ending racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates, and increasing access to substance use disorder treatment.

I asked Zanipatin for her thoughts about the impact of efforts like Decriminalize Nature on prospects for the wider reforms she and her organization are pursuing.

In some instances local jurisdictions passing measures to decriminalize psychedelics could potentially add to the conversation about all-drug decriminalization, she said. However, we do have concerns with this approachdecriminalization of psychedelics firstbecause it is our inherent nature to create a false narrative that there are good versus bad drugs, and that a certain segment of society is more deserving [to not be] criminalized and have access to treatment.

Despite its reforms, California remains a fierce drug-war battleground, but the impacts are felt unequally. One illustration is the mixed results of Californias efforts to decriminalize and legalize marijuana. Racial disparities in arrests persistand even worsened in its two biggest cities, San Diego and Los Angeles. And a significant portion of marijuana tax revenue is helping fund more policing, instead of benefitting communities directly.

These continuing injustices are a reminder that well-meaning and beneficial drug policy reforms are not in themselves sufficient to end systemic racism.

Another important goal of decriminalization is to make drug use safer and thereby save lives. Oregons all-drug decriminalization plan illustrates this: It is just as much about helping people with substance use disorder get connected to treatment as it is about preventing arrests. In fact, the initiative takes money from cannabis tax revenues and uses it to expand access in a state with one of the worst treatment systems in the nation.

By promoting education about safe and responsible use of entheogens, Decriminalize Nature Oakland is surely helping to prevent negative experiences or medical emergencies related to these substances.

But when we talk about drug-related medical emergencies, we have to be clear about the most pressing problem facing California: a lethal drug overdose crisis, consisting mostly of poly-drug overdoses that involve synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and increasingly, stimulants like methamphetamine.

According to the state health department, drug overdose deaths in Alameda County remained relatively stable between 2008 and 2018, rising very slightly in 10 years to about 9.6 deaths per 100,000 people. Thats less than half of the national death rate.

A June 2018 notice from the county stated that opioid-involved deaths specifically decreased 49 percentsince 2015. It cited a combination of factors contributing to this fall, including better access to buprenorphine and naloxone.

Of course, focusing only on opioids can obscure less visible but still harmful trends in drug use and overdose. An October 2019 CDC study showed drug overdose deaths were increasing faster in California than in 37 other states. Many of those deaths involve methamphetamine or fentanyl, with California having one of the highest meth-involved fatality rates in the US.

Is it possible that psychedelic reforms in Oakland can help to reduce overdose, and other harms like HIV? It depends who you ask. The text of the Oakland psychedelic resolution adopted by City Council in June 2019 proposed that certain psychedelics may help people overcome substance use disorder related to opioids, methamphetamine, alcohol and other drugs.

We should create access to psychedelics as a form of healing, but I push back on the idea that these are the solutions or a cure to other drug use.

While various evidence supports some of these claims, not all are universally accepted, including by some harm reduction-oriented experts. And different impacted people, obviously, have very different experiences. But setting aside those debates, the logic seems to go that by making it easier for everyone to use these substances, we will also encourage more people with substance use disorder to self-treat with psychedelics.

We have to be sensitive in how we talk about this, said ONeill.

Harm reduction means that people center their own needs, define what violence is in their lives and have bodily autonomy, she said. We should create access to psychedelics as a form of healing, but I push back on the idea that these are the solutions or a cure to other drug use. We want more options for people.

By framing psychedelics as the savior of people who are addicted to other drugs, advocates risk supporting the good versus bad drugs narrative of which Zanipatin warnedperpetuating harms by denying people who use other drugs the safe supply they want and continuing to subject them to arrests.

ONeill commended members of Decriminalize Nature for taking a more holistic focus on these issues than many in the psychedelic movement. She and they were both involved with a task force in Oakland to decide if and how to reduce the Oakland police budget, in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests.

The people I have engaged with seem committed to the decriminalization of drugs, she said. Some of the Decriminalize Nature folks were part of our reimagining public safety process and were on board with recommending de-prioritizing enforcement of all drugs. [There was even support to] de-prioritize laws related to drug dealing, which is impressive.

People who want to safe consumption sites and those who want to host group healing ceremonies with entheogens share similar goals.

In Oakland, there is another intersection between psychedelics and overdose prevention. As Decriminalize Nature was fighting to have the state government protect group healing ceremonies, the Oakland City Council called for this legal protection to be included in Senate Bill 57.

SB 57 was an effort by legislators to authorize safe consumption sites in Californiaincluding a pilot in Oaklandto prevent deaths. Senator Wiener, who sponsors the psychedelic decriminalization bill, authored SB 57, too. But legislators pulled the bill in July due to a lack of support in the legislature.

Obviously, people who want to open safe consumption sites and those who want to host group healing ceremonies with entheogens share similar goals. All need lawmakers with the courage to protect them from federal law enforcement. Perhaps in the near future, these two movements will really join forces in California to win that right.

Though the psychedelic decriminalization movement has its criticsincluding from inside the drug policy reform and harm reduction movementsit is here to stay and growing stronger. For opponents of the drug war, the psychedelic movement shows a clear model for how to engage with local decision-makers and earn their support, and its reforms hold intrinsic value. But its successes, together with the drugs and people they leave out, demand psychedelic advocates vigilance against psychedelic exceptionalism.

Photograph of psilocybin mushrooms by Cannabis Pictures via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0.

DPA previously provided a restricted grant to The Influence Foundation, which operates Filter, to support a Drug War Journalism Diversity Fellowship.

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Two Years After Oakland's Psychedelic Decrim, What's Been the Impact? - Filter

From Massachusetts to California, advocates are actively making new strides to reform local laws governing psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuascabuilding on a national movement that has already seen numerous cities decriminalize entheogenic substances.

The momentum of the psychedelics decriminalization movement is abundantly clear when one considers the geopolitical landscape thats being targeted by activists associated with Decriminalize Nature of late. The latest cities where the reform move is generating steam are Easthampton, Massachusetts; Grand Rapids, Michigan and Arcata, California.

Heres a breakdown of where the efforts stand in each city:

The Easthampton City Council is exploring a resolution to decriminalize a wide range of entheogenic substances. Passing the measure would mean that Easthampton would be the fourth city in Massachusetts to enact the reform.

Councilors Owen Zaret, Thomas Peake and Salem Derby are sponsoring the resolution, which seeks to make enforcement of laws against certain psychedelics among the citys lowest priorities. Advocates with Bay Staters for Natural Medicine have helped spearhead the effort.

This is an opportunity to be forward-thinking and make a statement to undo historical harm done by criminalizing plants that have clear therapeutic properties, Zaret said in a press release. People should not be arrested or incarcerated for essentially using medicine. This lays a path towards legislation that allows for de-scheduling these plants, and creating a reasonable and safe regulatory framework for entheogenic therapy outside of the reach of Big Pharma.

Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) is also supporting the reform, and advocates have already met with local police officials to discuss the issue.

Many officers know arrests can make people suffering substance use disorder even worse off, James Davis, a volunteer for Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, said. We are grateful to first-responders having tough conversations in their own departments about how to treat people with humanitypossession arrests lose people their jobs, traumatize them, lose them access to benefits, and often makes fentanyl access easier in jails and prisons.

Other Massachusetts cities that have enacted the policy change are: Northampton,SomervilleandCambridge.

Last week, state lawmakers also heard testimony about a bill to create a task force charged withstudying the implications of legalizing psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca.

In Grand Rapids, a local lawmaker who is advising the citys chapter of Decriminalize Nature recently said that he feels theres enough support to advance a psychedelics decriminalization resolution.

In terms of my discussions with my colleagues, theyre all very open minded to it; They all have a lot of questions, City Commissioner Kurt Reppart to MLive. Several of them have expressed explicit support. I believe we have enough support to pass a resolution.

He said the measure could go to a vote by the end of the year, though no actions are currently scheduled. City attorneys are currently reviewing the proposed language, after which point it would be sent to the city commissions Legislative Committee to advise on whether the body should approve or reject it.

The best case scenario for me is that during the fall it would come up and it would pass with a resounding vote, he said. I dont know if it would be unanimous, but it would be a strong vote.

As with most Decriminalize Nature proposals, the one being planned would not legalize the psychedelics, but simple possession and cultivation offenses involving the substances would be deprioritized for law enforcement.

If approved, this would be the second Michigan city to pass psychedelics decriminalization, following the Ann Arbor City Councils unanimous vote to pass a similar resolution last year.

Decriminalizing things that are not harming anyone ought to be the first thing that we take away from law enforcement and say, You know what, weve been asking you to do that. You no longer have to go to those places where you dont have the training and the expertise and its always uncomfortable, Reppart.

In Arcata, the City Councils Public Safety Committee recently advanced a psychedelics reform resolution led by Decriminalize Nature Humboldt. The panel revised it to restrict the policies on deprioritizing enforcement to use and possession in private spaces, and members also urged the inclusion of an educational campaign on the issue.

This action came after the full body ended up split on the proposal during earlier consideration. But the committees passage of the measure means it will be returned to the full Council.

The city has the power to prioritize where law enforcement goes and then where the resources go for that, Larry Norris, co-founder of Decriminalize Nature, said in testimony, according to The Times-Standard. It doesnt change the law. There are no changes to municipal code, but [decriminalization] really allows for the city to say, Hey, plants and mushrooms arent really a big priority for us, we have other things going on.

Councilmember Sarah Schaefer agreed to lead the resolution, which would make enforcement of laws against entheogenic substances like psilocybin and ibogaine among the citys lowest law enforcement priorities.

Danielle Daniel, lead organizer of Decriminalize Nature Humboldt, told Marijuana Moment that she has so much gratitude for the Arcata Public Safety Committees openness to understanding the healing potential of entheogenic plants and fungi, and the importance of decriminalization for our community.

With Decriminalize Nature Humboldts dedication to educating our community about entheogens, and how to take them in a therapeutic way, we hope to dispel any confusion or fear about decriminalization in Arcata, she said.

In California, Oakland and Santa Cruz have already enacted psychedelics decriminalization.

Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,200 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they dont miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

Heres more context on the psychedelics reform movement:

For the most part, the burgeoning psychedelics movement has been limited to decriminalizationwith the exception or Oregon, where voters elected to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic purposesduring last years election. California activists are also pushing to placepsilocybin legalization on the states 2022 ballotas a lawmaker works to pass a separate bill tolegalize possession of a wide range of psychedelicsthat has already passed the state Senate and two Assembly committees.

The latest developments in Easthampton, Grand Rapids and Arcata are some of the latest iterations of a national psychedelics reform movement thats spread since Denver became the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushroomsin 2019.

The governor of Connecticut signed legislation recently that includes language requiring the state to carry outa study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.

Texas also recently enacted a bill to require the statestudy the medical benefits of psychedelics for military veterans.

A New York lawmaker introduced a bill in June that would require the state to establish an institute to similarly research the medical value of psychedelics.

In Oakland, the first city where a city council voted to broadly deprioritize criminalization of entheogenic substances, lawmakersapproved a follow-up resolutionin December that calls for the policy change to be adopted statewide and for local jurisdictions to be allowed to permit healing ceremonies where people could use psychedelics.

After Ann Arbor legislators passed a decriminalization resolution last year, a county prosecutor recently announcedthat his office will not be pursuing chargesover possessing entheogenic plants and fungiregardless of the amount at issue.

The Aspen, Colorado City Councildiscussed the therapeutic potential of psychedelicslike psilocybin and proposals to decriminalize such substances at a meeting in May. But members said, as it stands, enacting a reform would be more better handled at the state level while entheogens remain strictly federally controlled.

Seattle lawmakers also recently sent a letter to members of a local task force focused on the opioid overdose epidemic, imploring the group toinvestigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelicslike ayahuasca and ibogaine in curbing addiction.

The psychedelics conversation is also catching on at the federal level.

But in a setback for advocates, the U.S. House of Representatives last week voted against a proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that would have removed a spending bill rider that advocates say has restricted federal funds for research into Schedule I drugs, including psychedelics such as psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine. However, it picked up considerably more votes this round than when the congresswoman first introduced it in 2019.

Report provisions of separate, House-passed spending legislation also touch on the need to expand cannabis and psychedelics research. The panel urged the National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support expanded marijuana studies, for example

It further says that federal health agencies shouldpursue research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelicsfor military veterans suffering from a host of mental health conditions.

When it comes to broader drug policy reform, Oregon voters also approved an initiative in November todecriminalize possession of all drugs. This year, the Maine House of Representativespassed a drug decriminalization bill, but it laterdied in the Senate.

In May, lawmakers in Congress filed the first-ever legislation to federally decriminalize possessionof illicit substances.

Wyoming Marijuana Decriminalization And Medical Cannabis Initiatives Clear First 2022 Ballot Hurdle

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman.

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Psychedelics Decriminalization Advancing In Three More Cities, Spanning From Coast To Coast - Marijuana Moment