National Hemp Association Asks Congress To Budget $1 Billion To Support Industry Innovation – Marijuana Moment

A bill to legalize the possession of psychedelics in California has been put on pause until next year, but the Senate sponsor says the move is part of the complicated legislative process to get reform enactedand hes confident it will ultimately prevail.

Sen. Scott Wiener (D) submitted in a video message to a psychedelics policy forum led by the Chacruna Institute on Wednesday and discussed the challenges of passing such novel legislation. He said that it took significant compromise both internally and externally to get the bill through the Senate and two Assembly committees before he ultimately decided to temporarily pull it last month to build broader support for passage next year.

The senator also reiterated that he feels psychedelics reform is just one part of the mission. And he shares that perspective with David Bronner, another panelist at the forum who is the CEO of the soap company Dr. Bronners and has contributed financially to a number of drug policy reform efforts.

In the big picture, we need to end the war on drugsfor all drugsand we should not be criminalizing possession and use of drugs, Wiener said. Drugs are a health issue, drugs are many things, theyre not a criminal issue.

We need to stop packing our prisons full of people who are using drugs, who maybe have an addiction and so forth, he added. We need to take a health focusand I believe that we will get to the point in California where we achieve full drug decriminalization just like Oregon did during the 2020 election.

Bronner said that hes expecting statewide measures to decriminalize all drugs in 2024 in at least three additional states: California, Colorado and Washington State.

And so in the interim, the activist funder said he can accept certain revisions to the California psychedelics legislation, such as possession limits that were recently added, even if advocates dont ultimately agree with them.

I think its totally accomplishable to raise or eliminate these cut-offs [for psychedelics possession] in another decrim ballot measure, and Ill be pushing hard on that, Bronner said.

powered by Crowdcast

Wiener, meanwhile, said that it may take us some time to get there on broader decriminalization, but hes confident that the states move to legalize marijuana could be followed up with psychedelics reform as his bill calls forand, from there, they can work on comprehensively ending drug prohibition.

This legislation has gone frankly further than I thought it would go, he said. We need more time to build support in the Assembly, but I was not sure that we would make it this far in our first try. Sometimes it takes multiple tries, so Im really proud of our coalition and of all the supporters. The legislative process is a complicated one, and sometimes you have to have give-and-take take so that not everyone might be in full agreement, as with any coalition.

While advocates broadly support ending psychedelics criminalization, the community did splinter on certain provisions as the senators legislation advanced. There were disagreements about the right policy for peyote because of sustainability concerns; there were disputes about possession limits that were added to the bill; there were concerns about the impact of legalizing the possession of ketamine.

The senator said that theyve tried to have an open door and be inclusive, and we will continue to do so moving forward.

I think that we still have a very strong piece of legislationand we are committed to passing it in 2022, Wiener said. I look forward to working with this amazing community.

The sponsor has spent significant energy building support for the reform proposal as it has moved through the legislature, including by holding a recent rallywith military veterans, law enforcement and health officials.

SB 519 would remove criminal penalties for possessing numerous psychedelicsincluding psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, ibogaine, LSD and MDMAfor adults 21 and older.

As a result of changes approved by one committee, the bill currently includes language laying out the limits for what is an allowable personal possession amount for each substance. That led Decriminalize Nature (DN), a group thats worked to enact psychedelics reform across the country, to call for the tabling of the legislation.

This pause on the bill until 2022 is likely welcome news for DN to that end, as members now have more time to make the case for eliminating the possession limitation provision, or reaching some kind of compromise.

Other advocates, however, say they were taking a practical position on the revision, accepting the possession limits in the interest of advancing the reform through a legislature that may otherwise defeat the bill if it contained no such restrictions.

In the Public Safety Committee, Wiener supported an amendment from the panel thatremoved ketamine from the list of psychedelicsincluded in the reform. Thats in addition to a series of technical revisions that were made to the legislation.

Under the measure, the state Department of Public Health would be required to establish a working group to study and make recommendations regarding possible regulatory systems that California could adopt to promote safe and equitable access to certain substances in permitted legal contexts. Those recommendations would be due by January 1, 2024.

For psilocybin specifically, the legislation would repeal provisions in California statute that prohibit the cultivation or transportation of any spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material that contain the psychoactive ingredient.

Thebilloriginally included record sealing and resentencing provisions for people previously convicted of psychedelics possession offenses, but that language was removed in its last committee stop prior to the Senate floor vote as part of an amendment from the sponsor.

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.

Wiener said the reasoning behind that deletion was that the policy ended up generating a huge price tag based on a fiscal analysis, but it could be addressed in separate legislation if the main bill passes.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Psychedelic and Entheogen Academic Council (PEAC) in June, the senator said advancing the legislation would befirst step toward decriminalizing all currently illicit drugs.He reiterated that point on Monday, stating that this bill is one step in the direction of ending the failed war on drugs.

While the bill is being described by lawmakers and advocates as simple decriminalization, the official legislative analysis of the proposal states that it makes possession and facilitated or supported use of specified hallucinogenics legal.

If the bill does ultimately pass through the legislature next year, it still remains unclear whether Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) would sign itthough the governor has long been an outspoken critic of the war on drugs.

Members of the psychedelics panel on Wednesday said in response to a question from Marijuana Moment that the governors office has not been involved in negotiations over the specifics of the bill, and they plan to engage in outreach with the administration later in the legislative process.

Previously, Wiener backed a prior ketamine-related amendment in an effort to build support for the legislation.

There are disagreements within the psychedelic world on it, the senator said at a meeting with activists in June. My view as you keep things in until you have to make a give, and thats one that we could potentially give on. You dont want to spontaneously give on things without getting some ability to move the bill forward as a result.

Mescaline, a psychoactive compound derived from peyote and other cacti, is another controversial psychedelic.

It was specifically excluded from the bills reform provisions in peyote-derived form, but the possession of the compound would be allowed if it comes from other plants such as the Bolivian Torch Cactus, San Pedro Cactus, or Peruvian Torch Cactus.

That decision on the peyote exclusion was informed by native groups who havestrongly pushed back against decriminalizing the cactifor conservationist reasons and because of its sacred value for their communities.

Meanwhile, California psychedelics activists recentlyfiled a petition for the 2022 ballot to make the state the first in the nation to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for any use. And a fiscal analysis of the proposal found that it would save the state millions in enforcement costs and also generate state and local tax revenue.

The psychedelics effort in the California legislature, whichWiener first previewed back in November, comes as activists are stepping up the push to enact psychedelics reform locally in cities in the state and across the country.

Michigan senators introduced a bill last week to legalize the possession, cultivation and deliveryof an array of plant- and fungus-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan City Councilapproved entheogenic decriminalization last yearand in July, local lawmakers passed a resolution to officially designate September asEntheogenic Plants and Fungi Awareness Month.

Efforts are also underway in Grand Rapids to enact a policy change for the psychedelic substances.

In California, OaklandandSanta Cruzhave already enacted psychedelics decriminalization.

Meanwhile, Denver activists who successfully led a 2019 campaign to make the citythe first in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin possessionhave their eyes set on broader reform, with plans in the works to end the criminalization of noncommercial gifting and communal use of the psychedelic.

Massachusetts cities that have enacted the policy change are:Northampton,SomervilleandCambridge. In July, state lawmakers heard testimony about a bill to create a task force charged withstudying the implications of legalizing psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca.

The governor of Connecticut recently 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 similarlyresearch 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 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. In response, the task force issued a recommendation forthe widespread decriminalization of all drugs. The group said psychedelics in particular could represent a promising treatment to address substance abuse disorders and mental health issues.

Meanwhile, Portland, Oregon activists are mountinga push to have local lawmakers pass a resolutiondecriminalizing the cultivation, gifting and ceremonial use of a wide range of psychedelics.

In a setback for advocates, the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted against a proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) thatwould have removed a spending bill riderthat 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 thanwhen the congresswoman first introduced itin 2019.

Report provisions of separate, House-passed spending legislation also touch on the need toexpand 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 thefirst-ever legislation to federally decriminalize possessionof illicit substances.

Rhode Island Lawmakers Rally Behind Marijuana Equity Agenda As Legalization Talks Continue For Special Session

Read the original:

National Hemp Association Asks Congress To Budget $1 Billion To Support Industry Innovation - Marijuana Moment