![]() Opposition to such measures tends to cite fears that loosening penalties will lead to increased drug use and crime among the public. Known as Proposal E, it would decriminalize the use of entheogenic plants and fungi, including ayahuasca from South America, ibogaine from Africa, peyote and mescaline from certain cacti, and psilocybin from certain mushrooms with vision-producing capabilities. On Election Day, a citizen’s initiative in Detroit will be on the ballot. WATCH MORE: Could Oregon’s decision to decriminalize hard drugs provide a model for the country? A similar bill was introduced to the Michigan legislature this fall. And several local governments, including Ann Arbor, have decriminalized the use of entheogenic plants and fungi including the cities of Oakland, Santa Cruz, and Arcata in California Northampton, Somerville, and Cambridge in Massachusetts and Denver, Seattle and Washington, D.C. New Jersey passed a bill earlier this year to decriminalize possession of under 1 ounce of psilocybin mushrooms. In 2021, Rhode Island passed a bill that authorized a pilot program to create “harm reduction centers” where people may safely consume controlled substances under the supervision of health care professionals. In November 2020, Oregon voters passed ballot measure 110, which made personal non-commercial possession of a controlled substance no more than a Class E violation (a maximum fine of $100). This means that they are still illegal, but they are often ranked the lowest of police and prosecutor priorities. While entheogenic plants and fungi remain illegal at the federal level, some state and local governments have been decriminalizing them in various forms in the last several years. In this way, the event was not only an opportunity for people to share how entheogenic plants and fungi have helped them, but also to advocate for decriminalization and legalization, organizers said. Much like the wave of marijuana decriminalization that has swept the country in recent years, a growing number of cities and states are considering similar resolutions involving psychedelic substances. On the Diag of the University of Michigan campus on September 19, 2021. Current research is now catching up.”ĭecriminalize Nature Michigan supporters listen to keynote speaker Barking Dog Darryl Brown at Ann Arbor, Michigan’s first EntheoFest, a free speech event to celebrate entheogenic plants and fungi. “Humans have had these relationships for millennia. “Maintaining our personal relationship with entheogenic plants fungi is a human right,” Julie Barron, Co-Director of Decriminalize Nature Michigan, told the PBS NewsHour. It featured three and a half hours of speeches from elected officials, community leaders, activists, artists, therapists, healers, musicians, martial artists, and a tent full of researchers - who talked much more about history, health, and research than they did about “trips.” READ MORE: Why psychedelic drugs are having a medical renaissanceĪnn Arbor’s first EntheoFest, also a commemoration of the city’s 2020 resolution to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi, was not an opportunity to experiment with psychedelics publicly, as its name might suggest. The first Hash Bash took advantage of an unexpected moment when a Michigan Supreme Court ruling declared the law prohibiting marijuana unconstitutional, and supporters of activist John Sinclair, who was serving 10 years for two joints, celebrated while it was legal.įifty years later, a new kind of event drew approximately 1,500 people to campus - one that celebrated “sacred plant medicine” with vision-producing properties, formally known as entheogenic plants and fungi, but more colloquially known as “magic mushrooms” and psychedelics. Almost every April since 1972, the Hash Bash has been held on the Diag of the University of Michigan campus, a free speech event and smoke-in to promote the legalization of marijuana.
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