Denver activists work to decriminalize magic mushrooms

An advocacy group in the city of Denver, Colorado has collected over 9,000 signatures and submitted petitions to Denver's Election Division in order to get a measure on the ballot in May that would decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms in the city.

The elections division has the next 25 days to ensure at least 4,726 of the signatures came from registered Colorado voters in order for the proposed measure to show up on the ballot for the city's election on May 7, 2019.

Decriminalize Denver, the advocacy group that has been spearheading this movement, claim the bill's main goal is to keep people out of prison and keep families together.

The US has classified psychedelic mushrooms as a schedule 1 drug, putting them in the same category as drugs such as LSD or heroin. Currently, those found in possession of magic mushrooms can face charges that range from a state jail felony to a 1st-degree felony.

Despite the fact that psychedelic mushrooms currently have no accepted medical use, some past studies have revealed the positive effects of magic mushrooms treating depression.

Back in October, a team of leading scientists at Jon Hopkins called for magic mushrooms to be made legally available as a medicine. They claim that the potential benefits of psilocybin - the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms - outweigh its possible harms and have gone on to tell the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that the drug should be placed in the most lenient drug classification category.

A campaign in California proposed legislation that would legalize magic mushrooms in the state was proposed back in 2017 but it never reached the statewide ballot. Groups in the state of Oregon are currently pushing to get proposed decriminalization of the psychedelic drug on the ballot for the 2020 election.

Cameron is Mixmag's Jr. Editor. Follow him on Twitter here

[Via: CNN]