Posted on 11/05/2021 3:28:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Detroit voters decriminalized therapeutic mushrooms – also known as psychedelic or "magic" mushrooms. On Election Day Tuesday, voters were asked to vote on Proposal E, which would make "the personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants by adults the city's lowest law-enforcement priority."
The measure passed with 61.08% of the vote.
Detroit is not the only city to decriminalize the substance, called psilocybin, which can be used to treat a variety of psychological issues, including depression, although scientists are still doing research.
Last year, voters in another Michigan city, Ann Arbor, also voted to decriminalize psychedelic plants, as did voters in Washington, D.C. and voters in Denver in 2019.
legalized-mushrooms-transfer-frame-1747.png Denver's historic vote in 2019 came after the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative gathered and submitted enough signatures for the question to be added to the municipal election ballot.
In those states, psychedelic mushrooms are not legal, but law enforcement will not arrest those in possession of the drug. Last year, Oregon became the first state to actually legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, according to the Associated Press.
The substance also has a chance to be decriminalized statewide in Michigan. Senate Bill 0631, introduced by two democratic senators, also aims to make "conduct associated with entheogenic plants and fungi; exempt from criminal penalties in certain circumstances."
Decriminalize Nature Michigan, a group advocating for decriminalizing mushrooms and other substances, says plants "can catalyze profound experiences which prove to be of lasting benefit," and that "except for a few specific contraindications psychedelic plant drugs are extraordinarily safe and non-addictive."
However, others question the use of the drug. Jeff Hunt, vice president of public policy at Colorado Christian University and director of the Centennial Institute, called the use of "magic mushrooms" a "serious problem," and said "Denver is quickly becoming the illicit drug capital of the world," CBS Denver reported ahead of the 2019 vote. Colorado also became one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012.
But this year, a panel that assessed the use of mushrooms in the city "unanimously agreed that decriminalizing psilocybin mushrooms in Denver has not since presented any significant public health or safety risk in the city," according to their report, the Denver Post reports.
The substances are illegal in the U.S., and if the federal government were to ever approve the treatment, it would be administered in clinics by specially trained staff, experts say.
Nobody should try mushrooms on their own, which would be risky, said the leaders of two psychedelic mushroom studies, Dr. Stephen Ross of New York University and Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
One of the possible treatment uses of psychedelic drugs that researchers have looked at is easing distress in cancer patients.
"It's highly common to have anxiety and depression at any stage of cancer," Ross told CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook in 2016. "The idea was that drugs like, initially, LSD and psyilocybin, which were known to induce spiritual or these unusual mystical states of consciousness, might help people who were having this … distress."
Yeah, that’s going to help...Not! Is everyone in this sad city brain dead?
Im all for this
a person needs hallucinatory psilocybin,etc mushrooms to “live” in Detroit
What could go wrong?
About the only way you could live in that burned out city is to be psycho full time.
It’s like living in Hiroshima after Aug 6, 1945, except nobody’s rebuilding.
Jerry Garcia was unavailable for comment...
“Is everyone in this sad city brain dead?”
Not yet but don’t rush them. They’re getting there.
There are some Vets getting treated with it (under medical supervision, of course) for PTSD.
What could go wrong?
Please, NickCarrawy?! Keep these kind of laughs coming to brighten my day! Those Yankees need a few psilocybin trips to round off the hard edges there.
No wait, on second thought that wouldn't even help.
The sad downside for me is that my Daughter and family alive in Ann Arbor.
I heard the vets were being treated for PTSD with MDMA. (”Ecstasy” or “Molly”) Rebekah Mercer donated $1 million to fund such research.
With all of Detroit’s problems solved.....
It’s not a terribly addictive drug, one of the least, but the effects can be temporary or permanent psychosis. Not really a risk worth taking.
Teenagers in the south pick them off of cow pies, they grow naturally; it is not illegal to have them growing on your land but they are illegal once picked.
Claims that hallucinogens treat mental illnesses are lies. Hallucinogens create these issues. They create temporary (usually) insanity. But sometimes people never come down. Then they become Speaker of the House.
As for the psychiatric claims...these come from a small but aggressive group of doctors who aim to legalize all drugs.
Their studies are small numbers of patients, and I suspect they are self selected, not from the general population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Season_(band)
Mad Season put out a great album. They are named after the British term for the time of year when all the mushrooms were ripe for picking.
I think at least two of the founding members are dead now.
Reminds me of my best trips back in the day. Spent an evening of tripping fun with an individual who went on to win some Olympic gold medals. These things should be imbibed with due caution, in moderation, and never when personal responsibility for others is involved. I would not have voted in favor of this measure today.
Take a substance capable of jacking your brain chemistry sideways?
Wonderful idea. Not enough is known about psilocybin to say one way or the other about its safe usage. But the side effects are profound and debilitating in some cases.
CC
Many Native American ceremonies use peyote - a far different experience. (Especially if you don’t clean the arsenic crystals off properly.)
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