Legalize psychedelic mushrooms? Advocates say they have enough signatures to make

Imagine if Coloradans suffering from anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder had a legal way to treat their ailments with psychedelic mushrooms. Advocates say it’s not that far out.

Residents could be voting in November to legalize psilocybin and psilocin, the psychoactive compounds in magic mushrooms, for use in therapeutic settings after advocates said they’ve collected enough signatures to qualify the question for the ballot.

On Monday, Kevin Matthews and Veronica Perez of Natural Medicine Colorado, the campaign behind the legalization effort, submitted a petition with 222,648 signatures supporting Initiative 58, also known as the Natural Medicine Health Act, to the Secretary of State’s office.

The state still needs to verify the signatures, so it’s not a done deal yet, but given it requires about 125,000 valid signatures, Natural Medicine Colorado believes the question will be in front of voters this fall.

If it passes, the Natural Medicine Health Act would effectively set the stage for a legal mushroom market by tasking Colorado regulators with creating rules around the cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transport, sales and purchase of psilocybin and psilocin.

While the measure restricts sales to designated “healing centers” that are licensed by the state — so you wouldn’t be allowed to walk into a store or dispensary and buy ‘shrooms over the counter — it also expands decriminalization for possession, use, and gifting statewide. Because it sets up a new framework for treatment centers, regulators would also define the qualifications, education and training requirements necessary for facilitators who administer the substances.

“The biggest takeaway I hope people understand is that these natural medicines have been used by humans for 10,000 years and in the last 20 to 25 years there has been a significant amount of clinical research at universities like Johns Hopkins and UCLA that really demonstrate the efficacy of natural medicines,” said Matthews, who led Denver’s decriminalization initiative in 2019, by phone. “Coloradans deserve access to these incredible healing options really because we’re facing a crisis of mental health in the state right now.”

Regarding decriminalization, the measure means locals would not be arrested for possessing, using or growing a “personal amount” of psilocybin or psilocin, nor gifting shrooms to adults ages 21 and up. (The term personal amount is not defined and as one local rabbi…