On November 8, 2022, Colorado citizens will be casting their vote on the Natural Medicine Health Act 2022 which proposes to decriminalise and regulate the use of psychedelic medicines. 

Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act (Proposition 122) recognises the failure of the state’s current approach to mental health, noting that citizens need more tools to address such issues. It suggests that new approaches to mental health should be grounded in treatment, recovery, health and wellness rather than “criminalisation, stigma, suffering and punishment”.

Following suit from Oregon, which became the first state in the US to approve of legalised psilocybin under Oregon’s Psilocybin Services Act – “Measure 109” – in November 2020, Colorado’s bill recognises the extensive growing body of evidence suggesting that psychedelic therapies could hold promise as treatments for mental ill health.

“The Federal Government will take years to act and Coloradans deserve the right to access natural medicines now,” states the Bill.

“Natural medicines” are defined in the bill as including DMT, ibogaine, psilocybin/psilocin and mescaline (excluding peyote), however, until June 2026, this definition will only include psilocybin and psilocin.

What does the bill propose? 

With an aim to establish a compassionate and effective approach to natural medicines, the bill proposes a variety of measures that would ensure the safe delivery of care to patients, with a focus on harm reduction and improving education.

Harm reduction initiatives would include the removal of criminal penalties for people over the age of 21, and education would be focused around public service campaigns, public service announcements, educational curricula and training for law enforcement and first responders. 

If passed, a Natural Medicine Advisory Board will be established that will advise on the implementation of the bill, which will see the launch of a medical access programme. The programme will regulate the cultivation, manufacture, testing, storage, transfer, transport, delivery, sale and purchase of psychedelic medicines.  

By January 2024, rules will be established for the qualifications, education and training requirements for psychedelic facilitators that deliver medicine to patients. 

Healing centres – licensed entities that deal with natural medicines – will be permitted to provide services where participants can consume, but also to refuse to provide services to an individual. Any one individual would also be prohibited from having financial interests in more than five healing centres.

As well as protecting citizens from legal punishment through the removal of penalties, licence holders would also be protected from legal punishment within Colorado. 

Rules will be established regarding dosing recommendations, equitable and inclusive access to services, licensing, health and safety, supervision of sessions, provisions for group administrations and testing of medicines, among others. 

What are the chances of success?

Nearly 50 million Americans are living with a mental health condition. For those living with a condition such as major depressive disorder (MDD), just over 30% are resistant to current treatments, revealing a desperate need for innovative approaches to mental health care. 

As recognised in the act, psychedelics have shown promise for treating a variety of mental health-related conditions such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction. 

Natural Medicine Colorado, an organisation that is sponsoring the initiative, states the bill is designed to “create regulated access that maximises safety to natural psychedelic medicines for veterans struggling with PTSD, people facing a terminal illness, and adults dealing with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges.”

A recent survey carried out by Verywell Mind revealed that half of Americans support the use of psychedelics as mental health treatments, suggesting the sentiment may be positive towards the bill. 

However, the most recent developments have seen 30 officials urging citizens to vote against the bill, stating it is too early to know the effectiveness of the medicines for mental health. 

The Rocky Mountain State Area Conference of the NAACP, drug reform group Blue Rising, the Mayor of Denver Michael Hancock and Attorney General Phil Weiser, among others, have signed the letter.

The signatories state: “The multi-million dollar campaign to promote Prop 122 is not backed by benevolent Coloradans who are concerned about our mental health crisis. In reality, these out-of-state corporate actors are seeking to benefit financially by making Colorado a new target market for unregulated psychedelic drugs that science has yet to prove are safe or effective. 

“This ballot measure is not a solution to our mental health crisis. It could make things exponentially worse.”

Also signing the letter is the Native Coalition Against the Natural Medicine Health Act – a collective of intertribal Indigenous Native American people.

The coalition states that the bill stands to threaten, exploit and commercialise Indigenous peoples and spiritual traditions. 

The coalition states: “It ignores critical issues pertaining to stewardship, conservation, intellectual property and fair-trade practices. This bill misleads and falsely informs the public. The bill is opposed due to the rampant neglect, abuse and harm that has already occurred within psychedelic research. 

“Further, it is opposed because the bill’s co-authors have positioned themselves to profit from the legalising and medicalising of natural medicines to the exclusion of the greater community. It lacks inclusion of disproportionately impacted communities. 

“The passing of Proposition 122 positions these natural medicines for extractivism, some of which are not Indigenous to Colorado, by those with limited understanding and knowledge of the medicines and their applications, which will ultimately create further inequities, criminalising and desecration of the sacred.”

To read the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 in full please visit: https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2021-2022/58Final.pdf