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Colorado to vote on natural medicine bill to decriminalise psychedelics

The Natural Medicines Health Act has recently seen opposition from a number of officials and organisations.

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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.

See also  What psychedelics has got right that the cannabis industry hasn’t

“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 

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Policy

Now is the time for psychedelic access, says campaigner

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Now is the time for psychedelic access, says campaigner

Activists in Oakland recently filed a ballot put forward by Dave Hodges seeking to legalise safe and legal access to psychedelics for therapeutic uses. 

In the face of critics, Hodges has said now is the time for safe access to psychedelics.

The Psychedelic Wellness & Healing Initiative would enable the sale, possession and use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes if passed. Psychedelics that would be allowed under the ballot include Psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and Mescaline.

If passed, the initiative would give doctors and mental health specialists the right to recommend psychedelics to ease the debilitating symptoms of a range of problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, addiction, suicidality and traumatic brain injury (TBI), among others.

Hodges has said: “Now is the time for safe, controlled medical access for patients in need. The way to solve the problem is not by continuing to ignore it.” 

Hodges’ solution is to create a structure for use that includes proper dosages and access to experts who can help users benefit from appropriate treatment.

The updated initiative language emphasises safety, and gives doctors and mental health specialists the right to recommend psychedelics to ease the debilitating symptoms of a range of conditions.

Research by the University of Michigan and Columbia University shows non-LSD hallucinogenic use on the rise and Hodges has stated that increase means that the initiative providing guidelines for use is needed more than ever. 

Hodges said he hopes Californians will read the initiative, share their thoughts about it over the holiday week and offer feedback via the initiative website, PW4CA.com, by 27 November, 2023, the deadline for modifications.

“Now is the time to provide medical and therapeutic access to psychedelics,” Hodges said. “The way to do this is through the initiative.”

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Policy

Transform Drugs releases groundbreaking book: How to regulate psychedelics

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Transform Drugs releases book: How to regulate psychedelics

UK charity Transform Drug Policy Foundation has published a new book ‘How to Regulate Psychedelics: A Practical Guide’ that sets out how psychedelics can be legalised and regulated for non-medical adult use.

While an increasing amount of research is pointing to the potentially beneficial effects of psychedelic treatment on mental health conditions, many people across the globe are using psychedelics outside of the clinical setting.

The book includes a set of proposals for post-prohibition policies, covering psychedelics including psilocybin, LSD, DMT and Mescaline. 

Previously, Transform’s guides on regulating stimulants and cannabis have been used to advise governments around the world on drug policy. This book seeks to inform the debates on psychedelic drug reforms taking place across the world.

Co-author and Public Affairs and Policy Manager at Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Ester Kincová, stated: “Despite psychedelic drugs being illegal, their non-medical use within society has been steadily increasing. 

“Punitive enforcement has not decreased use or eliminated supply, but it has made use more unsafe. 

“Legalising and regulating psychedelics is a pragmatic move to reduce harm. This is no longer a theoretical debate, states in the US are already recognising the need and  making moves to regulate for non-medical adult use.”

Scientific Chair of Drug Science, Professor David Nutt, added: “Once again Transform have come up with a well thought out and practical plan for the regulation of another group of currently illegal drugs – in this case psychedelics. 

“Their ideas would be both easy to implement and to engage with and will, if adopted, radically enhance the safe use of these remarkable agents.”

Proposals for regulation

The book includes a four-tiered regulation model “that attempts to manage the variety of psychedelic preparations and the different ways in which they are used”.

These include:

  • Private use, home cultivation, foraging and not-for-profit sharing.
  • Membership-based non-for-profit associations for plant-based products.
  • Licensed production and retail adaptable to different products and environments
  • Regulated commercial guided or supervised use

Additionally, a decriminalisation model is proposed which suggests that possession for personal use should no longer be an offence of any kind or be subject to any sanctions; Drugs for personal use should not be confiscated; cultivation of small amounts of plant-based drugs for personal use should be decriminalised, among other suggestions.

The book also includes topics such as embedding social justice, equity and human rights into policy design, how to think about psychedelics regulation, why regulate psychedelics and why now, and psychedelics and the UN drug treaties.

To read the book, please visit transformdrugs.org/.

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Policy

Oakland ballot seeks to legalise medical psychedelics

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Oakland ballot seeks to legalise medical psychedelics

Activists in Oakland have filed a ballot that seeks to legalise safe and legal access to psychedelics for therapeutic uses. 

The Psychedelic Wellness & Healing Initiative would enable the sale, possession and use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes if passed. Psychedelics that would be allowed under the ballot include Psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and Mescaline.

If passed, the initiative would give doctors and mental health specialists the right to recommend psychedelics to ease the debilitating symptoms of a range of problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, addiction, suicidality and traumatic brain injury (TBI), among others.

See also  Australia reschedules psilocybin and MDMA

Additionally, it would create a statewide framework for regulating the possession, use, cultivation and production of substances for medical and therapeutic use.

The initiative has been introduced by proponent and founder of the Oakland-based Church of Ambrosia, Dave Hodges, to the California Attorney General’s office for the 2024 ballot, and will need 546,651 valid signatures to qualify.

See also  CDPRG discusses the UK's Reschedule Psilocybin campaign

The filing follows California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent veto of Senate Bill 58, the bill that sought to decriminalise the use of certain psychedelic drugs. 

Hodges emphasised that SB58 would have been a step forward, but that it had major flaws concerning its lack of provisions to ensure access, public safety and quality control. That veto, Hodges said, compelled him to move quickly on the initiative filing.

When the California Attorney General certifies the initiative for circulation, backers will have about four and a half months to gather the required signatures for ballot placement. 

Signature collecting will begin in early December.

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