Politics
Ballot Language Approved For Washington, D.C. Psychedelics Decriminalization Measure
The campaign to decriminalize psychedelics in Washington, D.C. took another step forward on Tuesday, with the Board of Elections approving a short title and summary statement for the ballot initiative.
This comes about two weeks after the board ruled that the proposal is lawful under city rules and can proceed. There were some questions about whether a congressional rider prohibiting the District from using its local dollars to lower penalties for Schedule I drugs would disqualify the measure, but the body agreed with activists that it did not.
The initiative wouldn’t change local laws banning entheogenic substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca. Rather, it would make enforcement of those laws among the District’s lowest priorities and call on the D.C. attorney general and the District’s federal prosecutor to end prosecutions of such offenses.
The new board-approved short title and summary statement reads as follows:
SHORT TITLE
“Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020”
SUMMARY STATEMENT
If enacted, this Initiative would:
-Make the investigation and arrest of adults for non-commercial planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, possessing, and/or engaging in practices with entheogenic plants and fungi among the Metropolitan Police Department’s lowest law enforcement priorities; and
-Codify that the people of the District of Columbia call upon the Attorney General for the District of Columbia and the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia to cease prosecution of residents of the District of Columbia for these activities.
“Decriminalize Nature D.C. was very pleased with today’s hearing,” Seth Rosenberg, a spokesperson for the group behind the proposed ballot measure told Marijuana Moment. “The final language of Initiative Measure 81 is very close to our proposed language, and we are grateful that the [Board of Elections] saw the value in bringing this measure to the citizens of Washington D.C. We are even more excited about getting the petition process started to get on the 2020 ballot.”
The short title and summary will be published in the D.C. Register next week, following which point a 10-day challenge period will be opened. After the close of the comment period on March 9, the panel will then the hold another meeting to give final approval to the language.
Once the title and summary get final approval, organizers will have to collect about 25,000 valid signatures from voters within 180 days in order to qualify for the November ballot.
“The Campaign’s message of education, including the safe use of medicinal and sacred plants and fungi, is finding an increasingly receptive audience across all levels of society as more and more people are seeking help for themselves or loved ones,” Melissa Lavasani, spokesperson for Decriminalize D.C., said in a press release.
Beyond pursuing decriminalization through the ballot, Lavasani told Marijuana Moment in an interview last month that it would also be pushing for District Council action and that the ballot serves partly as an educational tool to show legislators that there’s public support for the policy change.
The psychedelics reform movement has made significant strides this past year. After Denver became the first city in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, Oakland’s City Council followed suit and made a wide range of entheogenic substances among the city’s lowest law enforcement priorities. Organizers there are now hoping to legalize the sale of such plants and fungi.
Santa Cruz became the third city to decriminalize the substances in a Council vote last month. And activists in more than 100 cities are pushing to implement similar policies, according to Decriminalize Nature.
California activists are also collecting signatures to put psilocybin mushroom legalization on the state’s 2020 ballot. In Oregon, a campaign to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use is underway.
Read the full short title and summary of the D.C. psychedelics decriminalization measure below:
DC Psychedelics Ballot Lang… by Marijuana Moment on Scribd
First Government Psychedelics Decriminalization Panel Holds Historic Meeting In Denver
Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.
