Denver made history on Tuesday after voters approved a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms. But shortly after the final count was released, reform advocates were hit with a New York Times op-ed signed by an unexpected critic telling them to slow their roll.

Despite being written by Michael Pollan, who authored a popular book debunking myths about psychedelics and defending their therapeutic potential, the opinion piece triggered pushback over its suggestion that “ballot initiatives may not be the smartest way” to change psilocybin laws and that advocates should wait for federal approval before legalizing the substance for medical purposes.

“Debate is always a good thing, but I worry that we’re not quite ready for this one,” Pollan wrote of campaigns in California and Oregon that are seeking to get psilocybin reform on the states’ 2020 ballots.

Kevin Matthews, campaign director of Decriminalize Denver, the group behind the city’s successful decriminalization initiative, told Marijuana Moment that he generally respected Pollan and appreciated the cautionary tale his piece offered against flippant consumption of the powerful substance—but he disagreed with the author’s stance on the ballot initiative process and with feedback from the research community opposing voter-led reform.

“Ballot initiatives are a good way to do this because I think sometimes the researchers forget about the average person out there who is currently using,” Matthews said. “There is this underground that exists—and Michael Pollan utilized that underground that exists [for his book].”

“If there’s enough support for the ballot initiative process to make sense, then I think people should go for it.”

Pollan’s argument boils down to this: he personally supports decriminalization—after all, as he noted, he’s illegally used and propagated psilocybin—but he argued that more research is needed on the substance’s “immense power and potential risk” and “consequences of unrestricted use” before activists start broadly changing laws concerning the substance.

It’s a line of messaging that drug policy reform advocates have heard time and again with respect to cannabis from lawmakers who reject legalization because they feel existing research is insufficient.

“We still have a lot to learn about the immense power and potential risk of these molecules, not to mention the consequences of unrestricted use,” Pollan wrote. “It would be a shame if the public is pushed to make premature decisions about psychedelics before the researchers have completed their work.”

The thing about that argument is that researchers have already uncovered evidence that psilocybin can be useful in the treatment of various mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and depression.

Pollan understands those scientific findings well, but his op-ed shifts from lifting up the medical potential of the ingredient to urging caution against acting on those findings through ballot initiatives until researchers are satisfied.

“The more research we need should not impact whether or not we decriminalize it,” Matthews countered. “The more research we need is exploring its anti-addictive potential. One thing I hear is, ‘What are the long term impacts of use?’ We probably need more research there. But there’s no reason for people to go to jail for this if they’re not causing harm to others or themselves.”

The reality is that people across the U.S. are currently being criminalized for use and personal production of psilocybin mushrooms—a situation that can only be alleviated by voter-led ballot measures as long as lawmakers refuse to touch the issue.

After his piece generated considerable pushback on Twitter, Pollan clarified in a tweet that “this piece supports decriminalization, just not legalization now.” That message seemed to have been lost in translation, though, which is understandable given the author’s reference to campaigns that are simply seeking to decriminalize psilocybin before advocating against ballot initiatives.

If Pollan’s op-ed were published prior to the Denver vote, it is easy to imagine a situation where some number of the 1,979 voters who comprised the narrow margin between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ changed their minds because they read an essay from one of the nation’s foremost psychedelic advocates telling them that ballot measures “may not be the smartest way” to advance the issue.

Reading will reveal that this piece supports decriminalization, just not legalization now. Opinion | Michael Pollan: Not So Fast on Psychedelic Mushrooms – The New York Times https://t.co/vukBw2q2w8

— Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan) May 10, 2019

That aside, more careful consideration of broader legalization is an area where Pollan and Matthews agree. After all, voter confusion about whether the Denver measure would allow people to purchase so-called “magic mushrooms” in shops—it does not—likely led some to vote against Initiative 301.

“I think the focus needs to be decriminalization. We should not be talking about necessarily a regulated medical model right now,” Matthews said. “I think decriminalization is the right first step because we need to make sure that people’s individual rights are protected, and really the only way to do that is by decriminalizing and making sure people are not receiving any kind of fines for possession.”

But while Pollan is urging caution, insisting that voters should wait for something akin to Food and Drug Administration approval before moving ahead on broad psilocybin reform, Matthews is striving to ensure that the Denver measure is quickly and effectively implemented, and to further spread awareness about the benefits of psilocybin through educational outreach.

When the first round of votes came out on Tuesday at 7:00 PM MT, showing the initiative behind by about 10 points, the “air got sucked out of the room like a space capsule getting a hole punched in it” at the main campaign watch party, Matthews said. But throughout the night, the gap narrowed. Victory became within reach.

When the final unofficially tally was finalized at approximately 4:20 PM MT the next day, Matthews said he “just started screaming and crying at the same time. Dogs started barking in the background.”

“What a trip,” he said, “no pun intended.”

But as the high of the success waned, Matthews recognized the momentous responsibility ahead of him, as one of the leaders of a historic campaign that will be looked at as activists attempt similar feats across the country. In spite of Pollan’s advice, Matthews has no intention of slowing down now.

California Activists Take First Steps To Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms Statewide

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman.

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Twenty prosecutors from major cities across the U.S. are touring Portugal this month to learn about the successful implementation of the country’s drug decriminalization law. They will also spend time in Germany observing how criminal justice reform in general can combat mass incarceration.

In Portugal, where all drugs were decriminalized in 2001, the prosecutors will observe the impacts of that nationwide policy, which according to research has reduced incarceration rates and improved public health by treating drug possession as a public health issue.

The European visit will involve tours of courts, prisons, treatment facilities and health and community service providers. The officials will also meet law enforcement officials, public health experts and international criminal justice experts. The hope is that the two-week educational trip will enable prosecutors to bring fresh ideas to the U.S. criminal justice system, which has historically taken a harsh and punitive approach to nonviolent drug offenses.

“Elected prosecutors around the country are grappling with how to redefine justice and shrink the footprint of the justice system, while making communities safer and healthier,” Miriam Krinsky, executive director of the advocacy group Fair and Justice Prosecution, which is organizing and funding the trip, said in a press release. “They are shifting away from punitive criminal justice responses to substance use and mental illness and embracing smart and proven public health solutions.”

Then, we’re visiting Lisbon, Portugal to explore models of decriminalization & public health responses to drug use. I am looking forward to learning from the successes of international models & gathering ideas about how to decrease incarceration & improve CJ approaches in the US.

— Rachael Rollins (@DARollins) May 8, 2019

Even before the visit, several prosecutors who will be attending have taken steps on their own to reform the criminal justice process in their respective jurisdictions.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, for example, said in a yet-to-be-released HBO documentary that he is seriously considering enacting a policy wherein people facing drug possession charges would be diverted to treatment instead of facing jail time and criminal records.

“We are talking about people who are using drugs,” he said. “The vast majority of them suffering from addiction. I do not see value in convicting people like that.” Krassner has already instituted a policy of declining to prosecute marijuana possession cases.

Following a policy change that discouraged prosecution of low-level cannabis cases, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced last year that there were 91 percent fewer prosecutions for such offenses over the prior year.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, who is also going on the trip, enacted a decriminalization policy for possession of cannabis under 100 grams in January.

In January, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, another attendee, said her office would not pursue marijuana possession cases, citing historic racial disparities in the criminalization of drugs.

The focus of the meetings in Germany and Portugal will go beyond examining the benefits of simple cannabis decriminalization, however. The prosecutors will learn about diversion programs and court proceedings, talk to officials about Germany’s rates and lengths of incarceration for various crimes, visit open and closed prisons that are known to treat inmates humanely and hold talks with drug policy leaders in Portugal to discuss the impact of the country’s decriminalization policy.

Also in Portugal, the prosecutors will observe harm reduction programs meant to curb overdose deaths and get people suffering from addiction into treatment. That will involve tours of integrated treatment centers, methadone vans and mobile safe consumption sites.

Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, who is on the trip and also recently signed on to a letter with 37 other state and territory attorneys general endorsing federal cannabis banking legislation, said in a press release that “prosecutors are uniquely positioned to be able to take lessons learned from other countries’ approaches to incarceration and criminalization back to their communities.”

“The enormous power of prosecutors to exercise their discretion in ways that ensure outcomes that enhance public safety and reduce recidivism is unparalleled in the criminal justice system,” he said. “My colleagues and I look forward to learning from countries that have successfully reduced mass incarceration, reintegrated previously incarcerated individuals back into society, and treated drug users and individuals struggling with mental illness with health services and supports that have a high degree of success.”

Top Congressional Democrats Announce Bill To Federally Deschedule Marijuana

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

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The Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee passed a bill to legalize medical marijuana on Friday, and it will now head to the full legislature for consideration.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Anna Wishart (D), would establish a system allowing patients suffering from a wide range of conditions to use, possess and purchase certain amounts of cannabis from licensed dispensaries.

An amendment adopted by the committee scaled back the original proposal in several ways, including by prohibiting patients from smoking medical marijuana and from cultivating cannabis at home.

Additionally, the legislation removes a catch-all provision that would allow physicians to recommend cannabis for any condition, instead delineating a list of specific qualifying disorders—although pain is included.

The revised bill also includes more restrictions on the amount of marijuana patients can possess, but it removes a requirement for them to register with the state—a change arising out of concerns about their gun rights being jeopardized by being listed in a registry.

The revised bill passed out of the committee in a 5-1 vote. It is expected to be debated on the unicameral legislature’s Senate floor on Wednesday.

“It’s a moderate approach, but it still provides access to people who are most in need,” Wishart told the Omaha World-Herald. “It is one of the best public health models in the country.”

The legislation’s advancement could be partly a reaction to pressure Wishart and Sen. Adam Morfeld (D) put on the body after it rejected multiple prior attempts to legalize medical cannabis.

The senators partnered with activists to form a committee to draft a measure to legalize medical marijuana that would appear on the state’s 2020 ballot, citing the legislature’s inaction on the issue as their motivation. The initiative’s language was approved by the secretary of state in March, clearing it for the signature gathering process.

“The Unicameral Legislature could save patients a year and a half of needless suffering by approving Sen. Wishart’s bill,” Karen O’Keefe, state policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment. “If it fails to do so, voters will take matters into their own hands in November 2020. Polls show the broad, compassionate measure would easily pass.”

Advocates used a similar strategy to successfully pressure Ohio lawmakers to pass a medical cannabis bill in 2016 by floating a ballot measure that year, which they scrapped following the legislature’s action.

Wishart put the chances of passing medical marijuana legalization through the legislature at 30 percent, but said the bill’s advancement could at least generate productive conversations among lawmakers.

If the bill does make it past the legislature, supporters don’t expect to get the blessing of Gov. Pete Ricketts (R), who has expressed adamant opposition to cannabis reform.

But at least one key lawmaker sees passing the legislation as a smart way to ward off a more far-reaching law through the activist-driven ballot measure.

“If we’re going to have medicinal cannabis, this one has been tightened up way more than what we may end up with if this is unsuccessful and then we end up with a petition initiative, put it on the ballot and then people vote for it,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Steve Lathrop (D) told The Lincoln Journal Star.

Elsewhere, medical cannabis reform is also gaining traction in Alabama, where the Senate approved medical marijuana legalization on Thursday, and Texas, where the House passed legislation to significantly expand the state’s medical program earlier this week.

Alabama Senate Approves Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana

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