California moves to decriminalize use of magic mushrooms and other natural psychedelics

Technically the second step. First step was that the big CA cities already passed this. Now the rest of the state is following.

Comically enough possession of Psychedelic mushrooms isn't a charge in Florida. They had a ruling a while back that stated a standard person wouldn't know how to tell the difference between a mushroom that was and was not containing psychedelic properties. Thus it is illegal to sell, deliver or etc but if you have a zip loc bag of a few mushrooms in your pocket they in theory would have to let you go because they would have to prove your mushroom swiss burger was intended to get you high vs just being enjoyable. Now if you have 10 1 oz bags of mushrooms, you will have a hard time arguing you didn't have intent to sell.

If California is anything like Massachusetts then it's a bit more complicated.

Over there several towns and cities have decriminalized and it's on the state ballot much like California, but cannabis dispensaries in those towns and cities are already "gifting" mushroom chocolates and such to customers.

The law says they can't sell it yet but they still manage to get it into the hands of paying customers

Explain

There are easy ways to have a bad time using psychedelics (like not picking a controlled environment, not being prepared for that your trip will take some time). Knowing these things ahead of time/being prepared matters quite a bit in terms of your ability to have a safe, pleasant trip.

This sort of knowledge, sort of like "you shouldn't plan to operate heavy machinery after drinking that cough syrup or those 7 beers" is key to responsible use- and it's the irresponsible users that become the poster children for the 'ban everything' crowd.

You haven't heard anti-drug people cite anecdotal stories as a reason to continue the war on drugs?

People who misuse or misunderstand a drug, take too much, or mix it with other substances are the D.A.R.E. crowd’s favorite thing to point as supporting evidence.

Example: Take a small dose of PCP or a simulant, it can be fine for someone knowing the risks and weighing them against their needs. Take too much of PCP (and be predisposed to violence) and you'll end up doing crimes, or in the hospital for serotonin syndrome.

So let's say violent Vince takes too much of a drug and ends up assaulting people on the street. He ends up in the news and we all get to hear forever about why PCP turns anyone who tries it into an invincible cannibal zombie.

Does that make more sense?

Note: I'm not arguing for the legality of PCP.

I agree with you in principal. But maybe we need baby steps to allow time for the general population's attitudes to change.

I live in Massachusetts, next door to "lovely, historic Concord, the Birthplace of the American Revolution". Marijuana has been legal, not just decriminalized, here for years and years. There was a proposal to open a cannabis shop in Concord a couple of years ago, and the locals were in a tizzy. I remember one comment in particular: "Do we really want busloads of SCHOOLCHILDREN unloading at the corner of Main St and Walden St [town center] and seeing a WEED shop?!?!?"

My response? "Oh, you mean near all the places that serve ALCOHOL for CONSUMPTION on the PREMISES?".

They didn't get it.

People have weird attitudes about these substances because they used to be illegal. Slowly moving them to illegal instead of just yanking off the band-aid helps. Not in all cases, obviously see above🙄), but in many.

ahahah very funny

I agree with most of what you're saying aside from the part about making all drugs illegal.

The drug war is more about political violence than it is about keeping America safe, for one. A Nixon aide is on record describing how the drug war was about disinfranchising people who may stop his reelection.

For, two. Bodily autonomy is a right. Remember, the bill of rights is not meant to be all inclusive. And it's not our job to prove our rights but the governments job to justify its power.

In this case, the government has utterly failed to justify this power. We've criminalized medicine that can cure addiction and consumerism. And put people in prison, destroying families. Both hippies just trying to grow some shrooms to share with friends, and suffering addicts who need medical help.

And for three, prohibition doesn't work. We've seen this proved again and again in multiple countries and now over a full century.

It's time to end this civil war that destroys families, and robs people of their political power. A war started so the second most corrupt president in history could angle for a second term.

This issue isn't about safety. But control.

Depends on the drug. Stuff like Marijuana or those Psychedelics, sure. Cocaine and Heroin on the other hand… aren’t really comparable to stuff you can “”safely”” take for decades.

And arsenic is legal and all of the drugs in reference are non-toxic.

So thanks for proving that the drug laws are about political violence, and not about keeping us safe.

Re: Microdosing

Unless something recent came out that I missed the few studies on micro dosing suggest it's no better than placebo. Which isn't to say it's not effective, we do need more studies here.

Macrodoses of about 20-30mg (which is between 1g and 3g of mushrooms depending on potency), in clinical settings, have shown very strong evidence in the treatment of treatment resistant depression and end of life anxiety, and good evidence in treatment of anxiety disorders as well as alcohol and tobacco addiction.

Personally, I like 10-20mg once or twice a week for habit change*, and larger doses for getting out in the woods by myself and just being. I guess you could call it ego dissolution but I've done it enough times that when I'm in the right headspace it doesn't feel like I'm losing anything but becoming part of everything. Listening to the birds and insects, it's easy for me to completely forget myself on tryptamines like psilocybin and DMT.

*Psilocybin helped me quit smoking.