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Seattle Becomes Largest City in U.S. To Decriminalize Range of Psychedelics

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As the cannabis reform boom continues across the United States, it’s hard to ignore that similar conversations and reform measures surrounding psychedelics are steadily building momentum on their own.

Notably, Seattle, Washington just became the latest (and largest) city in the U.S. to decriminalize the non-commercial cultivation, possession and personal use of a range of psychedelic substances.

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a resolution declaring, “the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone engaging in entheogen-related activities should be among The City of Seattle’s lowest law enforcement priorities.”

The resolution defines entheogens as “any living, fresh, dried, or processed plant or fungal material, including teas and powers, that contain currently scheduled or analog psychoactive indolamines, tryptamines, or phenethylamines.” This means that natural substances like psilocybin mushrooms, ibogaine, ayahuasca and non-peyote-derived mescaline are all included in the measure, while peyote or synthetic drugs like LSD are not included.

The resolution also asks that the Seattle Police Department develop and codify policies that protect people curating entheogens for use in religious, spiritual, healing or personal growth contexts, and those sharing with others without financial consideration, from arrest and/or prosecution.

The resolution additionally requests the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs add support at the state level for the decriminalization of entheogens to its 2022 legislative session agenda.

Sponsor of the resolution and Councilmember Andrew Lewis said he was personally motivated to bring this resolution forward after speaking with community members who said their lives had been improved by the use of psychedelics.

“These non-addictive natural substances have real potential in clinical and therapeutic settings to make a really significant difference in people’s lives,” he said. “This resolution really sets the stage as the first significant action in the state of Washington to move this policy forward.”

He noted that there was a lengthy and ongoing discussion as to whether or not to include peyote in the resolution, saying that it involved a conversation on “how to reverse the century-long decline in peyote, the appropriative use of it, and whether increased access or isolation is the best approach,” opting for the time being to keep the substance out of the resolution.

The resolution didn’t come from nothing, though; its approval follows the Seattle City Council’s request of its new Overdose Emergency and Innovative Recovery Task Force to explore the decriminalization of psychedelics to treat mental health conditions and reduce incidents of opioid-related deaths.

Following the request, the task force recommended the widespread decriminalization of all drugs in September.

Seattle joins Denver, Colorado, which became the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms in 2019; Oakland and Santa Cruz, California; Washington DC and Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Oregon is also the first state to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for therapeutic use.

Detroit, Michigan will see a similar proposal soon, asking voters if the city should decriminalize “to the fullest extent permitted under Michigan law the personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants by adults.” This is in conjunction with Senate Bill 631, co-sponsored by Senators Jeff Irwin and Adam Hollier, which would allow the possession, cultivation and delivery of psilocybin and mescaline statewide.

“These substances have medicinal value, they have religious significance and they have a very low propensity for abuse,” Irwin said. “And so that’s why I’m proposing to decriminalize the substance because it really makes no sense to spend any time or money arresting people and turning their lives upside down.”

As psychedelic reform continues to grow, we also bear witness to a number of new findings surrounding the use of psychedelics as medicine, something we collectively haven’t studied to this extent before and leading to studies surrounding the growth of neural connections lost to depression or the potential benefits psychedelics can have to stop addictive patterns.

Whether it’s Detroit, Michigan as a whole or an entirely new geographic location next in line, Seattle’s breakthrough resolution is a clear indicator that this blossoming movement in psychedelic reform is just getting started.