The Psilocybin Referendum In Denver

This is one of the last things I was expecting to see happen; that a referendum in Denver would effectively decriminalize magic mushrooms or more specifically the main constituent component of them, the psychedelic drug, psilocybin.  But this has happened in the Mile High City, if by a narrow margin.  I largely welcome this.  After all, it has always been sort of ridiculous to arrest someone for owning a naturally growing mushroom, especially one known to grow especially in cowpies.

This gets personal.  I had my first psychedelic experience 55 years ago from ingesting a completely  legal, and still legal, substance, morning glory seeds, certain brands  of which (Heavenly Blue and Pearly Gates) containing LSD-6, a weaker form of LSD-25, the usual form of "acid" that people take, which is a Schedule 1 drug  along with marijuana, illegal for half a century here in the US, asi is psilocybin also.  As it is, psilocybin has long been known to be much milder than other psychedelics, especially LSD.  That long-ago experience massively changed me and my view of the world, I think mostly for the  better.

Now the advocates of this semi-legalization have touted with good reason that many people using psilocybin in carefully controlled circumstances have had amazingly positive outcomes in terms of mental health and life satisfaction.  But I am also aware that widespread general use out of such environments of psilocybin may lead to problems, with driving being high on the list for concern.  It may be that simply enforcing driving behavior in general will cover this and my expectation is that drinking alcohol will continue to be a much bigger problem than wacked-out  psilocybin users on roads in Denver. 

Nevertheless, I have concerns. It really would be great if all those consuming psilocybin in whatever form would do so in the kinds of environments its advocates have publicized, which are admirable.  But we know that this referendum will result in an increase in use that will not fit these nice conditions.  All I can say is that I hope for the best, and at the bottom line, I am pleased this referendum passed.

Barkley Rosser