California initiative would legalize Magic Mushrooms
For some reason, Californians really enjoy their intoxicants.
Californians certainly voted as if they were intoxicated last November.
Not only did they pull the lever for Hillary Clinton and banning plastic bags, the Californians also approved the use of recreational marijuana. Now, officials are gearing up for the start of 2018, when the unintended consequences of the new rules begin to kick in.
…[T]he California Department of Public Health has created a website to educate Californians about the drug and its impacts, including how to purchase and safely store cannabis.
“We are committed to providing Californians with science-based information to ensure safe and informed choices,” said State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith.
The website, “Let’s Talk Cannabis,” notes it is illegal for people under 21 to buy marijuana for non-medical use and warns that “using cannabis regularly in your teens and early 20s may lead to physical changes in your brain.”
Now it appears that Californians may have a chance to legalize psilocybin, better known to most people as “Magic Mushrooms.” If it passes, the Golden State would be the first in the nation to approve the use of psychedelic ‘shrooms.
California voters could decide whether the state should decriminalize the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by adults in 2018. A ballot measure was filed Friday with the state Attorney General’s office.
The measure would exempt adults 21 and older from penalties of possessing, selling, transporting, or cultivating psilocybins.
At least 365,880 valid signatures are needed to place the measure on the 2018 statewide ballot.
A link to the full measure can be found HERE.
The measure’s sponsor, Kevin Saunders, a candidate for mayor of Marina, said the decriminalization of psilocybin mushrooms is “a natural progression from marijuana legalization.”
“There is a cultural fascination with mushrooms that goes really deep,” said Kevin Saunders, the activist behind the initiative. “The soccer moms are all pretty much, for lack of a better term, high now, and some of them are taking mushrooms.”
Saunders filed his measure with the office of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) on Friday. Becerra’s office will review the initiative’s proposed language before issuing a ballot title and formal summary of the measure.
Once Becerra’s office takes those steps, supporters will be cleared to begin circulating petitions.
However, some one of a key psilocybi researcher is warning against legalization.
…Charles Grob, a UCLA psychiatrist who was the first academic to receive federal approval to conduct research on psilocybin as a possible treatment of anxiety in adults with cancer, argues that legalization is not the way forward.
“We’re just scratching the surface in regards to our knowledge of psilocybin,” he says. “It may be of great benefit to some but harmful to others.”
He cited anecdotes of users leaping to their deaths, LSD-style, because the psychedelic effects of the drug can be overwhelming for folks with “underlying circumstances.” While psilocybin is “relatively nontoxic,” he says, “it can become dangerous very quickly.”
Between the gubernatorial race that will likely feature only the most extreme liberals and a potential #CalExit vote, should the Magic Mushroom measure make the ballot, 2018 would be one wild election year!
Of course, given what you know about California, is it any wonder its citizens really enjoy their intoxicants?
For those interested in the science behind the mushrooms, ReasonTV offers this analysis:
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Comments
And, there is not threat to public safety posed by the distribution and consumption of hallucinogenics?
There are so many issues with the legalization of the recreational use of drugs. Municipalities pass laws on second hand cigarette smoke which shows in dubious studies to have a statistically insignificant but even so, a much significantly less increase in cancer risk than a single abortion.
Purveyors of alcohol are held liable for perceived indiscreet distribution and reckless use of alcohol by consumers. Breathalyzer tests are relatively non-invasive and widely available to screen suspected alcohol impaired vehicle operators. There are not similar widely available screening methods for illicit drugs.
I remember a famous pony tail civil liberty attorney in NYC arguing against the psychiatric hold of a mental patient(way back 20-30yrs ago when New York State emptied its psych wards as Castro did to Florida during The Mariel boatlift) so proud that that person could be set free on the streets only to push yet another person onto the tracks on the Lexington Ave Line Platform near my office a few days later.
As a society we seem to no longer care if a person is a danger to themselves or others. As we can’t get people behind that simple community responsibility for people with Mental Illness I do not think it is responsible to let lose a Pandora’s Box of illicit drugs that quite honestly make the old movie Reefer Madness an omen for an upcoming modern day documentary. We know now that with many of these drugs there is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reality.
Do we legalize illicit bath salts, PCP, heroin, crack and Meth knowing that they can in a significant portion of the population cause irreparable damage to the users and all those around them? How do we protect society and individuals? THINK OF THE CHILDREN cough cough…
Will the Angeldust salesman be just as liable as the bartender for the slaughter on the highway due to an impaired driver?
If marijuana is to be legalized what possible reason could be given that Philip Morris should not mass produce it and sell it along side of its cigarettes? I know the wannabee hippies will blow a gasket seeing Philip Morris Longs in every Bodega competing against their homegrown up for sale.
I resent that militant evolutionists insist on putting labels on toasters and hairdryers warning about their operation in showers and bathtubs. What kind of warning labels and chaos are we to see in a litigious society where recreational drugs with known harmful effects are freely available?
If we make recreational drugs freely available what possible justification does the government and the medical community have for the restriction of experimental and medicines the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has not approved?
As a society we are unwilling to address the falsehood propagated by the leftists that Criminals are in jail solely because they were minding their own business and storm-troopers dragged them out of bed in the middle of the night because they smoked a marijuana cigarette. People need to be able to stop with the PC crap and confront reality in spite of the freaking OPTICS.
People are in jail because they have committed serious crimes AND ADDITIONALLY have also broken drug laws. It should also be noted that many of those serious crimes have been plead down to clear court calendars and to disguise the statistics and the severity of the crime problem.
How many more people will be placed on the welfare rolls and how long will it be before Bernie screams that illicit drugs are a RIGHT and beyond the means of the poor? What about the Stash Justice Warriors?
As a society we have many serious societal problems that we refuse to deal with and it is my opinion that the time to discuss it is not over an open bar and a buffet of drugs and alcohol.
When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she’ll know
It seems Grace Slick was prescient.
You stole my thunder!
I am honestly waiting for the Federal government to pass a drug use law saying that the government refuses to support the purchase of illegal drugs among the people living in America. With the passage of that law, they would partially enforce it by refusing all Federal monies (food stamps, welfare, WIC, unemployment, etc.) to anyone found to having ingested illegal drugs for the period of one year. Opium, meth, marijuana, cocaine, etc. would take a big hit.
never happen –
between libertarians and LibRules this would be anathema and also open to great demagoguing.
Reality is too much to ask of the left coast.
Whatever it takes to remain distracted and in denial.
Far. Out. Man.
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/MAGIC-MUSHROOM-BAND.jpg
Yet all the deaths caused by illicit drugs is dwarfed by Iatrogenesis.
True…but I gather your solution is ban medicine? Drugs are risk free? Candidly, I would favor returning to pre-1911 times…but unlike then today’s approach would never hold the abuser libel for their actions when under the influence.
Wish I could find the original of this. All I can do is paraphrase.
Ahem.
The science of medicine has come such a long way. At one time in the darkness of history, witch doctors with bones in their noses dosed their patients with deadly potions and random herbs to cure diseases which they knew nothing about.
Today in these modern times, we no longer wear bones in our noses.
Patient…. heal thyself.
WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm
do drunks worry about liver disease ?
druggies don’t worry, then sue the state for consequences.
Progressivism is the true opiate of the masses.
Eventually, they’ll just fight for the right to implant electrodes into the pleasure centers of their brains. They’ll have a switch that triggers it, and just like that lab rat experiment, they’ll do nothing else until they starve to death.
Fine by me.
Some thing Larry Niven predicted about 45 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirehead_(science_fiction)
However I don’t think electric stimulation will be able to generate the same effects as the use of psychedelics.
I did a ton of mushrooms back in the day. Didn’t bit me one hurt.
While freedom is wonderful, in our technological age it can also be disastrous.
Any mind altering chemical is inherently dangerous. Be it alcohol, cannabis, psilosyben, LCD, etc. They are dangerous to both the user and to those with whom the user interacts. All of these chemicals result in a loss of personal control along with a substantial altering of perception of the real world.
All of the movements make the untenable assumption that people will use these compounds responsibly and with sufficient knowledge to make such use safe. However, history has taught us that this is a total myth, right up there with unicorns and leprechauns. A significant number, probably a majority and possibly a significant majority, of the recreational users of these compounds will not use them responsibly. This results in unwarranted acts of violence and machinery accidents, especially motor vehicle operation. And, of course, other members of society, who are not using uch compounds, end up being victimized.
Sometimes, the risk associated with a practice is justifiable. However, in the case of the recreational use of mind altering chemical compounds, there is no such justification.
As a (retired) PhD psychologist and internationally certified substance abuse professional, as a court listed expert on the subject, and with 34 years experience in the field prior to retirement two years, just about everything you’ve written is complete codswallop.
So, other than the fact that you claim to have unsubstantiated professional attributes, it might be nice if you at least took the time to explain EXACTLY how I am mistaken. I will be more than happy to respond to your points. After all, this is how honest debate works. Give it a try.
Not worth my time. Your post is hilariously full of nonsense. Is this another area where you just make stuff up, convince yourself it’s true, and then post it as if you’re an expert on the subject?
Again, another non-response. I love people who make statements that they then REFUSE to back-up, even using the most elementary logical argument. Did you at least bring a couple tablets down the mountain with you? Or should we all just bow down and accept anything you say as gospel?
I’m a conservative, but I do believe in legalization of drugs. We lost the war on drugs 40 years ago and have been paying the salaries of thousands of DEA agents and other law enforcement agencies for perpetuating that disastrous lost war. Legalize and let God sort it out in the end.
I hope that you hold that same opinion as you stand beside the grave of a loved one who was killed by someone under the influence of recreational chemicals. It is amazing how many people change their minds about legalizing recreational chemicals when they find themselves in that position.
Uber has done more to reduce the danger of people using recreational drugs than government prohibition ever has.
I do not condone the use of drugs as means of altering the mental state for recreational purposes. Nor do I want to see such legalized.
There is however something to be thought about using mind altering-drugs well for mind-altering.
Kary Mullis, for example, believes that taking LSD helped him win a Nobel Prize in medicine. Which seems to be a good result. OTOH it also seems like cheating in the same way that athletes taking anabolic steroids is cheating.
A couple of Jordan Peterson videos on the use of psychedelic drugs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dPvsqTvLNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gol5sPM073k
in another video which I could not locate he says that researches found that often one dose of psilocybin was enough to get people to stop smoking.
Research into these drugs should be encouraged.
But I think this drugs come with a high risk. Certainly we should not allow their use the way Californians want. I think their use should be limited and under the strict supervision of medical professionals.
Can one of you name a prohibition that worked and didn’t create a black market that funded much worse things than the prohibition was meant to stop?
if you lived in a place where the govt controlled all parts
of your life. you would do whatever it took to escape.
Personally, I would spend my money on luggage and a bus ticket to escape government oppression, rather than spend it on mind numbing drugs. But, that’s just me.