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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