Washington voters want to decriminalise magic mushrooms

Voters in Washington DC are deciding whether or not the capital will join a handful of other US cities in a move to decriminalise psychedelic plants and fungi

(Getty Images)

A District of Columbia ballot initiative to decriminalise the use of magic mushrooms and other psychedelic substances had a commanding lead on Tuesday, after a months-long campaign in which supporters collected signatures during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Voters were deciding whether the nation's capital would join several cities moving to decriminalise certain psychedelic plants and fungi. The measure states that it would make prosecution of those who use and sell the substances "among the Metropolitan Police Department's lowest law enforcement priorities".

Early results showed that the measure had the approval of about three-quarters of voters.

The D.C. Board of Elections allowed Initiative 81, also known as the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, on the ballot amid a $700,000 (£540,000) campaign in which proponents collected 25,000 signatures during the pandemic. The board's decision came amid a nationwide debate about policing and the medical value of psychedelic drugs, which supporters say are beneficial in treating trauma.

The nation's capital appeared to become at least the fifth jurisdiction in the nation with some form of decriminalised psychedelics, joining Denver; Oakland, California; Santa Cruz, California; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the city council approved decriminalisation in September. Oregon voters were casting ballots Tuesday on two related statewide initiatives.

The Washington version was introduced by Melissa Lavasani, a city government employee who used micro doses of psychedelic mushrooms to help her recover from postpartum depression. Speaking on Tuesday night to supporters of the measure, she said she hopes it's a step toward normalising plant medicine for the purpose of healing.

"We have changed the game here. We have shifted this dialogue," she said. "We are trying to normalise mental health."

If approved, the ballot initiative would go to the D.C. Council for review. If the council does not overturn the measure - as it did in 2018 with an initiative that would have mandated a $15-per-hour (£11.50) minimum wage for tipped workers — it would be sent to Congress for review. If Congress does not object within 30 legislative days, as it did when it blocked Washington DC's attempt to legalise marijuana in 1998, the initiative would go into effect.

Lindsey Walton, a spokeswoman for Democratic D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, said in an email that he "does not have a strong position on the initiative either way" and that he did not plan to block it if it passed.

In February, the DC Board of Elections approved Initiative 81 after supporters said ibogaine, mescaline and the hallucinogen psilocybin, among other chemicals, help people recover from post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said late last month that she would vote against the initiative.

"It seems like the issue is not an organically DC-created initiative, and I don't typically favour those. I won't be voting for it," she said.

In September, DC Department of Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said it would be "very difficult" for her to support the use of psychedelic substances without further information about their long-term side effects.

"People talk about things being plant-based as if that makes them automatically healthy," she said, noting that opioids and tobacco also come from plants.

Supporters of the campaign, funded by a political action committee supported by, among others, soap company Dr. Bronner's, plastered DC with signs and paid more than 150 people as much as $10 (£8) per name to collect the signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot. One-third of the signatures were collected virtually or by mail — a first for a DC ballot initiative — after the DC Council allowed remote collection in May, during the pandemic.

Supporters suspended their collection of signatures when Ms Bowser declared a public health emergency in March. They turned to remote collection when the DC Council allowed signatures to be returned electronically and by mail in May.

While there was little visible campaigning against the ballot measure, DC voters weighed in on the proposal at the polls.

Lizzy Hampton, a 20-year-old student at George Washington University, voted early last week. She said possessing such substances should not result in criminal penalties.

"People should have access to medicinal substances recreationally," she said.

Darlene Frederick, a 70-year-old retiree, had a different view.

"I voted no because I thought it was silly," she said. "Hallucinogenic drugs? Maybe I'm old."

The Washington Post