Denver voters to weigh decriminalization of magic mushrooms
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Denver's mile-high reputation could get another boost after psychedelic drug advocates received the green light Friday to put an initiative before city voters to decriminalize magic mushrooms.
The Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative will ask voters in May to approve an ordinance that would make possession of the drug, no matter the weight, legal for those 21 and older. They could also grow it. The proposed law, however, would not legalize retail sales, which have made the city an international darling of the cannabis world.
The city's Elections Division said organizers turned in enough valid signatures to qualify for the May 7 municipal ballot. Kevin Matthews, director of the initiative campaign, said it will be the first time psilocybin decriminalization has come before U.S. voters.
He said the campaign's long-term goals are to educate the public on the drug and stop putting users behind bars.
"I don't foresee a recreational cannabis model in the near future," he said.
The measure seeks to put the brakes on criminal penalties for use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms. Its no-limit component results from mushrooms' nature as a heavy, wet fungus that is then dried out, Matthews said. Proponents say prosecutors don't always recognize the difference, but law enforcement is evolving.
"We’re a pretty progressive city when it comes to drug policy," Matthews said, referring to the Denver's mid-2000s marijuana decriminalization and to the state's legal recreational sales that started in 2014.
"In some ways marijuana did open the door," he said.
Matthew W. Johnson, a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has researched psilocybin for possible use in treating anxiety and depression in cancer patients.
He said in an NBC News interview in June that the prospect of unfettered access to the drug conjures "real concerns about very real risks of psychotic disorders — what people refer to as a bad trip."
"I speak firsthand to how intense these experiences can be," he said.
UCLA psychiatry professor Charles Grob, who has also researched the drug, seemed to agree.
"If, in fact, it’s ever available on a mass basis, it would be imperative to have a strong education component so people could understand what these compounds are," he said in a separate June interview. "They should not be treated in a trivial manner."
Matthews says he's moving forward with a clear mind and plans a long-term education and research strategy that includes a mayoral panel empowered by the initiative and tasked with reviewing its impacts.
"This is going to be a work in progress," he said.
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Are shrooms better than big pharm?
Yes, in my early 20's I ate hundreds of large doses. Some trips were hell, some Heaven most somewhere in between. Psilocybin is potent, but not toxic. However, I would say they act as a magnifier for what you are already feeling inside.
If you are in a bad emotional place, they can be mental "poison". The physical effects are the same every time, not so the mental effects.
All in all, they helped me see myself more clearly, but sometimes it was hell. Buy the ticket, take the ride. I had plenty of good times as well. But I was not seeking a high but some inner resolution.
As a Florida native, they have always been easy to find. They grow on cow dung, about 8 months out of the year.
Psilocybin and psilocin have mountains of medical potential, as well as helping us understand the human brain.
I no longer seek after them, fond memories though.
Here is the most common one in Fl as well as the most commonly cultivated. Psilocybe Cubensis AKA Purple Ringer. Biggest danger is a mis ID and consuming the wrong species.
Is this supposed to be an argument for legalization ?
No, it is neither just a statement of fact.
They will be when the local RNC offices start getting late pizza deliveries towards the end of the 2020 campaign.
I have had mushrooms before. Not very magical for me.
I had one really good trip. I remember listening to Jimi Hendrix and the Star Spangled Banner and I could see fireworks shooting around. Had a wild night. But that was LSD.
The rest of the time, not so much. Just started making me paranoid and wired.
I say just make it to where the people that try it are not thrown in jail for several years.
I can just see the next movie - Will it be 'Attack of the Killer Magic Mushrooms' or 'Magic Mushroom Madness'?
PS Pic in the seed/op? Are also P. Cubensis Most commonly cultivated and used of all the Psilocybes (about 30 physcoactive species)
Psilocbe translates to "bald head" and Cubensis translates to "coming from Cuba"
The Pacific Nortwest is rich in species and home of the most potent, Psilocybe azurescens.
Cubensis is moderate to very potent and can be a robust and large species.
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There you have it folks. Proof that mushrooms don't cause permanent brain damage.
uh...Ok...I guess...
mod er a tion
i cant spell acronyms
let aloan
moderation,
so paybacx r never a bitch
intoo my little ear, as little , does mine ear appear to peer over
from the pressure, N Time, applied, and applauded all D parsley sage placenta of many essential fliuds gray resume com paired too
rosemary;s baby , hold a [cricifix , till you obsrve the whites of her brown eyes fixed
sometimes I wonder if you have a scrambler type program your using . If not seems like a lot of time and effort.
Have fun.
To each their own.
Actually, my blathering is easier to spit out, than what most T supporters cant swallow,,,the Truth
My best shroom experience was in the woods at night with some fellow shroomers. I remember standing next to a tree that was bio-luminescent, except I was the only one who could see it glowing. The same species of tree was all over the place, but only that one was glowing and only I could see it. Went back to it the next night sober and it looked as plain as every other tree. Weirdest thing ever.
Probably not a good idea to decriminalize, but lowering the punishment would be good. It’s not like it’s fentanal.
I love them especially when combined with the Allman Brothers jamming live.
LOL
I saw it too, it also talked.
LOL
Knew a guy way back in the day who grew them under laboratory conditions in a sealed stainless steel tank. He supplied the whole town of Lawrence. Most folk got bored with them after awhile and stopped eating them (I preferred to puree them in a blender with orange juice and drink them). After he moved and they were no longer available, nobody seemed to miss them. Haven't even thought about them in 40 years or so, until just now. Might just be fun to try them again.
They do taste like a fart.
All mushrooms do have an aroma. Some more, some less. I am a mushroom connoisseur and grower.
Folks come from miles around to buy my huge morels. They are very profitable.
Still working on getting truffles to grow for me. But have managed a fairly regular shitake and portobello harvest.
Live in an 1880 house with a leaky rock wall basement. A perfect growing environment.
Am becoming the local mushroom czar. Might just turn it into a retirement business.
I love wild mushrooms. They’re hard to find around here. Wegmans has a limited selection but they are $$$. I see more exotic ones at farmers markets once in a while and grab them, but again pretty $$$. Sounds like a fun hobby.
There are several sites online for mushroom spawn.
It's much cheaper to grow your own exotics than buy them. (All exotics! nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)
Still working on getting truffles to grow for me. But have managed a fairly regular shitake and portobello harvest.
Aren't Truffles the most expensive type of Mushrooms-- selling for big bucks?
(If so and you can get them to grow...it might be very lucrative!)
I keep thinking about this slippery slope and how great a place it would be to grow mushrooms.
They have been using them psychiatrically for depressed mood, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol use disorder, and tobacco use disorder.
Interesting article about it here from the NIH:
WOW! I have all of those disorders! Guess it's shroom time again.
Shrooms were fine but good real LSD was the trip.
I tried growing shrooms a few times with out much success, the process was too easily ruined by other molds taking over the growing medium.
Ahh the 70's !!!
lol
The problem was that you never knew what you were getting with LSD unless you knew Owsley.
Ahh the 60's!!!
P.S. watch out for the brown acid!!!
Window pane, gels, liquid on a sugar cube - done them all and would never advise someone to not try it, just be aware of what you are about to endure. It’s been decades, but I did recently think about how amazing it would be when I rode Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. That might just result in a sensory overload, come to think of it.
This 60's guy never had a bad psychedelic trip.
ETOH is the real mindfuck.
You forgot blotter. After making a few sheets of blotter it was time to go to the sofa.
and microdot, and orange barrel
Better yet after taking a few hits of blotter it was off to the stars.
lol
The closest I got to a bad trip was 1/4 of a ‘target’ blotter hit at a Metallica/Ozzy concert. For a minute I thought they were going to have to drop me off at the asylum on the way home. Very thick paper was used for target, as I recall.
Last time I did window pane acid was at the Pink Floyd 'In the Flesh' tour in 77. Outside in June @ Soldier Field. They hosed us down because of the heat. Now THAT was a trip...I think ELO was one of the opening acts but hey, I was tripping...
Did the microdot (mescaline) in purple barrels. Did ecstasy in powdered form back when it was a new thing. Funny the things you can accurately remember from 30+ years ago. Clearly it didn’t have any negative long term effects on me. Quite the opposite, I believe.
The last time I did window pane was for a Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Buddy Miles show in Wichita 1972.
Hallucinated that the round auditorium had turned into one giant speaker. Great show!
Tickets were $5.00.
Wow, Buddy Miles in 72 must have been awesome. Saw him on Navy Pier in Chicago in the late 70's when it was still an outdoor venue. Great hashish was being shared...
Played "them changes" in a few cover bands.
Shrooms were fine but good real LSD was the trip.
I've never tried them.
My knowledge of Hallucinogens is limited to two: Peyote and LSD.
Back in the 60's I was sort of a Hippie. The first "recreational drug" I tried was Peyote (this was before I ever even tried Marijuana). The main impact it had for me was mainly visual-- quite amazing. After I was no longer high, I still looked at world differently for years-- IMO it gave me a whole new awareness of the visual aspect of reality.
One drug I never tried was LSD-- I was afraid of it. (I used Cocaine a few times...I felt I could control that and indeed it was fine. Ditto Ecstasy. Those were two of my favourite drugs...at the time).
Later one of my closest friends was on LSD and was sure he could fly. He jumped out of the window of his apt.
In case anyone was wondering-- he actually couldn't fly. He died from impact when he hit the sidewalk
P.S: Her never had a bad trip on LSD-- ever!
Until then....
I never did try peyote, but I did try mescaline. Never laughed so hard in my life after taking these little purple barrels that really packed a punch. I remember my friend was looking at this fancy little colored glass vase that he picked up off the shelf in the kitchen at my parents house. He was so mesmerized that he dropped it and it shattered. For some strange reason my mom had taped a message to the bottom of it that said “do not break under penalty of death”. That was a scary buzz kill moment, but we couldn’t help but laugh out asses off about it anyways. Memories ...
While different drugs have different effects in general I think that the eperience different people have on a particular drug differs to some degree based on the users' personalities.
For example, some people get very paranoid on Marijuana-- I've known people who've tried it once, or just a few times-- and will never use it again because they get so totally frightened! OTOH, some people have done it a YUGE number of times and have never ever had a bad experience.
(Actually now that I think of it, while Alcohol differs in many ways from some of these drugs, the same principle appears to be true. Many people get very mellow on Alcohol. However a few individuals get very violent and tend to pick fights when they get drunk).
Actually I do remember many many years ago I did know some people who always seem to get "the giggles" when they smoked pot....
Mescaline is one of the active alkaloids in peyote cacti. You could of had an extract or possibly mescaline synthesized in a lab.
Several other cacti contain mescaline, but peyote is king in terms of potency. I once ate about one ft of San Pedro cacti, for it's weak mescaline content. Plane never left the ground
Yes-- people eat Peyote for the Mescaline it contains.
But there's a downside to Peyote-- it has several other potent chemicals. And one of them often makes users vomit! (So using Peyote becomes a struggle-- initially you have to fight the urge to vomit!). If you can't keep it down long enough you don't get high.
After some time has past and its digested you no longer feel the urge to vomit, and you get a nice high that lasts a fairly long time.
I had some interesting experiences on it-- did it a few times. That was long ago (I was in my 20s). But no longer have an interest in doing it again.
I remember back then when the "cool" thing to do was LSD. (And maybe Peyote and Mushrooms-- and of course grass). Lately the "in crowd*" seems to be into doing Ayahuasca -- that and then maybe attempting to do "Sweat Lodges"-- although for the most part they really don't know WTF they are doing.
______________
*And of course some of the wealthier jet-setters-- Wall St types, musicians etc, do the traditional status symbol-- Cocaine.
I did near everything in the book. Just give me beer. I rarely even toke tha reefer these days. Morning Glory seeds contain LSA (not a typo, similar to acid) They were interesting, Robotripping on dextromethoraphan (death wish stuff).
Nitrous oxide AKA "hippy crack". As young and stupid as I was, I knew I had better leave Angel's trumpets, alone.
Very large doses of Diphenhydramine are hallucinogenic.
The fact I am here and still have a decent brain, amazes me. Those are just the hallucinogens I dabbled in. I have no interests in such drugs (asides from wondering what research potential awaits humanity) these days.
Never tried Ayahuasca but DMT is all around us in the natural world. Even our brain's pineal gland makes it. Imagine that, we are all walking around, manufacturing and in possession of a schedule one, controlled substance.
Alexander Shulgin was a pioneer in this field, the father of MDMA.
Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin | ShulginResearch.org
www.shulginresearch.org/home/about/alexander-sasha-shulgin
Alexander T. Shulgin (June 17, 1925–June 2, 2014), known to friends and admirers as “Sasha”, was a biochemist and pharmacologist best known for his synthesis, creation, and personal bioassay of hundreds of novel psychoactive compounds.
Had a drummer who freaked out on mescaline at band practice one day and insisted we take him to a catholic church so he could talk to god. We talked him out of it. Memories ...
The trick to eating peyote buttons is to dig out the white tufts and discard them. They are strychnine.
That's my problem, basically all the drugs I tried made me paranoid to varying degrees (MJ and Hash had the added benefit of giving me dry mouth). So while I have no problems with others using some they are not for me.
Look at this way he died doing what he wanted. Could have just likely been in a race car accident. Many experienced drivers die even. There first bad trip as well I'd imagine. I'm a big advocate of moderation. Usually a little of most anything wont kill ya.
LOL .. Yeah not really something ya want to read while trippin after breaking what it was in. Buzzkill is right. Many condolences.
lol
I find things like this a bit odd !
As if Alcohol wasn't bad enough, they, The Government, are doing their dandiest to get other hallucinogens to be made "Legal" !
A "Stupid" Populace is the best Populace to govern ?
Its not IF alcohol is bad enough, it is that alcohol IS SO BAD, in fact it is lethal.
pot is not, it's also a natural product.
mushrooms are natural, beer is not.
alcohol is a man made deadly poison, the others are not.
I'll have another drag of nature now, Thank you very much.
But I like being alive so....
Trump and the far right wing know this well. [deleted]