Denver voters will take a May trip to the polls to decide how the city will view psilocybin mushrooms.
The city’s elections division announced that a petition calling for the decriminalization of the mushrooms had received enough signatures to appear on the May ballot for municipal elections.
After reviewing signatures submitted by the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative it has been determined that they submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures and the question will appear on the May 7, 2019 Municipal Election ballot. #DenverVotes
— Denver Elections (@DenverElections) February 1, 2019
Though the mushrooms are classified as an illegal drug by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the ballot initiative would decriminalize personal use and possession of the mushroom for people 21 and older, making enforcing the criminal laws about mushrooms a low priority for police and preventing the city from expending resources on them.
The group behind the petition, Decriminalize Denver, states on its website the drug can “reduce psychological stress and suicidality,” “reduce opioid use and dependence,” and is “physiologically safe and non-addictive.”
Kevin Matthews said in January the effort was similar to the push to decriminalize marijuana. The state’s voters approved legal use of medical marijuana in 2000 and recreational marijuana in 2012.
“Denver has a strong history of drug policy reform,” Matthews said to local television station Denver7. “The timing is right, and we’ve modeled our language on this initiative after cannabis legislation in 2005 and 2007.”
