Three years ago, Denver voters passed a groundbreaking ballot initiative that made adult possession of psilocybin the city's lowest law enforcement priority and prohibited the use of public money to pursue such cases. Next month, voters statewide will consider a psychedelic measure that goes much further—further even than the initiative that Oregonians approved in 2020, which will allow adults 21 or older to use psilocybin in state-licensed "service centers" under the supervision of "facilitators." If successful, the Colorado initiative would represent the broadest liberalization of psychedelic policy ever approved in the United States.
Colorado's Proposition 122 would decriminalize noncommercial activities related to the use of "natural medicine" by adults 21 or older. It defines "natural medicine" to include psilocybin, psilocyn (another psychoactive component of "magic mushrooms"), dimethyltryptamine (DMT, the active ingredient in ayahuasca), ibogaine (a psychedelic derived from the root bark of the iboga tree), and mescaline (the active ingredient in peyote).
