Two major cities, Seattle and Detroit, this fall approved measures aimed at protecting consumers of "entheogenic" plants and fungi from arrest and prosecution. Those new policies are part of a broader trend that began when Denver voters approved a groundbreaking 2019 ballot initiative making adult possession of psilocybin the city's lowest law enforcement priority and prohibiting the use of public money to pursue such cases.
A resolution that the Seattle City Council unanimously approved in October likewise urges police to leave psychedelic users alone, but its reach is broader than the Denver initiative's. It covers noncommercial "cultivation" and "sharing" as well as possession, and it applies to "any living, fresh, dried, or processed plant or fungal material, including teas or powders, that may contain currently scheduled or analog psychoactive indolamines, tryptamines, or phenethylamines, including, but not limited to, psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca tea, mescaline, and iboga."
