Last month it was Seattle becoming the biggest city in the US to decriminalize psychedelics. See our coverage here.
And now we have another major American city taking the historic step.
This week the citizens of Detroit voted to decriminalize psychedelics through a ballot initiative. By moving psychedelics to the city’s lowest law enforcement priority, ‘Proposal E’ makes the “personal possession and therapeutic use” of naturally occurring entheogenic plants and fungi by adults de facto decriminalized.
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61% of voters voted for the measure (39% voted against it), a very solid majority, showing how far the scrim movement has come. Highlighting this is the fact that Detroit requires direct ballot initiates by activists and citizens, rather than by city council votes, directly demonstrating that residents of the city were ready for this move.
Here’s some of the wording from the approved measure: “voters of the City of Detroit [will] adopt an ordinance to the 2019 Detroit City Code that would decriminalize to the fullest extent permitted under Michigan law the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by persons twenty-one (21) years of age and older, make the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by persons twenty-one (21) years of age and older the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority, and establish an entheogen policy review panel to assess and report on the effects of the ordinance.”
Decriminalize Nature Detroit was instrumental in the movement and is campaigning for statewide decriminalization of psychedelic substances in Michigan (possession, cultivation, and delivery of entheogenic plants, not for commercial uses). The bill is in committee review for public safety and is scheduled to be tabled for a vote next year.