In what may turn out to be historic news, yesterday Seattle became the biggest U.S. city to decriminalize psychedelics.
On Monday Seattle’s City Council passed a resolution to decriminalize non-commercial activity of psychedelic substances. This resolution covers the cultivation and sharing of a range of substances, including psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, ibogaine and (non-peyote) mescaline.
Seattle police already have a policy not to arrest individuals for personal possession of psychedelic plants and fungi for “religious, spiritual, healing, or personal growth practices”. This new resolution takes the logical next step and moves psychedelics off law enforcement’s radar.
Seattle council member Andrew Lewis commented on the historic passing of the resolution: “It is a long overdue conversation to decriminalize these non-addictive natural substances. Our law enforcement officials certainly have more important things to do than arrest people for possession of entheogens, and this resolution affirms that.”
Seattle now joins Oakland, California; Santa Cruz, California; Denver, Colorado; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Washington, D.C.; and the State of Oregon, as jurisdictions that have decriminalized some or all entheogens. Portugal, Brazil, Jamaica, and the Netherlands have also decriminalized some or all entheogens.
The psychedelic medicine renaissance is mostly focused on taking the FDA-approval path in order to get these compounds into the hands of people who need them, so decriminalization is not a prerequisite for the success of the industry. However, decrim measures will go a long way to changing entrenched cultural taboos around psychedelics, stopping the unnecessary persecution of users, and speeding up society’s acceptance of these potential medicines.
“These nonaddictive natural substances have real potential in clinical and therapeutic settings to make a really significant difference in people’s lives,” said council member Andrew Lewis “This resolution really sets the stage as the first significant action in the state of Washington to move this policy forward.”
Interested in decriminalization updates? See how the city of Toronto is moving its efforts forward and other decriminalization news here.