California State Assembly passes psychedelics decriminalization bill
A bill that would decriminalize psychedelics in California moved one step closer to the governor's desk after the State Assembly passed it.
SB 58 passed with a 41 to 11 vote on the assembly flood on Wednesday.
Local Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia was among those who passed the bill. Our other local Assemblymember, Greg Wallis, did not vote on the bill.
According to State Senator Scott Weiner, who authored the bill, SB 58 allows personal possession/use of small amounts of plant/mushroom psychedelics & creates a path for facilitated group use. The bill would decriminalize five naturally occurring substances including psilocybin, psilocyn, Dimethyltryptamine (“DMT”), mescaline (excluding peyote), and ibogaine.
The bill previously passed the State Senate in May. It returned to the assembly floor for a final sign-off. It'll return to the Senate floor again, and if it passes, it will head to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk for final approval.
Weiner first introduced a similar version of this bill in June 2021. It passed two Assembly Committees before stalling in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
In 2020, Oregon voters approved decriminalizing small amounts of psychedelics among other drugs, and separately were the first to approve the supervised use of psilocybin in a therapeutic setting.
Oakland and Santa Cruz are among cities including Washington, D.C.; Seattle, Washingon, Detroit, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts, that have decriminalized certain natural psychedelics that come from plants and fungi.
Denver was the first U.S. city to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms for personal use in 2019.
