Psychedelic Mushrooms Might Become Legal in Denver

Initiative 301 would make shrooms the city’s "lowest law-enforcement priority"

Magic mushrooms
Magic mushrooms may be decriminalized in Denver. (Photofusion/ Universal Images/ Getty)
UIG via Getty Images

Editor’s Note: RealClearLife, a news and lifestyle publisher, is now a part of InsideHook. Together, we’ll be covering current events, pop culture, sports, travel, health and the world.

By May 7, Denver, Colorado, could become the first American city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.

A municipal ballot which has already been sent out to voters asks them to weigh in on whether adults using and possessing psilocybin mushrooms should be a priority for law enforcement.

Initiative 301 would not make “magic” mushrooms legal and it would still be illegal to buy, sell and possess the drug, but it would make busting users the absolute lowest priority for law enforcement. As the Denver Post puts it: “See a person jaywalking and a person with a sack of shrooms? Get the jaywalker.”

Here’s the ballot question: “Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt an ordinance to the Denver Revised Municipal Code that would make the personal use and personal possession of psilocybin mushrooms by persons twenty-one (21) years of age and older the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority, prohibit the city from spending resources to impose criminal penalties for the personal use and personal possession of psilocybin mushrooms by persons twenty-one (21) years of age and older, and establish the psilocybin mushroom policy review panel to assess and report on the effects of the ordinance?”

As it stands now, possession of psilocybin mushrooms is a felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a large fine.

Kevin Matthews, the stay-at-home dad who’s behind the Decriminalize Denver campaign, said an experience with mushrooms helped him recover from depression he began experiencing after failing to graduate from West Point.

“Psilocybin is safer than cannabis. Cannabis is safer than alcohol. There’s no reason for us to be criminalizing individuals and spending taxpayer money,” Matthews told The Post.

On the other side of the issue, many people who have had a bad trip on mushrooms rate it as one of the worst experiences of their lives and some have even attempted suicide because of it.

Colorado has set precedent before as it, along with Washington, became the first two states to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.