Colorado legalized ‘magic mushrooms.’ Could the rest of the U.S. follow?

Voters in Oregon passed a measure legalizing magic mushrooms for therapeutic use in 2020, and lawmakers in Washington and New York have proposed legalization bills this year. 

Bills that would decriminalize possession have been introduced in 19 states — including Missouri, Iowa and Kansas — though none have been enacted. And more than a dozen states — including Florida, Oklahoma and Texas — have introduced legislation to further study the health benefits of psilocybin. 

“More folks are starting to recognize and understand, when it comes to psychedelic therapy, this is not some sort of radical field. It’s becoming more mainstream,” said Oklahoma state Rep. Daniel Pae, who co-authored a bill that would authorize scientific research into psilocybin. 

The bill, which passed in the Oklahoma House and is headed to the state Senate for consideration, would allow adults living with a handful of conditions to participate in state-run clinical trials using psilocybin. Texas passed a similar bill last year. 

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The potential of psychedelics to be a part of treatments for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug dependency and eating disorders is being evaluated in numerous clinical trials. In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration marked psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy,” a designation that expedites the development of drugs that may be more effective than existing treatments.

Hawaii’s state Senate cited the FDA designation in March when it approved a bill that would assemble a task force to develop a long-term plan to make psilocybin available to adults over the age of 21 seeking mental health treatment. Connecticut lawmakers convened a group to study psilocybin last year and adjusted its state budget to fund therapy programs administering psychedelic treatments to veterans and retired first responders.

While more than 60 bills have been introduced around the country, the majority, including the Hawaii bill, are stalled in committee or have failed to get a vote. In Washington, legislators opted to study the substance after struggling to loosen restrictions. And in California, lawmakers transformed a bill to decriminalize use into one that would analyze policy.

In Colorado, the ballot measure’s victory marks the state’s second time making psychedelic history in three years. Denver became the first U.S. city to decriminalize psilocybin in 2019.

For Kevin Franciotti, a Denver-based addiction counselor who received psychedelic treatment for an opioid use disorder more than a decade ago, this is Colorado’s “opportunity to be a leader in pushing American drug policy in the right direction.” 

Not everyone is on board with legalizing psychedelics. Some opponents of the Colorado measure say it would promote using these substances before the FDA says they are safe.

“I’m hoping the rest of the country can learn the hard lessons from my state’s foray,” said Luke Niforatos, who leads two national organizations that opposed the drug legalization measure. “As the years go on and we learn more about this experiment, hopefully we’ll say we’re going to let the FDA and scientists lead medicine, not corporations.”