Oakland: "We see your psilocybin Denver and raise you THREE!" (Patreon)

In another first for the United States, the city of Oakland, CA just decriminalized Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, Peyote, and Ibogaine!  This is yet another remarkable development in the acceptance of psychoactive substances and an acknowledgement of their legitimacy and potential.

A string of speakers testified that psychedelics helped them overcome depression, drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The City Council voted unanimously to decriminalize the adult use and possession of magic mushrooms and other entheogenic, or psychoactive, plants and fungi. Denver voters in May approved a similar measure for people 21 and older.

Speakers overwhelmingly supported the move, describing substances such as ayahuasca and peyote as traditional plant-based medicines.

Use of the plants "saved my life," said one man who described himself as a former heroin addict. "I don't how to describe it other than miraculous."

Some offered mystical descriptions of the hallucinogens as providing spiritual healing.

The vote makes the investigation and arrest of adults who grow, possess, use or distribute entheogenic plants one of the lowest priorities for police. No city funds could be used to enforce laws criminalizing the substances, and the Alameda County District Attorney would stop prosecuting people who have been apprehended for use or possession.

Councilmember Noel Gallo, who introduced the resolution, had said decriminalizing such plants would enable Oakland police to focus on serious crime.