[HN Gopher] Santa Cruz decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
___________________________________________________________________
Santa Cruz decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
Author : lelf
Score : 101 points
Date : 2020-01-29 21:00 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (abcnews.go.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (abcnews.go.com)
| krohling wrote:
| Super excited to see this. If you live in California please head
| on over to http://www.decrimca.org/ We're working to get state
| wide decriminalization on the ballot in November and we need
| signatures! If you buy a button ($5) they'll send you a petition
| sheet. There are also signature locations and volunteers in every
| county in the state.
| pmoriarty wrote:
| This strategy is taking a page out of the very successful
| cannabis legalization movement. First there are
| decriminalizations at the local level. This makes
| decriminalization at the state level much more palatable for
| politicians, who see there's political will at the local level
| to make it happen. Once the first state decriminalizes it,
| others states will find it easier to follow suit.
|
| Apart from voting, you can also donate and volunteer, but some
| of the best things you can do is educate yourself and others on
| the responsible use of psychedelics. If taking mushrooms or
| other psychedelics has helped you in some way, tell others
| about it. Seeing people who have their act together, who admit
| that mushrooms have helped them will open people's eyes to
| their benefits and make it less likely that they'll react with
| dismay or disgust at the suggestion that "drugs" be legalized
| because they equate use with abuse.
|
| Stepping out of the psychedelic closet is not always easy, but
| it has to happen (as it did with admitting cannabis use) before
| there's widespread acceptance of psychedelics.
| tayo42 wrote:
| > SEC. 3. PURPOSE AND INTENT.
|
| >
|
| > The purpose of this article is to decriminalize the personal
| possession, storage, use, cultivation, manufacturing,
| distribution in personal possession amounts without profit,
| transport, and consumption of psilocybin mushrooms and the
| chemical compounds contained in them for any person over the
| age of 18, or for any person younger than 18 with parental or
| guardian consent by amending California Health and Safety Codes
| HSC SS 11 390 & 11391.
|
| I'm confused, whats the difference between legalization and
| decriminalization then. This sounds like legalization to me?
| Decriminalizaton i thought was making it a low priority to law
| enforcement which some places already did?
| 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
| From an article I found[0]:
|
| > As such, Topley, explained then, it is "very close to
| legalization, however, without psilocybin being rescheduled
| or descheduled at the federal level, it seems more
| appropriate to refer to it as decriminalization."
|
| [0] https://filtermag.org/decriminalize-california-signature-
| dri...
| awb wrote:
| Correct, decriminalizing doesn't mean that it's legal, just
| that the police won't use resources trying to stop it.
|
| Legalizing at the city or county level would run into
| conflict with state & federal laws that prohibit it. This is
| a way of getting around that conflict.
| 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
| Sorry for the cynicism. I'd love to donate to the cause, and
| want to make sure I'm not giving money to a scam or (less
| cynically) an inefficient effort. Anywhere I can see something
| to convince me this page and this group is legit and making
| real progress?
| krohling wrote:
| I can say it's definitely not a scam. I have personally been
| to multiple meetings with organizers in Oakland and San
| Francisco and witnessed that it is both well organized and
| well staffed. To my knowledge there are over 700 volunteers
| across the state in every county working on this initiative.
| Obviously, that doesn't mean it's going to be successful. I
| hope you're willing to risk $5 and purchase a button or
| sticker so you can send in your signed petition form :)
| 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
| Thanks! I just donated and I'll sign the petition. I also
| found some news about it for anybody else interested/wary:
|
| https://www.google.com/search?q=%22decriminalize+california
| %...
| XPKBandMaidCzun wrote:
| I just wished their was fairer representation online of impact on
| people's lives when drugs get brought up. I never done drugs. But
| still, I suffered thanks to people who chose drugs as a way cope
| - and it's soul sucking.
|
| The problem with decriminalizing/legalizing recreational drugs is
| its interpreted as officials of the state validating drugs as a
| coping skill.
|
| In almost all cases, getting high is maladaptive coping style.
|
| My anecdote from being raised by substance abusers: Makes you
| think you're smart, maybe even makes you look competent to other
| people. Until you don't have the drug anymore, in which case
| you're left with an anxious person who can't cope with difficult
| circumstances.
|
| It's excruciating to have to endure loved ones who become
| dependent on substances. It saps the energy out of you to deal
| with. Their brain is rewired to get high - at the expense of
| their social connections, family, reputation, and so on.
|
| Suffering and enduring a drug abuser is a silent pain. The
| incentive for users to get high and for rehab clinics to make
| money show why the conversation is so lopsided.
| newnewpdro wrote:
| You're grossly lumping all drugs into one pile. Presumably you
| mean illegal drugs when you say "I never done drugs", because
| I'm certain you've done drugs like caffeine, probably alcohol
| too.
|
| If that's how you define drugs, by those which are illegal at
| the time, then get ready to accept psilocybin as a non-drug in
| the future.
| lowdose wrote:
| Problems with mushrooms?
| rollo wrote:
| This article is about psilocybin mushrooms though, not whatever
| abusable substances you're talking about.
| DanBC wrote:
| To support your point there's this bit of survey work.
|
| https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/wp-
| content/themes/globaldru...
|
| > Out of almost 10,000 last year magic mushroom consumers
| only 0.2% (n = 17, 13 men and 4 women) reported seeking
| emergency medical treatment. Magic mushrooms were the safest
| drugs to take in terms of needing to see emergency medical
| treatment according to GDS2017. There was no significant
| different in rates between male and females.
|
| > The rate is considerably lower than with LSD presumably
| because of intrinsic safety of magic mushrooms ( the greatest
| risk is picking the wrong type), the smaller dosing using
| units (a single mushroom v an LSD tab) and greater
| understanding of how many mushrooms may constitute atypical
| dose for a desired effect in your region. People who use
| psychedelics are generally very sensible and show some of the
| best preparation and adoption of harm reduction practices of
| any drug (see the Global Drug Survey highway
| https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/wp-
| content/uploads/2014/04/...
| SirFatty wrote:
| I don't disagree with you on this, but I hope you are also
| including alcohol?
| 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
| And potentially, just barely, coffee.
| pmoriarty wrote:
| Drug _abuse_ is a real problem. But not all drug _use_ is drug
| _abuse_. It 's possible to use drugs constructively, to
| actually improve your life and that of others (because what you
| do, how you feel, and how you live your life impacts others).
|
| Mushrooms and other psychedelics have great potentials to
| improve mental health, if used wisely. There have been studies
| that show psychedelics successfully being used to treat
| depression, PTSD, and addiction. This kind of use is the
| opposite of abuse.
|
| It is possible to abuse psychedelics, but it is rare, and one
| can minimize the risk by educating oneself thoroughly about
| them and by using them with a clear, constructive intention, in
| a quiet and safe setting, with an experienced person you like
| and trust, and with confidence in the identity of the substance
| and that you're taking the proper dose. I'd strongly recommend
| reading James Fadiman's "Psychedelic Explorer's Guide"[1] for
| more detailed suggestions.
|
| Like the Prohibition of the 20's, decades of the War on Drugs
| has utterly failed to make us safer. In fact, it makes us less
| safe because people have and will continue to use drugs, but
| because of the drug war they often are mistaken about the
| identity of the drugs they're using or the drug's dosage,
| leading to overdoses and other adverse effects. The War on
| Drugs also encourages and makes organized crime more profitable
| and leads to great violence, not to mention the effect of
| arrests, imprisonment, and killings by police on non-violent
| drug users and their families.
|
| A tragedy and an outrage is the only way to describe the War on
| Drugs, and I have a very hard time understanding why anyone
| who's educated themselves on these issues would support it.
|
| [1] - https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-
| Therapeut...
| zelly wrote:
| > Until you don't have the drug anymore, in which case you're
| left with an anxious person who can't cope with difficult
| circumstances.
|
| That's where you're mistaken. Psychedelics aren't for escaping
| reality. They're for facing it.
|
| On heroin/meth/cannabis/alcohol, you take it and feel good,
| forgetting about stuff like going to work or feeding your baby.
|
| On LSD/mushrooms, you are more likely to curl up in a ball in
| the corner of the room crying than you are to experience
| euphoria. Nobody takes that stuff for "fun".
| krohling wrote:
| I respect that perspective as I believe it's an experience many
| have had with drugs. My anecdotal experience with psychedelics
| (psilocybin specifically) is that it is a qualitatively
| different substance. Non-toxic, non-addictive (experience
| actually discourages frequent usage), and genuinely healing. It
| has helped me personally and many I have spoken to with
| depression and a range of other mental illnesses. The key to
| efficacy with these substances is education and responsible
| use, neither of which will happen in the current environment of
| criminalization.
| 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
| True as that may be, there's a spectrum. When I'm regularly
| really stressed, I find myself eating more desserts and junk
| food. It's a coping strategy. So is heroin. It's good that the
| government doesn't mandate that I don't use sugar to feel good,
| and frequently argued as good that the government _does_
| mandate that I don 't use heroin to cope. The question is where
| each drug lands on this spectrum. We have collectively decided
| that you can drink alcohol, but that can be a horrible way to
| cope.
|
| My experience with mushrooms puts it pretty close to the
| marijuana/alcohol end of the spectrum.
|
| I'm sorry if mushrooms contributed to a difficult upbringing
| for you.
| alasdair_ wrote:
| I used to live in London at a time when the fact that mushrooms
| were technically legal seemed to suddenly come to light. Oxford
| street was full of places selling them, as were various markets.
| There was lots of branding and marketing that appeared as if from
| nowhere.
|
| Honestly the kind of overnight switch from not being visible
| anywhere, to seeming to be on every street corner reminds me of
| being in SF when Lime and the other scooter startups blanketed
| the city seemingly overnight.
| randcraw wrote:
| All I can say is, self driving cars can't get here quickly
| enough.
|
| Why?
|
| 1) Stupid people will drive cars while on hallucinogens, which
| famously distort perception and judgement.
|
| 2) No sobriety field test is available for hallucinogens.
| Probably none will be for years.
|
| 3) Patrol officers will get poor and inconsistent training for
| misbehavior-based sobriety field tests for hallucinogens.
|
| What could go wrong?
| newnewpdro wrote:
| Drunk driving is far more of a problem.
|
| It wouldn't surprise me if increasing shroom popularity
| decreased overall alcohol consumption and also increased
| people's concern for the safety of others, both contributing to
| reduced DWI in general.
| swiley wrote:
| Right now you can _not sleep enough_ and drive.
|
| Driving tired and drunk is probably way worse a problem than
| being high.
| thatswrong0 wrote:
| Are you arguing that dumb people _today_ can't eat mushrooms
| and drive? That being decriminalized will mean people will
| suddenly think it's okay to drive under the influence? That
| decriminalizing it will make a lot more people take mushrooms,
| thus increasing the number of people dumb enough to drive under
| the influence of them?
|
| You can be impaired by all sorts of other, legal drugs today.
| Is there an epidemic of say, ambien impaired drivers? Oxy? Etc.
|
| Regardless, even if there is a slight uptick (which I doubt
| will happen) in the number of mushroom-impaired drivers, I
| think we're still much better off as a society than imprisoning
| people who use them responsibly.
| strbean wrote:
| Most hallucinogens cause extreme pupil dilation. This + general
| demeanor is probably enough to justify a blood test.
| zelly wrote:
| A lot of medically necessary prescriptions cause pupil
| dilation too. Also some genetic conditions.
|
| I'm more worried about giving police the right to take blood
| out of your body than I am about tripping drivers.
| webkike wrote:
| I'm 2000x more worried about people drinking and driving.
| earthwrldshaman wrote:
| "Psychedelic capital of the world decriminalizes psychedelic
| mushrooms"
| salgernon wrote:
| UC Santa Cruz is home to the Greatful Dead archive[1] and more
| recently for Hunter S. Thompson[2]. And they do, like,
| engineering too, man.
|
| [1] https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/gratefuldeadarchive [2]
| https://news.ucsc.edu/2018/11/hunter-thompson-collection.htm...
| KhoomeiK wrote:
| One of the volunteers at Decrim Santa Cruz here. AMA!
| TallGuyShort wrote:
| What are your thoughts on the layered nature of our government
| and how such efforts could do better with the many layers? Take
| marijuana for instance. I think it should be decriminalized,
| and in many states we talk about it like it is, but in reality
| it depends on which law enforcement officer catches you. Where
| I live you'll be arrested by the sheriff (county), but not the
| police (town), depending on which officer catches you and if
| they like you or not, and not state patrol. And you won't be
| prosecuted by the feds, but the businesses you bought it from,
| which pay local and state taxes, can't use federally insured
| banks because it's still illegal even though it's not enforced.
| But state law might forbid the bank from making a hiring
| decision on someone's marijuana usage. In some ways it feels
| like we've made progress, but I'm still afraid to use it
| myself. How do we deal with this mess of rule-of-law moving
| forward?
|
| I would like the idea of proving an idea on a small scale to
| make it easier to sell at larger scales. But honestly, being
| one of the first places that legalized it, we got a large
| influx of "undesirables" from other places that hadn't
| legalized it, causing problems we wouldn't have had if we
| weren't one of the first states to legalize it.
| krohling wrote:
| Decrim SF here! Thanks for your support :)
| KhoomeiK wrote:
| Thanks and good luck!
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2020-01-29 23:00 UTC)