Deadline Detroit write…. Psychedelic substances share Detroit’s Nov. 2 ballots with candidates for mayor, council, clerk and the police commission board.
Proposal E gives voters a chance to allow mental health use of natural hallucinogens such as “magic mushrooms,” peyote, mescaline and psilocybin — but not LSD, which is lab-made. (Two other city proposals involve a racial reparations task force and amending the city charter.)
Passage would decriminalize adult possession and therapeutic use of what are called entheogenic plants, such as cacti and fungi with psychoactive ingredients that alter perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. They can be used for religious ceremonies, mystical experiences and psychological counseling.
Next week’s one-sentence ballot language says approval would “make the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by adults the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority.” Distributing psychedelics in amounts not for personal use still would be illegal. (LSD, which is synthesized in labs, isn’t covered.)
Ballotpedia
Detroit, Michigan, Proposal E, Decriminalization of Entheogenic Plants Measure (November 2021)
| Detroit Proposal E | |
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| Election date November 2, 2021 |
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| Topic Local law enforcement |
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| Status On the ballot |
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| Type Initiative |
Origin Citizens |
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Detroit Proposal E is on the ballot as an initiative in Detroit on November 2, 2021.
A “yes” vote supports this ballot initiative to:
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| A “no” vote opposes this ballot initiative to declare that police shall treat the possession and use of entheogenic plants by adults as among the lowest law enforcement priorities. |
A simple majority is required for the approval of Proposal E.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Proposal E is as follows:
| “ | Shall the voters of the City of Detroit adopt an ordinance to the 2019 Detroit City Code that would decriminalize to the fullest extent permitted under Michigan law the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by adults and make the personal possession and therapeutic use of Entheogenic Plants by adults the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority? | ” |
Medial editorials
Support
- Detroit Free Press:, “Approval of Prop E would not legalize use of such plants, but simply direct the Detroit Police Department to cease directing resources to investigating and prosecuting Detroiters for the use of such substances. Nor does Prop E decriminalize the sale of entheogenic plants. The Citizen Research Council’s thorough analysis notes that there is limited research to support the therapeutic use of such drugs. That’s true, and we’d like to see more data before endorsing the broad legalization or widespread sale of such substances. But that’s not what voters are being asked to do. Prop E simply asks Detroiters to make clear that investigating the personal possession and use of hallucinogenic plants should be a low priority for their city’s police department. On that, we can recommend an unequivocal vote of Yes.”[1]
Opposition
If you know of media editorial board endorsements that should be posted here, email editor@ballotpedia.org.
Background
Entheogens
Proposal E was written with the term entheogenic plants. In 1979, five academics, including Carl A. P. Ruck and Daniel Staples of Boston University, proposed the term entheogens to describe “states of shamanic and ecstatic possession induced by mind-altering drugs.” “In a strict sense,” wrote the academics, “only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.” Ruck et al. described the term hallucinogen as having a biased, negative meaning: “The verb ‘hallucinate,’ however, immediately imposes a value judgment upon the nature of the altered perceptions, for it means ‘to be deceived or entertain false notions.'”[2]
Laws that legalized or decriminalized psilocybin
As of 2021, at least 10 local governments, including Ann Arbor in Michigan, had passed laws that decriminalized psilocybin or changed law enforcement priorities regarding psilocybin.
Two of these laws passed as ballot measures in Denver, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.
Denver Initiated Ordinance 301 (2019)
In 2019, voters in Denver, Colorado, approved Initiated Ordinance 301, which declared that the adult use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms were of the city’s lowest law enforcement priorities.[3]
Washington, D.C. Initiative 81 (2020)
In 2020, voters in Washington, D.C., approved Initiative 81, which declared that police shall treat the non-commercial cultivation, distribution, possession, and use of entheogenic plants and fungi among the lowest law enforcement priorities.[4]
Oregon Measure 109 and Measure 110 (2020)
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- See also: Oregon Measure 109 and Oregon Measure 110
At the election on November 3, 2020, voters in Oregon decided two ballot initiatives—Oregon Measure 109 and Oregon Measure 110—related to entheogenic plants.
Measure 109 was designed to create a program for administering psilocybin, such as psilocybin-producing mushrooms and fungi, to individuals aged 21 years or older. Measure 109 allows people to purchase, possess, and consume psilocybin at a psilocybin service center and under the supervision of a psilocybin service facilitator after undergoing a preparation session.[5]
Measure 110 was designed to decriminalize Schedule I – IV controlled substances, including some entheogenic plants, from Class A misdemeanors to Class E violations.[6] Oregon was the first state to legalize psilocybin and the first state to decriminalize all Schedule I – IV controlled substances.
Path to the ballot
This measure was put on the ballot through a successful initiative petition. At least 3,608 valid signatures were required for the initiative.[7]
