Two ballot initiatives dealing with the decriminalization and regulation of psychedelics in Colorado might appear on this year’s November ballot.
Initiative 61 and Initiative 58 are still in the signature gathering phase and petitioners have until Aug. 8 to turn in 124,632 valid signatures to make the ballot.
Nicole Forester, a co-proponent of Decriminalize Colorado’s Initiative 61 – officially known as Legal Possession and Use of Entheogenic Plants and Fungi – says the measure would decriminalize the personal use of certain entheogenic plants and fungi (including psilocybin, psilocin, ibogaine, mescaline (not including peyote), and dimethyltryptamine) for adults age 21 and older.
“So, the initiative that we’re proposing would make the facilitation, possession, (and) use no longer a crime,” Forester told Denver7. “People are using these medicines; we have data that it’s safe, that there’s not a public health and safety risk in those cities that have decriminalized (them) so far. We know that safe use is happening outside of regulated frameworks.”
Melanie Rose Rodgers, the other co-proponent of Initiative 61, told Denver7 the measure does not allow for the sale of these entheogens, only for their cultivation and sharing for personal use.
But despite these assurances, not everyone is on board.
Jeff Hunt, the director of the Centennial Institute – a policy institute out of Colorado Christian University – said he’s concerned about how far these decriminalization efforts will go.
