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Activists in Portland recently revealed that they were working to place a measure to decriminalize psychedelics on the 2026 ballot. The measure in question, called the Portland Psychedelic Health Act, would make the enforcement of laws against specific fungi and plant-based substances, including ayahuasca, psilocybin, DMT and mescaline, a low-enforcement priority in the city.
It would also advocate for the decriminalization of psychedelics at the local level while also covering the possession, gifting and cultivation of natural psychedelics. In addition, the measure would establish an advisory panel focused on issuing guidance related to entheogens to the city.
According to the description given on the measure, it has been designed to increase education, safety and best practices in the city and state. The measure also recognizes that individuals in the city have consumed natural psychedelics for spiritual, health and personal reasons for a while and will continue to do so. It should be noted that the measure wouldn’t apply to peyote because it is an ecologically threatened species.
The campaign’s lead organizer, Nate Howard, explained that the proposal had been shaped by hundreds of stakeholders, most of whom were local, as well as individuals in the country and other parts of the globe. Organizers of the new ballot proposal are set to officially present the full text of the initiative to the public at a symposium this coming weekend.
The final version of the initiative will be submitted to officials later this month.
Signature collection to quality the initiative for the ballot will begin in early 2025, with the campaign revealing that about 40,000 valid signatures of voters would be needed for the proposal to qualify for the 2026 ballot.
The initiative would also establish a psychedelics advisory commission, a body centered on advising the city on harm reduction, responsible and safe practices, public education and the integration of psychedelics into public health initiatives.
This effort, led by the state’s Psychedelics Society Action Fund, follows past campaigns for reforms around psychedelics. This includes a 2021 push by the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance, which lobbied for the decriminalization of the ceremonial use, gifting and growing of different psychedelics. The proposal was focused on ensuring ceremonies involving entheogens and gifting of psychedelics such as ibogaine and ayahuasca were among the lowest priorities for enforcement in the state.
More broadly, the state of Oregon recently reinstated regulations against the simple possession of drugs. This is part of a process to repeal some elements of Measure 110, which legalized the possession of small drug amounts.
As more members of the public in the United States and elsewhere learn about the potential of hallucinogens, the R&D work being done by enterprises such as atai Life Sciences N.V. (NASDAQ: ATAI) could trigger even broader grassroots movements focused on championing reforms to drug laws in light of the new information available about these drugs.
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