On the heels of his state’s landmark new law that legalizes psychedelic drugs, the governor of Colorado wants to go even further. 

Jared Polis, the Democrat who was elected to his second term as the state’s governor last year, said Wednesday that he wants Colorado lawmakers to empower him with the ability to issue pardons to individuals who have been busted for crimes related to psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms. 

“So anybody who has something on their criminal record that is now legal can have that expunged and doesn’t hold them back from future employment opportunities,” Polis said at the Psychedelic Science conference, which is being held in Denver this week, as quoted by Axios.

“It is still ridiculous that in this day and age somebody suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD can get medical coverage for very costly prescription drugs but cannot get coverage for a treatment in a healing center that will address some of the underlying causes of the issue,” the governor added.

Polis’s comments come less than a month after he signed a bill that will establish a regulatory framework for psychedelic drugs. The bill was the byproduct of last year’s voter-passed initiative, Proposition 122, and it will officially take effect on July 1.

The measure “legalized therapeutic psilocybin and decriminalized the personal cultivation, use and sharing of psilocybin mushrooms and three other natural psychedelics (DMT, ibogaine and mescaline that is not from peyote),” according to the local outlet Westworld.

“While licensed psilocybin therapy centers could open by late 2024, Prop 122 did not allow for the establishment of retail operations, only healing centers, so there won’t be mushroom stores popping up like the hundreds of cannabis dispensaries currently in Colorado,” Westworld reported last month.

Westworld, reporting this week at the Psychedelic Science conference, noted that Polis [who] “never publicly supported Prop 122 but has praised it since the measure passed, told the crowd that he has ‘no personal connection’ to psychedelic medicine,” but his support of psychedelic use is “values based” and about “body autonomy.”

“We are facing very difficult challenges in mental and behavioral health and are very excited about the opportunities,” Polis said, as quoted by Westworld. “In many of these areas, including cannabis, the people of our state, and not the politicians, led the way.”

The governor said at the conference that he envisions a significant expansion of the state’s psychedelic laws, including changes that would enable psychedelic therapy to be covered by insurance in Colorado.

“Yes, that’s right. People will no longer need to go to Mexico or Colombia. They can come right here to Colorado,” Polis said, as quoted by Westworld.

“Once it’s federally scheduled to be a pharmaceutical, it will immediately be rescheduled in Colorado,” the governor added. “We want people to say…Colorado got this right. Look, I’m sure we’ll get a few things wrong, but we can learn from them and build upon them.”

After a majority of Colorado voters approved Prop 122 in November, parts of the initiative took effect in December of last year. 

“Coloradans voted last November and participated in our democracy,” Polis said at the time. “Officially validating the results of the citizen and referred initiatives is the next formal step in our work to follow the will of the voters and implement these voter-approved measures.”

About 53% of voters in Colorado approved Proposition 122 in last year’s election.

Following Polis’s certification of the measure in December, psychedelics were officially decriminalized in Colorado. 

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Psychedelics including psilocybin are now officially decriminalized in Colorado, where voters decided last month to end criminal penalties for possessing the drugs. Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued a proclamation on Tuesday declaring that Proposition 122, also known as the Natural Medicine Health Act, had passed muster with the voters in last month’s election. 

“Coloradans voted last November and participated in our democracy,” Polis said in a statement from the governor’s office. “Officially validating the results of the citizen and referred initiatives is the next formal step in our work to follow the will of the voters and implement these voter-approved measures.”

In his proclamation, Polis noted that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold had certified on December 12 that Proposition 122 “was approved by a majority of the votes cast.” The ballot measure received more than 53% of the vote in the midterm election, garnering the approval of nearly 1.3 million voters on November 8.

The Natural Medicine Health Act creates a state-regulated therapeutic system for adults to access natural psychedelic medicines, such as psilocybin mushrooms, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, and mescaline not derived from peyote. The measure decriminalizes the possession, cultivation, and sharing of the naturally occurring psychedelic drugs, and establishes a system for controlled distribution by licensed professionals in a therapeutic setting. 

Psychedelics will be available under the guidance of a licensed and supervised facilitator at designated healing centers and healthcare facilities such as hospice centers. The medicines are prohibited from leaving the facilities, and no retail sales are allowed in any form.

“Prop. 122 puts the wellbeing of patients and communities first, removing harsh criminal penalties for personal possession and employing a multi-phase implementation process that will allow time to develop an appropriate safety and regulatory structure,” Josh Kappel, who co-authored the proposition and led the campaign for the successful ballot measure, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Under Colorado law, ballot measures approved by the voters do not go into effect immediately. The state constitution requires the governor to issue a proclamation declaring the majority vote for the proposition no later than 30 days after the state canvasses the election results. 

Psilocybin And Mental Health

Psychedelics such as psilocybin are receiving renewed interest in the potential of the drugs to treat a wide range of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. The Food and Drug Administration has designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” but has not approved the use of the drug.

Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine released a new study showing that psilocybin can quickly and significantly reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. Prior research from the nation’s top medical research universities including Johns Hopkins University, the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and New York University have shown positive patient outcomes for depression and anxiety. Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has started offering psychedelics to patients as a part of clinical trials.

With the Natural Medicine Health Act now officially Colorado state law, the governor has until January 31, 2023, to appoint 15 members to a new Natural Medicine Advisory Board, which will advise the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies on implementing the measure. The board’s first recommendations are due by September 30, 2023. Recommendations on a facilitator training program for the medical use of psilocybin mandated by the measure are due on January 1, 2023. Regulated access to psilocybin should become available from authorized therapists by late 2024.

Kappel said that with the proclamation from Polis, implementation of Proposition 122 can now begin.

“Our goals include creating an accessible and balanced facilitator training system, an effective equity program, a first-of-its-kind ESG screen, and safe access to natural psychedelic therapies,” Kappel said. “In the meantime, adults in Colorado can begin to have more open and honest conversations about these medicines with their doctors. Adults who can benefit from these substances will finally be able to engage in psychedelic therapies without fear of arrest and prosecution.”

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The Denver district attorney’s office has dropped felony drugs charges filed against Rabbi Ben Gorelick, citing voters’ approval of a psilocybin legalization ballot measure in last month’s midterm elections. At a preliminary hearing in the case on December 8, prosecutors moved to dismiss charges against Gorelick and a chemist arrested in a police raid last winter, saying the motion was filed “in the interest of justice.”

Carolyn Tyler, a Denver District Attorney’s Office spokesperson, said that the decision to dismiss the felony charges against the defendants was made “in light of the voters’ decision” to approve Proposition 122. Colorado voters approved the initiative measure, which legalizes psilocybin for therapeutic purposes, in the November 8 election with nearly 54% of ballots cast.

“I don’t know what everything got dismissed on or for,” Gorelick told The Denver Post. “At this point in time, what I can tell you is I’m very, very, very grateful to the DA’s office for dropping the case. It’s been a long year for the community, it’s been a long year for us, and we look forward to getting back to practicing our religion, which is what the whole point of this is.”

Gorelick is the founder of The Sacred Tribe, a religious group based in Denver that uses psilocybin and other methods as paths to spiritual enlightenment. In January, police raided a warehouse in Denver where he was allegedly growing more than 30 varieties of psychedelic mushrooms. Gorelick was arrested the following month and charged with possession with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance, a first-degree felony. In June, he told High Times that he intended to fight the charges, which carried a mandatory minimum sentence of at least eight years, on religious freedom grounds.

Group Ends Psychedelics Services After Raid

After the police raid earlier this year, The Sacred Tribe temporarily suspended its activities. The group has since begun meeting again for religious dinners and other events without the use of psilocybin. Elle Logan, who has been a member of the group since last year, said the case “broke the community in a lot of ways,” but added that she was not surprised when the charges against Gorelick were dropped.

“The psychedelic movement, the plant medicine movement, and with Prop 122 passing, there’s amazing momentum going into a brand new future that looks really different for a lot of people in terms of mental health and spiritual wellness,” Logan said. “Ben’s heart has been in that place from the get-go… I’ve known his heart the whole time, that’s never been in question and I’m glad the court saw it too.”

Gorelick maintains that there is a long tradition of psychedelics in Judaism, although other Jewish leaders who advocate for the use of psychedelics dispute his assertion of their history. One of those advocates, Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, who was ordained by an Orthodox rabbi in Israel, formed the psychedelics advocacy group Shefa and hopes that one day the powerful compounds will become an accepted part of Jewish spirituality. 

Kamenetz took part in a study that researched the effect psilocybin has on religious leaders. He supports the use of psilocybin for spiritual purposes, although he warns that until they are legalized, psychedelics should only be taken as part of approved research.

“I’m one of the very few people who can say they’ve had a legal experience with psychedelics in this country,” Kamenetz said last year. “To be able to speak freely about it without the stigma — because it’s not just people talking about doing illegal things — it’s allowed people to start having a more open conversation about it. When there’s the opportunity to hear from someone who did this in a legal environment, people will listen more.”

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Voters in Colorado on Tuesday approved a ballot measure to decriminalize the therapeutic use of natural psychedelics including psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms. With 88% of the vote counted as of Wednesday evening, Proposition 122, the Natural Medicine Health Act, had garnered more than one million voters, representing 51.4% of the votes cast.

“This is a historic moment for both the people of Colorado and our country,” Kevin Matthews, coalition director for Natural Medicine Colorado, said in a statement after the approval of Prop 122 became apparent on Wednesday. “I think this demonstrates that voters here in Colorado are ready for new options and another choice for healing, especially when it comes to their mental and behavioral health.”

The Natural Medicine Health Act creates a state-regulated therapeutic system for adults to access natural psychedelic medicines, such as psilocybin mushrooms, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine and mescaline not derived from peyote. The psychedelics will be available under the guidance of a licensed and supervised facilitator at designated healing centers and healthcare facilities such as hospice centers. The medicines are prohibited from leaving the facilities, and no retail sales are allowed in any form. 

Psychedelics As Therapy

Psychedelics including psilocybin have seen a resurgence of interest in the potential of the drugs to treat a wide range of mental health conditions. The Food and Drug Administration has designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” but has not approved the use of the drug.

Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine released a new study showing that psilocybin can quickly and significantly reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. Prior research from the nation’s top medical research universities including Johns Hopkins University, the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and New York University have shown positive patient outcomes for depression and anxiety. Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has started offering psychedelics to patients as a part of clinical trials.

Psychedelics such as psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT have also been used for centuries by indigenous American cultures for medicinal and spiritual purposes. Matthew X. Lowe Ph.D., research director at psychedelic research nonprofit Unlimited Sciences, says that there are numerous health and wellness benefits “that come from consuming psilocybin.”

“Preindustrial Mesoamerican cultures have consumed psilocybin for thousands of years in ritualized contexts to enhance psychotherapeutic healing, religious insight, and self-exploration,” he told Forbes. “In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of psilocybin in treating a range of different psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, suicidality, substance use disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, among others.”

“Psilocybin consumption has now been consistently associated with antidepressant and anxiolytic effects and is being considered for the treatment of depression and anxiety,” Lowe continued. “In fact, a recent study determined that decreased brain modularity following psilocybin therapy was correlated with improvements in depressive symptomatology and outcomes when compared with a commonly prescribed” anti-depressant.

Natural Medicines Advisory Board To Be Named

With the passage of Prop 122, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has until January 31, 2023, to appoint 15 members to a new Natural Medicine Advisory Board, which will advise the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies on implementing the measure. The board’s first recommendations are due by September 30, 2023. Recommendations on a facilitator training program for the medical use of psilocybin mandated by the measure are due on January 1, 2023. Regulated access to psilocybin would become available in late 2024.

“Colorado voters saw the benefit of regulated access to natural medicines, including psilocybin, so people with PTSD, terminal illness, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues can heal,” Matthews and Veronica Lightening Horse Perez, the measure’s co-proponents, said in a statement on Wednesday. “We look forward to working with the regulatory and medical experts and other stakeholders to implement this new law.”

Joshua Kappel, chair of Natural Medicine Colorado and a founding partner of the psychedelics and cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLC, said “it’s a relief to know that the people of Colorado believe in Prop 122 and the hope of healing these natural psychedelics can provide for those with PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, trauma and other mental conditions.” 

“History has been made this week. We proved to the world it’s possible to pass a ballot measure that not only provides access to natural psychedelic-assisted therapy in a responsible state-regulated setting but also protects individual and community-based healing modalities from arrest and many civil offenses,” Kappel, the author of Prop 122, said in an email to High Times. “Many told us that this dual approach was not wise or possible. Tonight, we showed that inclusive and equitable policies are not only necessary but politically viable.”

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