California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on Saturday

would have

has decriminalized the possession and personal use of a short list of natural psychedelics, including “magic mushrooms.”

The Democratic governor said that while he supports “new options to address mental health through psychedelic medications like those addressed in this bill,” the state must establish regulations for the use of these substances before legalizing them. “California should immediately begin establishing regulated treatment guidelines – packed with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent exploitation during supervised treatment, and medical approval of no underlying psychoses. Unfortunately, this bill would decriminalize possession before these guidelines go into effect. and I cannot sign it,” Newsom said in his veto statement. In a statement Friday afternoon, Wiener said the veto “is not the end of our fight” and vowed to reintroduce legislation next year that would focus on the therapeutic use of the psychedelics, as Newsom requested. This is a setback for the vast number of Californians, including combat veterans and first responders, who safely use and benefit from these non-addictive substances and who will now be classified as criminals under California. law, Wiener said. “Today’s veto is a huge missed opportunity for California to follow the science and lead.” PLEASE NOTE: This is an embargoed statement until Newsom announces. These substances have been around for thousands of years. People have been using psychedelics for centuries, Wiener told the Times, days before Newsom announced his veto. There is no point in criminalizing them. These substances are not addictive. They help a lot of people. And it doesn’t make sense to threaten people with arrest and incarceration for using them. Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), author of the bill, previously told the Times that the state does not have reliable data on arrests for possession of psychedelics due to outdated data collection practices, which as a result “unfairly lump psychedelics together.” to throw. controlled substances such as meth and heroin, despite the fact that psychedelics are not addictive.” The governor’s veto of the legislation, Senate Bill 58, is another blow to criminal justice reform advocates, who have lobbied the state for the past two years legislature to end the “war on drugs” and reduce criminal penalties for possession and use of certain psychedelics to veterans groups that want to see broader access to psychedelics for veterans living with post-traumatic stress and other mental health disorders.

The bill would have decriminalized the possession and personal use of psilocybin and psilocin, the active ingredients in psychedelic mushrooms; mescaline; and dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, a key ingredient in the psychedelic brew known as ayahuasca, which is often used for spiritual or religious purposes.

The law

only

would have only applied to people aged 21 or over. The bill also did not allow the personal transfer or sale of psychedelics in dispensaries.

The bill also would have directed the California Health and Human Services Agency to study the therapeutic use of psychedelics and submit a report with findings and recommendations to the Legislature.

The veto marks a sharp departure from Newsom’s liberal image. Newsom was a strong supporter of Proposition 64, a 2016 ballot measure he championed as lieutenant governor that legalized the recreational use of marijuana in California. But it also underscores the mounting challenges he faces seven years later, amid a growing homelessness and drug addiction crisis in the state.

Last year, Newsom also vetoed Senate Bill 57, another controversial bill authored by Wiener that would have authorized a pilot program for supervised injection sites in some California cities. At the time, Newsom said the bill could have created “a world of unintended consequences.”

Dr. Anna Lembke, a professor at Stanford who expressed concerns years ago about the rise in opioid prescriptions, shares these concerns about

of

decriminalizing psychedelics. Lembke said SB 58 would have sent “a message of normalization” and encouraged more uncontrolled and dangerous use of the mind-altering drugs.

We know that when people have the perception that a drug is safe, use increases in the population, said Lembke, who also expressed concern about the limited research on the health effects of psychedelic use.

“When it comes to hallucinogens or psychedelics, there are many known harmful substances and they are incredibly unpredictable,” she said.

Opponents of the bill included a long list of law enforcement groups concerned with public safety issues and psychedelic skeptics in the medical field.

Jennifer Mitchell, a professor of neurology at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine who has worked to develop psychedelic therapies for a range of psychiatric conditions, including psilocybin for demoralization and depression, opposed the bill.

“My biggest concern is that it tries to decriminalize personal use before developing an infrastructure that ensures safety and education,” she said. She added that the measure had been passed,

Add that if it is passed,

California would “see more adolescent use than we already do because it will yield [them] a green light.”

Despite Newsom’s rejection, some California cities could move forward with their own local laws to decriminalize psychedelics. Santa Cruz and Oakland have already implemented their own measures to make arrests or investigations related to possession or use of the drugs the lowest priority for police.

Rebecca Kaplan, an Oakland City Council member and supporter of the bill, told the Times that TK. There are currently no reliable arrest data, according to TK, mainly because the police do not distinguish which substances were in their possession at the time of the offense. the arrest.