Newsom vetoes bill to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms

[YoshidaYui]

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Friday that would have decriminalized psilocybin, aka magic mushrooms — but left the door open for California to reconsider it next year.

Newsom, in his veto message, said the measure proposed by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would have decriminalized possession before therapeutic protections are in place.

“California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines — replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to

prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychoses,” he said.

Wiener’s bill would have decriminalized possession of psilocybin for personal use. That means it would still be illegal to sell it. It also would have orderedthe California Health and Human Services Agency to create a work group to “study and make recommendations” on how psychedelics could be used for therapeutic use and present its findings to the Legislature by the end of 2024.

Wiener called Newsom’s veto “a setback for the huge number of Californians — including combat veterans and first responders — who are safely using and benefiting from these non-addictive substances and who will now continue to be classified as criminals under California law.”



Continue reading

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/newsom-vetoes-bill-to-decriminalize-psychedelic-mushrooms/ar-AA1hQEAJ

[mzmolly]

1. There was a recent murder, suicide in MN.

Mushrooms of this variety were thought to have played a role.

https://www.twincities.com/2023/09/28/mushrooms-found-at-roseville-double-murder-suicide/#:~:text=PUBLISHED%3A%20September%2028%2C%202023%20at,several%20rooms%2C%20court%20records%20show.

Best not to mess with psychedelics IMHO.

[Shermann]

4. I always worry about the "correlation proves causation" fallacy with stories like that nt

[mzmolly]

8. I worry about dismissing the likelyhood

that psychedellics can be dangerous, given their potential to alter reality.

Here's a more comprehensive article on the story: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/09/30/grief-shadows-families-after-roseville-murdersuicide

[Shermann]

9. Sounds like "Mushroom Madness" to me!

Humans have been ingesting those for thousands of years. They are psychoactive and that means nonzero risk, but if "Mushroom Madness" were really a thing we'd know about it by now. This will be a right-wing talking point if it isn't already.

[mzmolly]

10. We do know a bit

about it.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308850

It's like playing roulette.

[YoshidaYui]

12. hey I MUST HAVE won that Roulette wheel

Cause i have tried, LSD, SHROOMS, PEYOTE BUTTONS AND EVEN ONCE, COCAINE. i LIKED cannabis best. I don't need the rest although the ORANGE SUNSHINE i took was very strong, it gave me a profound look at the UNIVERSE IN A away I never would have.

[dpibel]

13. Let's do some math

Your cited article says 8.5% of adults have taken psilocybin. I'd have guessed a much lower number, but it's your source, so we'll use it.

That's right around 20 million people.

If the drug is so terribly risky and dangerous, you'd think some significant number of people would have had whatever bad effects you fear.

If even 10% had a bad outcome, that would be 2 million bad outcomes.

Do you think that would not be all over the news?

There's no absolutely safe medication. Why get all excited about a substance that, honestly, has a very low incidence of negative effects?

[YoshidaYui]

15. Agree

maybe the state of CALIFORNIA can do more research on mushrooms or even peyote buttons.. maybe there will be medical uses for it like there had been for cannabis. I would love to have them pass the bill, and yeah I WOULD do shrooms again and would jump at the chance to get some.

[mzmolly]

17. I agree that there may be medical

benefits. That means oversight and accurate risk v benefit analysis.

[captain queeg]

20. Come thee to Oregon

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/oregons-new-psilocybin-service-center-invites-public-to-try-psychedelic-mushrooms

[mzmolly]

16. It's not medication unless it's prescribed

and administered in a controlled manner with medical oversight. IMO psychedellics should remain medicinal.

[dpibel]

19. Ummm...isn't that what you were against?

The OP was about California potentially approving medical use.

You said, "A guy just blamed murdering his girlfriend while he was on shrooms! Watch out, psychedelics are dangerous."

Now you are saying psychedelics should remain medicinal.

Which is what this was all about.

[mzmolly]

21. No.

"Wiener’s bill would have decriminalized possession of psilocybin for personal use..."

Newsome agrees that it might have medicinal benefits, under proper regulation:

“California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines — replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to

prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychoses,” he said.

[Shermann]

18. I'll take an herbal medicine with thousands of years of history over dangerous pharmaceuticals

...any day of the week. The vast lengths of time and number of people exposed weighs more heavily than "official" clinical trials, to say nothing of the inherently safer organic ingredients.

[mzmolly]

22. I have witnessed drug induced psychosis. The person who went bonkers

was hospitalized for weeks. I prefer not to experience that (second hand) again.

Organic doesn't mean safe.

[Shermann]

23. This shows hallmarks of the anecdotal fallacy

That's when you weigh personal experience over compelling evidence to the contrary, which is natural to do (but still fallacious). Drug (and herbal medicine) safety requires a much larger view.

[mzmolly]

24. There is compelling evidence that what I witnessed was not

unusual or merely anecdotal. I've cited a few sources above.

[Shermann]

25. A handful of anecdotes are still anecdotes, claims to the contrary are a repeated assertion fallacy

[mzmolly]

26. The science isn't anecdotal.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8732862/#:~:text=The%20occurrence%20of%20drug%2Dinduced,cannabis%2Drelated%20substances%20(c)

Findings: Our findings support the theory that psychosis due to substance abuse is commonly observed in clinical practice.

[Shermann]

27. Interesting paper that deals with many types of drugs

Did you read the section specific to hallucinogens?

Focusing on the long-term consequence of hallucinogen use in a retrospective cross-sectional study, Krebs and Johansen (134) reported that there were no significant associations between lifetime use of psychedelics and increased rate of any of the mental health outcomes. Furthermore, Rucker et al. (135) found that “no cases of prolonged psychosis or hallucinogen persisting perception disorder have been reported in modern trials with psilocybin, ayahuasca or LSD,” consistently with what was previously reported.

[mzmolly]

28. "no cases of 'prolonged' psychosis"

Is short-term psychosis a good time?

[Shermann]

29. The paper doesn't support that either

I actually tried to help you here. I'm out.

[quaint]

11. Psilocybin in Palliative Care: An Update

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10106897/t Findings

Recent Findings
Life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses and faced by palliative care patients are comorbid with emotional and spiritual distress. Research and field reports reviewed suggest that psilocybin has significant and in some cases, sustained anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory and entheogenic effects with a favorable safety profile. Limitations of the research include the risk for selection bias toward healthy, white, financially privileged individuals, and in general, follow-up timelines too short to appropriately evaluate durability of outcomes in psychospiritual benefits and quality of life.

Summary
While more research is needed for palliative care populations specifically, reasonable inferences can be made regarding the potential for benefit to palliative care patients from psilocybin’s demonstrated anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory and entheogenic effects. However, major legal, ethical and financial barriers to access exist for the general population; obstacles which are likely worsened for geriatric and palliative care patients. Empiric treatment and large-scale controlled trials of psilocybin should be conducted to further investigate the findings of the smaller studies reviewed here across a variety of populations, for a greater understanding of therapeutic benefit and clinically relevant safety criteria, and to support thoughtful legalization and medical access.

[captain queeg]

2. Oregon decriminalized them. I think they even made them legal in some circumstances.

I read there’s a place in Eugene where you can do a shroom trip under the care of some specialist. Can’t remember the name of the place but keep thinking I ought to check into it.

[Faux pas]

3. I

can't imagine that hallucinations would be a good thing

[YoshidaYui]

5. years ago i did SHROOMS

they were nasty tasting even in CHERRY KOOLAIDE, but i really enjoy the feeling of another kind of high. I would not suggest smoking marijuana with shrooms, i tried it and woke up in my bed and don't remember how i got there... lol!!

[OAITW r.2.0]

7. They are, without question, psychedelics....they get you off

your normal, everyday head. You become a koan master, for a short period.

[Faux pas]

30. Lol

at least you made it back ok.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. My experience....be in a safe space and with people that care....

it's all good. Got 2 trips of 2 types of mushrooms in the freezer. Some cold night in January might be the right time.

[JuJuChen]

14. Shrooms help me. A low dosage micro dose does wonders for my introvert nature