Denver has voted to decriminalise the use of magic mushrooms – the first US city to do so.<\/p>\n
The motion was put to a public vote on Tuesday, and passed with a slim majority of 50.6%.<\/p>\n
Although the mushrooms will technically still be illegal, restrictions on personal use and possession by adults will be drastically loosened.<\/p>\n
Police officers will now be instructed to treat magic mushroom users as their lowest priority.<\/p>\n
Denver decriminalised cannabis in 2005 ahead of the rest of the state of Colorado. Tuesday’s referendum was the first US public vote on magic mushrooms.<\/p>\n
They are a form of fungus found across the world which contains a psychedelic chemical called psilocybin.<\/p>\n
The UK’s National Health Service describes them as a hallucinogenic “making people see, hear and experience the world in a different, ‘trippy’ way”.<\/p>\n
Westerners began taking them as a recreational drug in the 1950s but they may have been used long before that in rituals in parts of the world such as Central America.<\/p>\n
Under US federal law, psilocybin belongs in the same group of banned drugs as heroin and LSD, and it has been designated a Class A drug in the UK since 2005.<\/p>\n
The US federal government argues that psilocybin has high abuse potential and no accepted medical value.<\/p>\n
The drug remains illegal in most other countries.<\/p>\n
Campaigners in Denver say certain mushrooms “may be helpful in the treatment of cluster headaches, PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] and OCD [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder]”.<\/p>\n
A UK study in 2016, found\u00a0a hallucinogenic chemical in magic mushrooms shows promise for people with untreatable depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n Officials will now be barred from “spending resources to impose criminal penalties” for personal use and possession of the drug for residents over the age of 21.<\/p>\n But psilocybin is not being legalised and cannot be sold by cannabis businesses.<\/p>\n Before the vote Denver’s district attorney, Beth McCann, said that although she was against the motion, if it passed she would support the formation of a review panel to study the effects of the drug.<\/p>\n Kevin Matthews, who led the campaign to decriminalise the mushrooms, told the Denver Post: “Against all odds, we prevailed. This is what happens when a small team of dedicated and passionate people unite under a single idea to create change.”<\/p>\n His group Decriminalise Denver, which was behind the initiative, said: “No-one should go to jail, lose their children, lose their job, and lose their citizen’s rights for using a mushroom. One arrest is too many for something with such low and manageable risks for most people, relative to its potential benefits.”<\/p>\n Several major figures opposed decriminalisation, including Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Ms McCann.<\/p>\n Ms McCann told the Washington Post: “At this point, I don’t think it’s a good idea. We’re still figuring out marijuana, and even though things are going well so far, we’re still measuring the impacts on the people of Denver.”<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How will the new law work in Denver?<\/h2>\n
How are people reacting?<\/h2>\n