Psychedelic drugs hurt few and could help many. California must decriminalize them

The continuing criminalization of psychedelic substances stands out as a clear example of the country’s misguided drug enforcement policies and the long-standing stigmas they created.

A deluge of credible recent research illustrates the benefits of psychedelics for traumatized combat veterans and people with addiction disorders and debilitating mental illnesses. The healing power of hallucinogens, including psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, ayahuasca and ibogaine, has evolved from anecdotal folklore to study by renowned institutions and schools around the country, including Johns Hopkins and UC Davis.

Unfortunately, due to draconian laws that have their roots in the Nixon administration’s crackdown on Black people and hippies, research remains limited, and health care providers can’t deliver these treatments to many of the people who would benefit most.

California, the birthplace of the psychedelic movements of the 1960s and ‘70s, has a crucial role to play in advancing the cultural shift toward ending the war on drugs. A bill by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener would rightly decriminalize psychedelics, allowing adults age 21 or older to possess and use them without fear of prosecution. Senate Bill 519 would also establish a working group to inform new regulations, information campaigns and harm reduction techniques to ensure California is prepared for the eventual removal of LSD, MDMA and other drugs from their wrongheaded federal classification alongside heroin and meth.

A bipartisan group of California senators passed the bill last year, as have two Assembly committees. But SB 519 remains in procedural limbo, awaiting support from the lower house’s Appropriations Committee to come to a final vote by the end of this year’s session. Assemblyman Chris Holden, the committee chair, must not let this important criminal justice and mental health care reform languish.

Combat veterans who risked their lives for our country often return with traumas that the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has a “pretty abysmal success rate” for treating, Heroic Hearts Project founder Jesse Gould said in an interview with The Bee’s Editorial Board. Over a two-decade span after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the suicide rate among veterans increased 36%, according to a 2021 VA report. While many veterans find relief through prescription pills, others suffer further harm, Gould said.

But people suffering from mood disorders and addiction who struggle to find relief from typical medications currently have few options for seeking out psychedelic therapies. Consequentially, many veterans have been forced to pursue precarious options abroad. Gould, a former Army Ranger deployed to Afghanistan three times, found ways to deal with his alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder after taking ayahuasca in Peru.

“I felt like it reset my brain,” he said. “The traumas are still there, the struggles are still there, but at least it gave me the tools and the ability to get back on track, which I was able to do.”

Gould’s organization, one of two veteran groups sponsoring SB 519, facilitates psychedelic retreats abroad for veterans who meet specific requirements.

Many important, long-term questions must be answered should California embrace the initial step of decriminalization this year, as Oregon did in 2020 and Oakland did with respect to psilocybin in 2019. How will an underfunded treatment system deal with an influx of new patients? What would a legal market look like? What can the state do to prevent illicit sales? What sort of public information will be made available? Will there be support for people who have bad trips?

But public polls show that 58% of California voters favor decriminalizing psychedelics, a number that would likely inspire a future ballot measure should legislators fail to act this year. Given the poor rollout of legalized cannabis and the pitfalls of allowing special interests to legislate at the ballot box, now is the time for California lawmakers to take this critical first step toward a healthier relationship with psychedelics.