Colorado Psychedelics Activists Doubt Second Legalization Initiative Will Make November Ballot Following State-Certified Measure

This past July the first state-wide psychedelics legalization measure was included as part of a Colorado ballot after gathering more than 200,000 signatures for the proposal. While Initiative 58 will be discussed in this November’s poll, advocates of the alternative psychedelics project recently admitted that the measure will most likely not qualify for it.

Initiative 61 advocated for the removal of criminal penalties for possession, cultivation, gifting and delivery of a list of psychedelics by adults 21 and older, while legalizing psychedelics services for guidance, therapy, harm reduction and spiritual purposes with or without payment. It coincides with Initiative 58 in that it would have made the substances’ sale unlawful.

Activists of the proposal will instead focus on helping organize advocacy for “legacy communities” that might be impacted by the psychedelics reform project. 

In a recent press conference outside the Colorado State Capitol, campaigners restated what they felt was a need for a separate, alternative psychedelics initiative to the Natural Medicine Health Act, partly due to excessive regulations on entheogenic substances.

Nicole Foerster, co-proponent of Initiative 61 and founder of Decriminalize Nature Boulder County said “a lot of people were left out of the conversation” on potential campaign collaboration, and many important policy decisions were made “without sufficient input from communities who will be impacted.”

Foerster argued that the certified measure was designed “to appeal to people who know nothing about this topic, without the full inclusion of people who are going to be affected by the Act if it passes.”

On the other hand, opponents of Initiative 58 are also concerned about the likely corporatization of the psychedelics market. As co-proponent of Initiative 61, Melanie Rose Rodgers, told Marijuana Moment: “I hope by now we’re as loud [as we can be] that if we’re creating any new industries, we ensure that it’s going to be equitable, with social equity and health equity, and that the community has a voice in this.” 

A small recap of Initiative 58: If approved, the measure would decriminalize the possession, use and gifting of “personal amounts” of certain psychedelics (including DMT, ibogaine, mescaline, psilocybin and psilocyn), establish a therapeutic model for monitored psilocybin treatment and provide an avenue for record sealing of prior convictions.

On his behalf, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis acknowledges the potential of psychedelics and is in favor of reform, as seen in his recent decision to legalize MDMA therapeutic prescriptions, if and when approved on a federal level.

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