In a unanimous vote on October 4, the Seattle City Council approved a resolution to further decriminalize psychedelics. This new resolution decriminalizes the cultivation and sharing of psychedelics. The city previously decriminalized the personal possession of psychedelics. However, this resolution takes decriminalization one step further. It now protects the use of psychedelics for “religious, spiritual, healing, or personal growth practices.” 

This resolution, introduced by Councilmember Andrew Lewis, decriminalized psilocybin, ayahuasca, ibogaine, and non-peyote-derived mescaline. This now makes Seattle the largest city in the U.S. to decriminalize the possession, cultivation, and sharing of psychedelics. 

Opioid Crisis

Over the summer, the Seattle City Council asked for recommendations on how to combat the city’s opioid crisis. The state’s Department of Health noted that there have been 418 overdose deaths in just the first three months of 2021. This epidemic doesn’t seem to be targeting any specific age range, race, ethnicity, or economic background target. All demographics seem affected by the city’s opioid crisis. 

In response to the City Council’s request, the Overdose Emergency Innovative Recovery (OEIR) group recommended that all drugs, including psychedelics, should be decriminalized. Then those who consume these drugs won’t fear seeking help in fear of being arrested or imprisoned. This led to Councilmember Lewis submitting this resolution with the help of Decrim Nature Seattle. This activist group has lobbied for two years in favor of this resolution. 

Response

Following the council meeting, Decrim Nature Seattle took to Twitter to celebrate the unanimous vote in favor of the decriminalization resolution.  

“We’re happy that our years of effort have paid off in making this a reality,” said Kody Zalewski, DNS co-director and chair of policy and research. He thanked volunteers for making the resolution’s victory possible. “This is only the very beginning of conducting a much larger push to expand access to psychedelic medicine across Washington State, and codifying the intent of this resolution via citywide ordinance,” he added.

“Public opinion is changing, and many people are waking up to the fact that the War on Drugs leads to unnecessary incarceration, impedes access to profoundly [effective] medicine and impinges on both religious freedom and personal liberty,” Zalewski continued. “Social progress rarely happens through sweeping changes, but rather occurs from winning one small battle at a time.”

Future

With Seattle now joining the ever growing list of cities decriminalizing psychedelics, reform is becoming more and more common. Potentially, psychedelics could follow the same kind of path shown through cannabis legalization. But only time will tell.  

Make sure to check back for more cannabis, hemp, and psychedelic related news.