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Prevention Action Alliance
Psychedelic
Mushrooms: Why Good Science Must Win Out
In early December, Oregon’s attorney general approved language for a
ballot legalizing psilocybin mushrooms.
Psilocybin is a psychedelic produced by mushrooms, often referred to as
“magic mushrooms,” and can cause hallucinations and feelings of
euphoria.
The Oregon Psilocybin Society, run by a couple from Beaverton, Oregon,
is behind the ballot push, and it’s currently working to get the
signatures it needs to put the ballot before voters. The Eckerts claim
their campaign is based on the latest science showing that psilocybin
are good for treating a host of conditions.
The ballot initiative, if approved, would create the Oregon Psilocybin
Services Program within the Oregon Health Authority. The Oregon Health
Authority would, in turn, license growers, processors, and distributors
to provide psychedelic mushrooms for customers.
The ballot also creates an advisory board and requires that the people
on it be certified naturopathic physicians, researchers with experience
in psychedelic drugs, mycologists (biologists specializing in fungi),
ethnobotanists (those who study the relationship between plants and
society), psychotherapists, and someone with knowledge of psychedelic
psychopharmacology.
Notice anything?
Public health doesn’t have a seat at that table, nor is there anyone
with a background in law enforcement to propose diversion-controlling
measures.
In addition to creating a market for legal, psychedelic mushrooms, the
ballot would lessen criminal penalties for those caught possessing,
distributing, or manufacturing illegally sourced psychedelic mushrooms.
There is promising research that shows that psilocybin might play a
role in treating addiction, but the idea that the whole mushroom—used
without exact dosages recommended by medical professionals and without
research that proves it’s doing more harm than good—is fundamentally
flawed.
What’s even more flawed is that this bill makes it that much easier for
people to recreationally experiment and abuse psychedelic mushrooms and
opens a can of worms—drivers on the roads who are hallucinating, loss
of touch with reality, extreme anxiety, and short-term psychosis.
We can’t rush good science, and the stakes—the health and wellbeing of
thousands—are too high to take chances. This approach of widespread
legalization is short-sighted and dangerous. As public health
advocates, it’s our duty to argue in favor of good science and good
health.
That means scientists and doctors, not ballot initiatives, should
determine when, if ever, and how psilocybin is legally used to treat
conditions.
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