Olympia City Council considers decriminalizing shrooms and other psychedelics | The Daily Chronicle – Centralia Chronicle

The Olympia City Council will consider a proposal to decriminalize psilocybin and other fungal and plant-based medicines within city limits.
Two council members voiced hesitation during a conversation about the proposal Tuesday night, worried that abuse of psychoactive drugs will rise in the state’s capital if approved.
The referral was drafted by council member Clark Gilman and brought to the City Council on June 18. It was backed by council members Dani Madrone and Robert Vanderpool.
Gilman said it’s time the city of Olympia joins other cities across the country, and the state of Oregon, in decriminalizing entheogenic substances, including psilocybin and other fungal and plant-based medicines. He said they’ve been shown to assist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression.
“We had in particular advocates coming from the veterans community talking about the impacts of PTSD and the rates of suicide in their community, and what they’ve experienced with the efficacy of these sorts of treatments,” Gilman said.
Entheogens refer to any living, fresh, dried or processed plant or fungal material that may contain psychoactive compounds such as indolamines, tryptamines and phenethylamines. They include teas, powders, psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca tea, mescaline and iboga.
If passed, arrests and prosecutions of people engaging in activities with these substances would become a low-level priority for the Olympia Police Department. Uses of the substances listed include for spiritual and religious reasons, healing and personal growth practices.
Gilman’s proposal states no city funds or resources should be used to investigate, prosecute or arrest individuals solely for entheogenic plants and fungi.
The council stated its unanimous support for the full decriminalization of use of these psychoactive substances at the state and federal level.
It also referred Gilman’s proposal to staff and the police department for review. Gilman said the plan is to have the Chief of Police report to the council on current enforcement of nature-based psychedelics.
Mayor Pro Tem Yến Huỳnh said she had a lot of questions when she first heard about the proposal. She wondered if enforcement is an issue in Olympia now and what the perception would be of such a move by the City. But she recognizes that it’s part of a larger effort.
“There is an opportunity for me to check my own biases with this one, because I will tell you I did not like it,” Huỳnh said. “I thought, ‘What? Mushrooms? What are we doing with that? Why now? We have enough things on our plate.'”
Council member Lisa Parshley said the majority of medicine comes from natural sources. She said St. John’s wort has been used as an antidepressant. A cancer drug was made out of Pacific yew bark.
But while supporting alternative medicines, she said there’s always the potential for abuse and self medication. She thinks people should still be charged with a low-level misdemeanor.
“I do worry — and I’m of the age, eight Grateful Dead concerts — that I do know that it’s an extreme potential,” Parshley said. “I’d hate to tie the hands of our police department.”
She also asked that the Social Justice and Equity Commission review the proposal, specifically how treatments involving psychedelic drugs have affected community members who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color.
Mayor Dontae Payne said he supports moving the proposal forward for review, but he doesn’t want the city to get too far ahead of other jurisdictions — or science.
Payne said in 2022 the state Legislature directed the Health Care Authority to create a work group whose purpose was studying making psilocybin and other psychoactive substance-therapy services available in Washington.
Gilman said as far as he knows, those groups are still in the research phase.
“This one has taken me some time to think about, and obviously I think about the people who spoke against the legalization of marijuana and how wrong those people were,” Payne said. “We’re in a place of, we just don’t know, and I want to acknowledge that.”
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