California Moves to Legalize Psychedelic Drugs
The New American | 6/30/2021 | Veronika Kyrylenko

… The measure already passed the state Senate on a 21-16 vote and now heads to the health committee before it can go to the full Assembly, NBC Bay Area reports.

If passed, Senate Bill 519 would allow those 21 and older to possess for personal use and non-commercial “social sharing” of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic component of so-called magic mushrooms. It also covers psilocin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, often called ecstasy). In total, there are 23 hallucinogenic substances on the bill.

The bill also includes language to end promotion of abstinence in state drug and alcohol programs.

… the bill’s author, Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), is optimistic about the legislature’s chances.

Wiener states he is pushing the measure as a way to expand treatment for mental illnesses and roll back criminal-justice policies that he sees as discriminating against people of color.