Leaders In Washington State’s Capital City Pass Psychedelics Decriminalization Resolution

Leaders in Washington State’s capital city of Olympia voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass a resolution locally decriminalizing psilocybin and certain other psychedelic plants and fungi. It’s the latest locality in the state to pass such a measure following similar changes in Seattle, Port Townsend and Jefferson County.

The resolution adopted by the City Council declares that “the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone engaging in entheogen-related activities should be among the city of Olympia’s lowest law enforcement priorities.” It also expresses support for “full decriminalization of these activities” at the state and federal levels.

It further states that “no City funds or resources should be used for investigation, prosecution, or arrest of individuals possessing or using entheogenic plants or fungi.”

The two-page document does not provide an exhaustive list of every psychedelic plant and fungi covered under the change, though it points to substances “including, but not limited to” psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca tea, mescaline and iboga.

The change officially takes effect 30 days after passage, said Councilmember Clark Gilman, who sponsored the measure.

“The Olympia City Council was very proud to pass this resolution making psilocybin and plant-based medicine the lowest enforcement priority and to call on state and federal governments to decriminalize,” Gilman told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. “Our decision was shaped by powerful testimonials and information that came from many community advocates, and we came to understand that it’s a medicine and another way of people seeing healing and a better quality of life.”

The move is backed by the group Decriminalize Nature Olympia, which began advocating for the change in earnest last year.

“This is a victory for our community and a testament to the power of grassroots efforts,” local organizer Ekaterina Henyan said in an email to Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. “I look forward to continuing to support each other and creating a future where everyone can explore and heal in their own way.”

Henyan emphasized that the push was a collective effort, thanking groups such as the national advocacy organization Decriminalize Nature as well as statewide and local partners.

“It’s been an amazing journey and a wonderful outcome,” she said.

The resolution, introduced in June, references the growing scientific and medical understanding of psychedelics, noting that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted breakthrough therapy status to psilocybin for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder.

“Depression, severe anxiety, problematic substance use, post-traumatic stress, end-of-life anxiety, grief, intergenerational trauma, and other physical and mental conditions are plaguing many communities,” it says, “and scientific and clinical studies show the benefits of entheogens in treating these conditions.”

The resolution does not affect laws against driving under the influence of psychedelics. It also does not allow possession or distribution of entheogens in schools or the manufacture of entheogenic plants and fungi for commercial purposes.

The Olympia Police Department appears to be on board with the change. In a memo to the council, Police Chief Rich Allen said that retaining the ability to investigate crimes such as driving under the influence of psychedelics or possessing them on school property “provides the police department with the necessary tools to address public safety risks, while simultaneously honoring the council’s intent.”

Allen also noted that the department was unable to locate any records from the past five years in which charges or arrests in Olympia were based solely on psilocybin possession.

Gilman, the councilmember, said that Olympia has been working “over the past few years to reimagine our public safety efforts in ways that, rather than penalizing people, create a safer and healthier environment for everybody.”

“This lowest enforcement priority is much like de-emphasizing traffic stops and other low-level interactions that police have had with people,” he said, “to allow them to work on issue of public safety that are more of an immediate threat to people and to engage in a more positive way with the community.”

Olympia’s one of at least six municipalities across the state where activists set out late last year to pass psychedelics reform at the local level. Organizers told Marijuana Moment at the time that the grassroots strategy was inspired in part by municipal psychedelics reform in cities across Massachusetts—a movement that has since put a statewide psychedelics legalization initiative on the 2024 ballot.

Following Olympia’s adoption of the decriminalization resolution, a representative of the statewide advocacy group Psychedelic Medicine Alliance WA told Marijuana Moment this week that the city of Tacoma is “next on the agenda.”

Congratulations Olympia on being the third city in the state to decriminalize! 🎉🎉🎉

Many other cities in Washington need grassroots organizers to make this a reality. If you’re interested, please reach out. https://t.co/63R32VtZU2

— Psychedelic Medicine Alliance WA (@pma_wa) August 14, 2024

Gilman, for his part, said he hopes other local jurisdictions pass resolutions of their own.

“I hope that other local governments will follow Olympia’s example,” he said, “and together we’ll make the case to the legislature that these plant-based medicines are an important treatment modality that should be allowed.”

At the state level, organizers are also working to put a measure on the state’s ballot that would legalize a number of plant- and fungi-based psychedelics for personal use, including psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline and DMT.

The action in Olympia comes as more governmental and public health organizations acknowledge the negative impacts of the drug war and encourage an approach based more on harm reduction.

For example, the American Medical Association (AMA) has now formally endorsed drug decriminalization, adopting the policy position at its annual meeting in June. The body is calling for the “elimination of criminal penalties for drug possession for personal use as part of a larger set of related public health and legal reforms designed to improve carefully selected outcomes.”

AMA also recommended adopting a policy supporting “federal and state efforts to expunge, at no cost to the individual, criminal records for drug possession for personal use upon completion of a sentence or penalty.”

Dozens of United Nations (UN) human rights experts have also called for a less-punitive approach to global drug policies, urging member nations last month to focus less on punishment and criminalization and more on harm reduction and public health while specifically calling for “decriminalisation of drug use and related activities, and the responsible regulation of all drugs to eliminate profits from illegal trafficking, criminality and violence.”

And a recent report from the RAND Corporation urged that “now is the time” for federal policymakers to decide how to regulate psilocybin and other substances.

Both the RAND report and a separate study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), meanwhile, also indicate growing interest in microdosing psychedelics.

While researchers in the JAMA study noted that federal prohibition means unsanctioned use of the psychedelic could pose risks to consumers, another federal agency recently acknowledged the potential benefits the substance might provide—including for treatment of alcohol use disorder, anxiety and depression. It also noted psilocybin research being funded by the federal government into the drug’s effects on pain, migraines, psychiatric disorders and various other conditions.

One substance not covered under the new Olympia resolution is MDMA, which is also emerging as a potentially potent therapy for certain conditions. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected MDMA as a treatment for PTSD.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mädi.