Another California City Approves Measure to Decrim

Another California City Approves Measure to Decriminalize Psychedelic Substances

Last week, the city council of Arcata, California, decriminalized psychedelic substances. The measure, which was approved in a unanimous vote, will make the distribution, growing and possession of entheogenic substances such as ayahuasca and psilocybin among the lowest law-enforcement priorities in the city. This is in addition to calling upon the district attorney of Humboldt County to consider the measure’s intent when deciding whether to prosecute individuals involved in the use of entheogenic fungi and plants. The initiative further states that driving under the influence as well as the manufacturing and commercial sale of psychedelic substances remains prohibited.

In an interview, Decriminalize Nature Humboldt lead organizer Danielle Daniel stated that the initiative represented a crucial point in history as it helped reclaim the people’s right to choose the path of healing they saw fit and explore their consciousness. She then noted that the decriminalization would allow residents of the city to grow, gather, gift and consume entheogens without fear of arrest.

The Arcata City Council is the third city in the state to decriminalize psychedelic substances; the first cities, which had similar proposals, are Santa Cruz and Oakland. The city council of Oakland voted to deprioritize the criminalization of entheogenic substances, with legislators approving a follow-up measure that called for the change in policy to be implemented statewide, adding that local jurisdictions would be authorized to allow healing ceremonies where individuals could ingest psychedelic substances.

In other news, activists in California are gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would legalize hallucinogenic mushrooms in the state. Additionally, an initiative to legalize a wide range of psychedelic substances in the state that had already advanced through a pair of assembly committees as well as the Senate was recently pulled by its sponsor in order to give it more time to garner additional support among legislators. The measure will be reintroduced in the coming legislative session, with its sponsor, Sen. Scott Wiener, asserting that he’s confident it will be approved.

Psychedelic policy reform efforts are also advancing in other parts of the country, including in Massachusetts, where the city council of Northampton approved a measure earlier this year. The legislation states that no police or government funds should be utilized in the enforcement of laws that criminalize individuals for being in possession of or using entheogenic fungi or plants. The city council of Seattle also passed a measure last week to decriminalize noncommercial activity around different psychedelic substances, including ibogaine, ayahuasca and magic mushrooms.

The growing momentum of the calls for change to psychedelics laws could bode well for companies such as Cybin Inc. (NYSE American: CYBN) (NEO: CYBN) that are engaged in developing medicines containing psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin since the public will already be aware of the therapeutic potential of those compounds by the time the novel drugs receive regulatory approval.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Cybin Inc. (NEO: CYBN) (NYSE American: CYBN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CYBN

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