Local Illinois Lawmaker Pushes For Psychedelics Decriminalization With New Bill
MJ moment
An Evanston, Illinois lawmaker is sponsoring a new proposal to make the Chicago suburb the next U.S. city to decriminalize psychedelics. Councilmember Devon Reid’s proposal would make possessing, cultivating and delivering entheogenic substances like psilocybin punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time. That fine could be waived for people who complete a drug treatment program or “reasonable public service work.” The bill further says that the “investigation or arrest of anyone for planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, or engaging in practices with or possessing entheogenic plants or plant compounds shall be the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.” Reid told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday that he expects that the legislation will be taken up by the Human Services Committee, where he serves as a member, at its next meeting in December. The proposal is something of a hybrid, combining language from a broader drug decriminalization bill he previously sponsored that was not enacted and the deprioritization provisions of psychedelics reform measures that activists and local lawmakers have pursued across the U.S. in recent years. As it’s currently drafted, the measure lists four examples of entheogens that would be covered under the policy—psilocybin, psilocyn, peyote and ayahuasca—but it also says decriminalization would not be “limited to” those psychedelics. Reid said his intent is to have the legislation cover all entheogenic plants and fungi. Cities like Denver, Oakland and Seattle that have enacted psychedelics decriminalization haven’t included a fine element to the policies. The councilmember said that he essentially used language of his prior drug decriminalization bill, “honing it in” in the interest of building enough support for passage. “We need to change our approach to drug laws. We need to stop criminalizing folks, and I think particularly with controlled substances such as cannabis, psilocybin and other naturally derived…
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Source : Local Illinois Lawmaker Pushes For Psychedelics Decriminalization With New Bill
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