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The Oakland City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution that calls on California state lawmakers to enact policies decriminalizing a wide range of psychedelics and allowing local jurisdictions to permit healing ceremonies where people could use entheogenic substances. The vote is a product of activist-led efforts by the group Decriminalize Nature (DN), which has been pushing local legislators to expand upon the city’s current decriminalization policy that was enacted last year. While the group introduced a measure in July to legalize healing ceremonies in Oakland where people could lawfully use psychedelics, they’ve decided for now to pursue a push for state-level legislative action after a senator said that he plans to file a bill to decriminalize psychedelics across California when the legislature reconvenes in January. The new proposal was presented before the Oakland City Council’s Rules and Legislation Committee earlier this month and has now been approved by the full body. Under the local resolution, sponsored by Councilman Noel Gallo (D), the city will urge the state legislature to “decriminalize the possession and use of entheogenic plants and fungi” and “allow local jurisdictions to authorize its citizens to engage in community-based healing ceremonies involving the use of entheogenic plants and fungi without risk of arrest and state prosecution.” The measure as introduced had included the phrase “decriminalize or legalize,” but Gallo moved to remove the legalize part just prior to the vote on Tuesday. The measure also asks state lawmakers to “provide protections against criminal prosecution for local jurisdictions, their elected and appointed officials, practitioners and users operating in accordance with the Oakland Community Healing Initiative.” It will further make it so city lobbyists would have to advocate for psychedelics reform in Sacramento. Oakland was the first city in the U.S. to make a broad range of psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca…
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Source : City Of Oakland Urges California To Decriminalize Psychedelics And Allow Healing Ceremonies
reposted by Cannabis News World