D.C. voters to weigh in on ‘magic mushroom’ decriminalization after months-long campaign
Initiative 81, also known as the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, made the ballot after months of wrangling over its legality and a nationwide debate about policing and the medical value of psychedelic drugs. If D.C. voters approve the measure, the nation’s capital would join a handful of cities decriminalizing certain psychedelic plants and fungi, including those known as “magic mushrooms.”
Mason Marks, an attorney and physician who teaches health law at Harvard Law School, said “there will still be many critics, but it’s difficult to argue that decriminalization is a bad idea.” Racial justice protests over police shootings that galvanized the nation this summer have made the ballot initiative more relevant, he said.