Protests Drive DC Psychedelics Decriminalization Signatures As Activists Launch Major Mailer Campaign

Protests in the nation’s capital have helped drive about 5,000 new signatures for a local Washington, D.C. psychedelics decriminalization measure over the past week, organizers say. And now, activists are announcing on Tuesday that they are mailing petitions to every registered voter in the city as part of their campaign to place the initiative on the November ballot.

The proposal, I-81, would make enforcement of laws against various entheogenic substances such as psilocybin, ayahuasca and ibogaine among the city’s lowest law enforcement priorities. Decriminalize Nature D.C. (DNDC) has until July 6 to submit about 30,000 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot.

Activists encountered a serious challenge when they had to suspend in-person signature gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic, but local lawmakers gave them a boost when the D.C. Council approved emergency legislation allowing for alternative collection methods. DNDC then launched a test, sending 10,000 petitions to residents across the city and asking them to sign and return them.

A campaign representative told Marijuana Moment that in the four weeks since that initial mailing, about 7.4 percent have been returned with valid signatures—and they anticipate that rate to continue to tick up. The test encouraged them to repeat the process on a greatly expanded basis by mailing packets containing the petition to about 220,000 addresses—that’s every household in the city that has at least one registered voter living there.

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Help reform police priorities in the District of Columbia! If you are registered to vote in DC, we need YOUR help to put Initiative 81 on the November ballot. ⠀ ⠀ –> Download an official petition TODAY. Then, print, sign, scan (or take a picture) and return the signed petition by email! Get the petition here: https://decrimnaturedc.org/petition.pdf⠀ ⠀ #DecrimNature #PlantMedicine #Democracy #ReformPolice #LocalDemocracy #DemandReform #EndtheWaronDrugs #PoliceRefrom #Initiative81 #BallotInitiative #ChangetheLaw

A post shared by Decriminalize Nature DC (@decrimnaturedc) on Jun 9, 2020 at 4:45am PDT

Because of delays in mail processing—and the potential for errors on petitions that would need to be identified, returned, corrected and resubmitted—they’re asking voters to send in their signature sheets by June 26.

The COVID-19 outbreak certainly hit the campaign hard, but organizers have seen a significant, positive response during recent protests against police violence, where they have been able to station tents along main streets and collect signatures with social distancing measures in place.

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) was approached by a campaign volunteer at a recent protest. But while she held the petition and looked at it, she declined to sign. About 5,000 others did take the opportunity to sign at the events in the span of a week, however.

Im standing by the blue tent with @DecrimNatureDC which has collected over 5,000 signatures in the past week. #I81 is the only police priorities initiative to be on the ballot in DC this year. This is “Direct Democracy” proposed by #DCMOM@MelissaMNDC#BLM#DrugWar#PlantMedicinepic.twitter.com/rFhXvWLohm

— 🔥Adam Eidinger 🌊 (@aeidinger) June 8, 2020

The nature of the demonstrations has led DNDC to emphasize in their messaging the role of the drug war in racial injustices that protestors are targeting.

“As a campaign of concerned DC citizens focused on reforming police priorities and enacting this small step to end the war on drugs in the District of Columbia, Initiative 81 compliments policing reforms demanded at ongoing Black Lives Matter protests which DNDC has attended and supports,” the group said in a press release.

pic.twitter.com/Xty7FLp7zQ

— DecrimNatureDC (@DecrimNatureDC) June 5, 2020

Melissa Lavasani, DNDC’s chief petitioner, said that “in these uncertain times, engagement with local democracy is key to enacting real reform.”

“When you receive a petition in the mail, it is an invitation to both make a positive change in DC laws and to support local democracy by giving DC voters the opportunity to vote on Initiative 81 in November,” she said.

Cops need to take #mushrooms! #Healing#plantmedicine#BLM#BlackLivesMatter#Initiative81#entheogen#EndTheRacistDrugWar#DC#WashingtonDC#SignThePetition#DirectDemocracy#icantbreathe#georgefloyd#psilocybinmushrooms#psilocybe#psilocybinpic.twitter.com/CFjD6d5052

— DecrimNatureDC (@DecrimNatureDC) June 7, 2020

The cost of sending the 220,000 mailers is estimated to be about $160,000, the campaign said. That puts them over budget, but activists are confident that it will give them the push needed to make the ballot. Even if the valid signatures don’t come in ahead of the July 6 deadline, however, the group will be positioned to push ahead for the 2022 primary election—or a special election if something warrants that in the interim.

Though it only covers a small fraction of their costs to date, DNDC says it has brought in about $5,000 in donations after sending out handmade masks featuring various entheogenic plants. The activist company Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps has also donated substantial funds to the effort.

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Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

Psychedelics Decriminalization Moves Forward In Cities Around The U.S.

Activists in Berkeley, California and Port Townsend, Washington took steps this week to get psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics decriminalized, following in the footsteps of successful similar efforts in Denver and Oakland.

In Berkeley, a decriminalization resolution advanced in a City Council committee on Wednesday, and organizers in Port Townsend spoke about their proposal at a county public health board meeting on Thursday, with plans to formally present it to the City and County Council.

The Berkeley measure would prohibit city departments and law enforcement from using any funds to enforce laws against possession, propagation and consumption of psychedelics by individuals 21 or older. Members of the City Council Public Safety committee unanimously voted to send the resolution to the Berkeley Community Health Commission for further consideration.

If that panel approves the measure, the full Council will schedule a hearing and vote on final passage. Decriminalize Nature, the group behind this resolution as well as the successful passage of neighboring Oakland’s psychedelics decriminalization effort last month, said they hope the Council will act on the measure by early November.

Separately, activists in Port Townsend announced that they delivered a speech about their psychedelics decriminalization proposal during a meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health.

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Today we gave our speech to the Port Townsend County Board of Public Health! We are overwhelmed by the support of our community. Our group of supporters filled up half the audience. We are currently making plans to speak with the county health officer to talk about next steps in presenting in front of city and county council. Much gratitude 🙏 free the plants 🌱✨💖 #freetheplants #plantmedicine #mushrooms #ayahuasca #peyote #heal #pnw #porttownsend #endwarondrugs

A post shared by PT Psychedelic Society (@porttownsendpsychedelicsociety) on Jul 18, 2019 at 9:42pm PDT

Beyond prohibiting the use of government funds to criminalize adults for using and possessing the substances, the local Washington resolution also calls on the city administrator to “instruct the City’s state and federal lobbyists to work in support of decriminalizing all Entheogenic Plants and plant-based compounds that are listed on the Federal Controlled Substances Schedule 1.”

“We are overwhelmed by the support of our community. Our group of supporters filled up half the audience,” the Port Townsend Psychedelic Society said in an Instagram post. “We are currently making plans to speak with the county health officer to talk about next steps in presenting in front of city and county council.”

Alex Williams, who is leading the decriminalization effort in Berkeley, told Marijuana Moment that Wednesday’s Council committee meeting there “went better than I had anticipated” and that he feels “there is an excellent chance of the resolution passing.”

Watch the Berkeley Public Safety Committee discuss psychedelics, starting at about 42:00:

While Williams said two members of the committee seemed to be under the impression that the resolution is singularly geared toward recreational use and meant to “capitalize on a new market,” Decriminalize Nature plans to address those misconceptions, emphasizing that the measure would not provide for commercial manufacturing or sales and that “this process is very important to allowing safe, equitable access to marginalized communities.”

“It is essential that entheogenic substances be treats as sacred spiritual practices and healers,” he added.

The resolution defines entheogenic substances as “plants and natural sources such as mushrooms, cacti, iboga containing plants and/or extracted combinations of plants similar to ayahuasca; and limited to those containing the following types of compounds: indoleamines, tryptamines, phenethylamines.”

Two Councilmembers, Rigel Robinson and Cheryl Davila, are sponsoring the measure.

“You can imagine a day where, years from now, doctors working with patients with serious depression or veterans dealing with PTSD could actually offer them a more realistic and comprehensive suite of potential treatments, which may include some of these plants as the research over the last several decades has indicated,” Robinson said at the meeting.

While Berkeley might seem like an obvious target for psychedelics reform given the city’s decades-long close association with counterculture, the movement to remove criminal penalties is gaining steam nationally. Decriminalize Nature is maintaining a map of jurisdictions throughout the country where activists have expressed interest in pursuing a similar model.

Time to update the outreach board! Close to 100 locations have reached out now, some already speaking with their City Councilmembers. Great job everyone! #DecriminalizeNature#yourcity#DNUSApic.twitter.com/D7lbCpdi3c

— Decriminalize Nature (@DecrimNature) July 16, 2019

Also this week, a resident spoke at a Columbia, Missouri City Council meeting, asking the body to consider a resolution to decriminalize psychedelics. At least one councilmember expressed interest in following through, and he called the therapeutic potential of the natural substances “very promising.”

Individuals from nearly 100 cities have reached out to the organization for assistance advancing their own decriminalization efforts.

Voters in Denver kicked things off by approving the nation’s first-ever ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms in May.

Activists are currently pursuing efforts to place psilocybin-focused measures on statewide ballots in California and Oregon for next year.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mushroom Observer.