On Tuesday, Colorado voters approved a move to legalize possession of certain psychedelics and create psilocybin “healing centers.”
More than four years after Denver became the first U.S. city to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms, the state is legalizing small-scale possession of certain psychedelics, while following Oregon’s lead in allowing licensed establishments to administer supervised psilocybin services.
the Natural Medicine Health Act therefore legalizes the possession, consumption, cultivation, and sharing of psilocybin, ibogaine, mescaline (not peyote-derived), DMT, and psilocin for adults 21 and older, with no explicit possession limit. There will be no recreational sale.
A therapeutic program of psychedelics, reserved for adults aged 21 and over, must be put in place. Patients can then travel to an approved healing center to receive treatment under the guidance of a trained facilitator.
Only psilocybin and psilocin will be authorized for therapeutic use in approved healing centers until June 2026. After that date, regulatory authorities may decide to also authorize the regulated therapeutic use of DMT, ibogaine and mescaline.
A new 15-member Natural Medicine Advisory Board will be responsible for making recommendations on adding substances to the program. Members of the advisory board will include individuals with experience of psychedelic medicine in a scientific and religious context.
People who have served their sentence for a conviction related to an offense made legal by this new law will be able to ask the courts to erase their records. If the prosecutor does not object, the court will automatically have to erase this file.
