Detroit voters overwhelmingly approved Proposal E on Tuesday, to decriminalize naturally occurring psychedelic drugs including mescaline, ayahuasca, psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Proposal E, which was approved by 61 percent of the city’s voters, makes the personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants and fungi such as psilocybin mushrooms the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.
With the adoption of the ballot measure, Detroit becomes the latest municipality to approve psychedelics decriminalization measures, with Washington, D.C., Denver and Oakland, California and other cities nationwide passing similar legislation through the ballot box or city council action. Other cities in Michigan including Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids have also advanced similar measures.
“We are seeing a steady trend underway of local municipalities voting to decriminalize the therapeutic use of entheogenic plants, Dr. John Huber, CEO of TripSitter Clinic, a ketamine telemedicine clinic that has recently become available in Michigan, told High Times in an email.
“The passage of this ballot measure in Detroit represents where everyday people are at as it relates to embracing non-traditional modalities of healing,” Huber added. “Every local decriminalization law which passes serves to create a more equitable society: one that doesn’t judge or punish individuals for embarking on their own journey of healing.”
Proposal E qualified for Detroit’s November ballot after a signature-gathering campaign spearheaded by the group Decriminalize Nature Michigan. Moudou Baqui, a spokesperson for Decriminalize Nature in Detroit, said that the measure does not apply to commercial psychedelic activity, which would have necessitated detailed regulatory provisions.
“If we move to decriminalize, we eliminate a whole slew of potential issues, whether it’s licensing, whether it’s so-called code enforcement, whether it’s so-called compliance issues,” Baqui told Detroit public radio.