Back in August 2019, we published a small story about activists in Oregon working to decriminalize the use of magic mushrooms (psilocybin). Today, we’re here to tell you that these activists have taken a big step towards achieving their legalization goal.

After more than a year of work and significant pandemic disruptions, the Oregon Psilocybin Society has successfully collected the signatures necessary for IP-34, an initiative legalizing psilocybin psychotherapy, to be on the statewide ballot in the November 2020 election.

IP-34 is solely focused on legalizing psilocybin within a clinical and therapeutic context. Unlike other, broader, calls for legalization or decriminalization, this ballot measure does not allow for recreational uses of psilocybin, or home cultivation. Instead, it lays out a two-year timeline for the planning and development of licensing and regulatory processes for establishing clinical spaces to administer psilocybin psychotherapy.

“We are thrilled that Oregon voters have come together to tackle mental health and depression by qualifying this ballot measure for the November election,” says Tom Eckert, co-chief petitioner on the initiative. “Oregonians deserve access to psilocybin therapy as a treatment option – and now we officially have a chance to win it.”

Other groups around the United States have been working to get similar ballot measures up for the November election, with varying degrees of success. Most successful is a Washington DC measure called I-81, which has just been submitted to the DC Board of Elections for final verification and approval. I-81 is a more general decriminalization initiative targeted at a broad classification of entheogenic plants and fungi.