Legalize It

The amazing magic mushroom

Colorado residents are voting on whether to decriminalize Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa, otherwise known as magic mushrooms or Shrooms.

For my own part, I say "hell yes!"

My answer may lead readers to think that I must be a rabid Shroom-user, foaming at the mouth for my next trip. 

The truth is, I only used magic mushrooms once, 35 years ago. 

I am for the decriminalization of drugs. Criminalizing substances such as magic mushrooms does more harm than good. 

I am also for eradicating the private prison system. Putting non-violent offenders in jail for drug use, often for longer terms than violent criminals such as rapists and even murderers serve only benefits the corporations who own these prisons. 

Colorado legalized marijuana years ago, and it was a fantastic decision. 

Instead of buying sketchy weed from Danny Dealer or your cousin Pot Head, people can now purchase quality-controlled marijuana products from clean, regulated dispensaries, and the state collects revenue from these establishments.

Substances like marijuana and psilocybin should be treated the same way as alcohol. People need to be adults to purchase these substances, and it should be illegal to drive while under the influence.

I have never understood why either marijuana or psilocybin are categorized as a schedule I drug. Schedule I substances are those which have no medical benefits. Marijuana has ample medical benefits. I use the lowest dose edible (2.5 mg THC combined with 2.5 mg CBD) to help lower eye pressure (I have glaucoma) and to help me sleep. 

I have a lifelong history of insomnia. The low-dose edible acts as a mild sedative. I do not hallucinate or feel "high." I do not sleepwalk or have bizarre dreams as I did when taking Ambien or Lunesta. I don't feel angry for no reason as I do when taking Benadryl. 

Marijuana shrinks certain tumors, helps with nausea in chemotherapy patients, helps prevent seizures, and helps with chronic pain without the side effects of opiates. It is hardly a useless substance.

As the article linked above states, medical researchers have found psilocybin beneficial in reducing anxiety and depression in cancer patients. I worked with the elderly and hospice patients for approximately 25 years of my working life. At this point, the treatment of people at the end of life amounts to keeping them drugged so they sleep all the time. From my own experience with psilocybin, they had mild psychedelic properties. Granted, I only took a small dose. However, I was much more in control and aware of my surroundings than I had been when taking LSD.

A dose of psilocybin could allow a terminally ill patient to remain aware while reducing fear and contributing to a sense of well-being without depressing the central nervous system as severely as narcotic pain medications do.

Psilocybin is a substance with low toxicity and low harm potential. The same cannot be said for the widely prescribed and highly addictive opiates.

Legalize and study psilocybin.

Make marijuana legal on a federal level.

End the privatized prison system. 

Make medical care, including end of life care, better for patients.

Stop the stigma.

Decriminalizing drugs is not the same thing as saying it's okay to spend your life getting high. It's saying let's stop wasting taxpayer dollars and police time on non-violent drug users and instead stop the real criminals. Let us treat addiction as a psychological issue rather than a criminal act.

By the way, psilocybin has a far lower addiction potential than many legal drugs, such as benzodiazepines and opiates.

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com