The DC Board of Elections has certified Initiative 81, which would effectively decriminalize the use and possession of natural psychedelics like “magic mushrooms” and ayahuasca. That means the question will appear on the ballot this November.
Organizers of the initiative, who include some veterans of the cannabis-legalization Initiative 71, managed to get more than 35,000 signatures to place the item on the ballot. It doesn’t demand legalization of entheogenic plants and fungi but calls for DC police make psychedelic-related arrests among their “lowest law enforcement priorities.”
Senior editor
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
