Psychedelics Decriminalization In California: Eureka City Council Latest To Pass Resolution

Several days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have decriminalized several natural psychedelics in the state, Eureka’s City Council announced its adoption of a resolution effectively deprioritizing state law enforcement for adult personal use, cultivation and possession of psychedelic plants and fungi.

With a unanimous vote, the measure approved on October 17 specifically decriminalizes possession, planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing and engaging in practices with entheogenic plants and fungi, or their extracted compounds on the federal Schedule I status. 

The measure states that the deprioritization language owes to the fact that local governments cannot avoid either state or federal laws against possession and use of entheogens. It further adds that this limiting of the city’s resources to enforce state and federal enforcement laws is not expected to have a fiscal impact on the city.

See Also: Congress Halts Hearing On Psychedelics & Veterans As House Speaker Drama Continues

Initially reported by Marijuana Moment, this is not the first local jurisdiction in California to embrace policy changes. Eureka is joining San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz as well as Portland, Maine, which recently adopted a similar measure.

And yet, what distinguishes it from other resolutions of the kind is that Eureka’s does not exclude the psychedelic cactus peyote, surrounded by both overharvesting and traditional indigenous use claims.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by chekart and YP_Studio on Shutterstock.