Oakland Is On Its Way To Decriminalize Psychedelic Medicine With A Mental Health Ordinance Draft
An organization in Oakland called Decriminalize Nature has submitted a document called Emergency Mental Health Ordinance Draft to City Council with the goal to “improve human health and well-being by decriminalizing and expanding access to entheogenic plants and fungi through political and community organizing, education, and advocacy.”
The organization submitted the draft to Oakland City Council recently in order to legalize community-based healing with entheogens. Entheogens are psychoactive plants that are used as spiritual sacraments in a group and community-based environments tools to facilitate spiritual healing, help erase trauma, and decrease or eliminate mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
“Members of these vulnerable communities are not receiving adequate mental health services in our country, and now with a global pandemic and increasing economic disparities, the situation is worsening. People have been healing from plant-based group ceremonies for centuries. The solution we’re offering the city is to bring the ancient wisdom and practices that have enabled communities to heal for centuries, together with modern science and harm reduction techniques that are showing high rates of success of mental health healing in scientific studies, and will cost participants next to nothing”, said Carlos Plazola, the Chair of Decriminalize Nature.
Oakland is in the next stages of decriminalizing psychedelic-infused substances as the decree is meant to regulate and govern the proper uses of psychedelic medicine. The draft reports that it aims to “create a regulatory framework enabling practitioners and facilitators to receive legal protections under a community-based healing ordinance in exchange for agreeing to abide by safe practice guidelines and principles developed by leaders and experts in plant-based healing ceremonies.”
The Decriminalize Nature group of Oakland is hoping for final approval of this game-changing decree for psychedelic-space business and researchers, especially as the federal U.S. elections are swiftly approaching the world. Approval of the decree may create new psychedelic start-ups, acquisitions and mergers, jobs, and boost the State’s economy–– helping eradicate at least some effect of post-pandemic losses. The organization said that they are hoping for approval by October 2020.
