California Governor Gavin Newsom last week vetoed a bill that would have legalized the personal possession and use of some psychedelics including “magic mushrooms.” Newsom vetoed the bill on Saturday and called for legislation establishing regulations for the use of psychedelic drugs.
“California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines -replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychoses,” Newsom wrote in his veto message for the measure. “Unfortunately, this bill would decriminalize possession prior to these guidelines going into place, and I cannot sign it.”
The legislation, Senate Bill 58, was introduced by San Francisco Democratic Senator Scott Wiener in December 2022. After receiving approval from the California Senate in May, the bill was approved by the California State Assembly with amendments on September 6. The Senate passed the amended version the following day.
If it had been approved by Newsom, the legislation would have legalized the personal possession, cultivation and use of the natural psychedelics dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline (except for peyote), and psilocybin and psilocin, the primary psychoactive ingredients in “magic mushrooms,” by adults aged 21 and older. The bill did not include provisions allowing for sales of psychedelics, however.
SB 58 Supported By Vets Groups And Restorative Justice Advocates
Advocates for ending the War on Drugs had hoped that the legislation would be signed by Newsom, who as lieutenant governor was a staunch supporter of Prop 64, the 2016 ballot measure that legalized marijuana in California. The bill was also supported by veterans groups eager to ease restrictions on psychedelic drugs, which have shown the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions.
“Both peer-reviewed science and powerful personal anecdotes lead me to support new opportunities to address mental health through psychedelic medicines like those addressed in this bill,” Newsom acknowledged in his veto statement. “Psychedelics have proven to relieve people suffering from certain conditions such as depression, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other addictive personality traits. This is an exciting frontier and California will be on the front-end of leading it.”
Wiener, the bill’s author, said Newsom’s veto “is not the end of our fight,” adding that he planned to introduce legislation next year to address the therapeutic uses of psychedelics.
“This is a setback for the huge number of Californians — including combat veterans and first responders — who are safely using and benefiting from these non-addictive substances and who will now continue to be classified as criminals under California law,” Wiener said in a statement on Saturday. “Today’s veto is a huge missed opportunity for California to follow the science and lead.”
The psychedelics legalization bill was opposed by law enforcement groups and some mental health professionals. The California Coalition for Psychedelic Safety and Education, which opposed the measure, said regulations to govern the use of psychedelics are needed before the substances are legalized.
“We’re grateful that Governor Newsom listened to some of the top medical experts, psychedelic researchers and psychiatrists in the country who all warned that legalization without guardrails was at best premature for both personal and therapeutic use,” the coalition said in a statement on Saturday. “Any move toward decriminalization will require appropriate public education campaigns, safety protocols and emergency response procedures to help keep Californians safe.”
Jennifer Mitchell, a professor of neurology at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, has worked on developing psilocybin treatments for depression and other mental health conditions. But she opposed the approval of Senate Bill 58.
“My biggest concern is that it seeks to decriminalize personal use before developing an infrastructure that would ensure safety and education,” Mitchell told the Los Angeles Times, adding that if the measure had passed, California would see “more adolescent use than we already do because it will give [them] a green light.”
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