r/Spokane • u/rhymes_are_crimes • 2d ago
Politics We need your help to decriminalize natural psychedelics in Spokane!
Hi Spokane,
I'm Jenny Hansen, a mental health professional, advocate for healing veterans with psychedelic medicine, and I help lead Enlighten Spokane (Facebook is also here). We are pushing to decriminalize natural psychedelic medicine and join four other cities (Tacoma, Olympia, Port Townsend, and Seattle) in making investigation, arrest, and prosecution of these medicines Spokane's "lowest law enforcement priority".
Three councilmembers are on the fence regarding our resolution. We would greatly appreciate your help in reaching out, especially if you or someone you love has benefited from psychedelic medicines! Pointing out the mental health benefits of plant-based psychedelics could win them over.
The undecided councilmembers are:
Kitty Klitzke: [kklitzke@spokanecity.org](mailto:kklitzke@spokanecity.org)
Zach Zappone: [zzappone@spokanecity.org](mailto:zzappone@spokanecity.org)
Lily Navarrete: [lnavarrete@spokanecity.org](mailto:lnavarrete@spokanecity.org)
We have an example email here, if you can take five minutes and write them on behalf of veterans, mental health advocates, or anyone who has found relief using these medicines we would be so grateful!
Thank you!
12
u/cacapoopoopeepeshire 2d ago
I'm a physician and 100% pro-psychedelic.
Nerd moment: It's interesting to think about how and why a mushroom with the ability to manufacture psyschoactive substances evolved alongside primates with the ability to utilize those substances toward the creation of new neural pathways. As you age you lose neural connections in the brain, and nothing else has been identified (that I am aware of) with the ability to reliably CREATE and remodel neural connections. That's wild! Is this a symbiotic relationship? Is this a glorious random coincidence? Why does the mushroom create psychoactive compounds to begin with? It's trippy to think about (pun intended).
6
u/Snickersthecat 2d ago
I've wondered that myself Dr. Cacapoopoo. Maybe it's tied to anti-inflammatory properties? We know neuroinflammation is tied to ruminative disorders like depression, anxiety etc. and we see these disorders proliferate after stress or even mild concussions. Inflammation might make it hard to simply make connections between neuron 1 and neuron 2. The mushroom wants to upset and disorient you but accidentally makes you feel better at the same time.
2
u/Risknitall 2d ago
Let's all thank Terence McKenna for his groundbreaking research and documentation regarding this theory.... 50 years ago. 👏👏👏
Oh, Western medicine, what a fucking joke you are. Thank God physicians like you are at least speaking out on the obvious truth about homo sapiens and natural psychedelics. The Rastas popularized the term in regards to cannabis, also a natural psychoactive plant, but for other fungi and plants. They really are THE HEALING OF THE NATION!!! 🤙
12
u/seeker1351 2d ago
I composed and sent emails to all three. I finally feel useful, and for a good cause. Thanks for doing this.
3
4
10
7
u/IsopodCrafty4208 2d ago
I’m supportive of your cause… but… what is the identity of the mushroom on the website? It’s unclear to me if it’s a psychoactive one or an AI generated one. I suggest ensuring that you showcase a legit species that directly pertains to the initiative… identify it or change it to one that is.
3
u/Clinggdiggy2 Spokane Valley 2d ago
I don't know of any psychoactive mushroom that looks like that, it looks like the AI pulled features from a few different species. I agree though, I'm 110% supportive of this initiative but the AI image just bums me out.
2
u/SyntheticHalo 2d ago
I'm hoping it'll happen at least for Psilocybin in Illinois soon I know their is a major push for it within the state gov and I believe it has s good bit of support amongst people here but I guess we'll see. All I know is the stuff has saved me from some dark spots in my life.
2
u/Free_Handle4853 2d ago
Commenting so I can save this for later. But yes. Omg. I'll email them as soon as I have time
1
2
u/kamut666 1d ago
I support these things being decriminalized. However my question is what would the practical upshot be? They’re illegal at the state and federal level. Thus you’re probably not going to do anything with them in Spokane under any mental health professional license. Is the practical upshot just that the Spokane police can’t bust you for shrooms? They don’t bust people for any other drug/crime, so it seems like every drug is de facto decriminalized here. I’m just wondering what will be different if this passes.Do these other cities have retail spaces that sell shrooms?
3
u/rhymes_are_crimes 1d ago edited 1d ago
This purely covers non-commercial use, i.e. gifting, gathering, or growing natural psychedelics. While it is technically illegal under federal/state law, drug enforcement in higher levels of government is focused on opioids and municipal LEOs perform >90% of arrests in regard to substance possession. There are no cities in the US with retail spaces that sell mushrooms, Vancouver BC does have some which operate in a "grey market". Fundamentally, there are many law-abiding people who are deterred from bettering their mental health because they are still illegal and don't want to risk prosecution. Decriminalizing these medicines helps put their minds at ease.
Starting at the municipal level was the same strategy to stop prosecution of cannabis-related crimes and it sends a signal in higher-levels of government that this is not a political liability they should be concerned about (this is probably the most profound impact decriminalization would have in my opinion). On top of that, the rumor mill hints there are political donors on the western side of the state who still view Spokane as a fundamentally conservative place and would potentially support statewide decriminalization if it was passed here.
1
2
u/skipnw69 2d ago
I am confused. So the ones that don’t support it are the progressive council members???
2
u/LeftyDorkCaster 2d ago
It sounds like they simply have not announced how they'll be voting yet. Which can occur for a bunch of different reasons: 1. this would be a high profile but potentially low impact resolution, so sometimes council members want to save their power for something higher impact, 2. They haven't heard enough from constituents to be clear on whether they'd be acting on the will of their constituents, 3. they've decided how to vote but simply haven't released a statement yet.
1
1
1
u/NoIdea4u 21h ago
I'm wondering how businesses can sell them now? I have bought mushroom infused chocolates in Spokane, in a store.
1
u/Odd-Contribution7368 Spokane Valley 2d ago
So which council members are decided, and pro/con?
7
u/rhymes_are_crimes 2d ago
The other councilmembers are supportive but there's wariness putting an ordinance on the agenda without unanimous approval. This is an issue many politicians are not familiar with so they need to hear from their constituents before they feel comfortable moving forward.
-10
u/Smooth_Record_42 2d ago
No we don’t
6
u/Laserkweef 2d ago
No we don't what?
-8
u/Smooth_Record_42 2d ago
Need to decriminalize drugs. Everyone saw what happened to Portland and after they realized they fked up they reversed their stance 3 months ago
9
u/Snickersthecat 2d ago
Psychedelics are a completely different class of drugs than opioids with completely different pharmacology. There is absolutely no evidence any classical psychedelic induces dependence, much to the contrary they actually seem to treat dependence on other drugs such as nicotine, opioids, cocaine etc. and we have dozens of papers demonstrating this. This is in addition to the mental health benefits for MDD/TRD and PTSD especially (amongst others).
6
u/Laserkweef 2d ago
This isn't an open ticket on decriminalized drugs. These are therapeutic drugs. Anyone with an opinion on their future legality or medical merit should probably try some first before casting judgment.
5
u/JohnnyEagleClaw 2d ago
“we”? You don’t speak for me 🤡
-6
u/Smooth_Record_42 2d ago
Guess my vote will cancel out your vote then
9
u/EmptyDrawer9766 2d ago
That’s ok. I’ll make up for the one you cancelled out. There is some amazing research you should read regarding mushrooms and micro dosing helping veterans and others with PTSD and seizures.
5
u/zero_cares_given 2d ago
I'll vote positively to erase your negative vote. Maybe you should research what this is before having a negative opinion about it. This isn't an open door for everyone to start doing drugs.
1
1
u/skipnw69 1d ago
Who is “we”?
-1
u/Smooth_Record_42 1d ago
Majority of non Reddit people apparently
1
u/skipnw69 1d ago
You are more confusing than Joe Biden.
1
u/Smooth_Record_42 23h ago
Why because myself and millions of other Americans don’t want to legalize drugs? It’s that confusing to you?
0
u/Kind_Koala4557 1d ago
I think if a licensed professional is handling the situation and measurable benefits have been documented (like in the case of EMDR), our laws should allow for its use. As an aside, law enforcement resources would be better spent prioritizing violent crimes. However, I do think it should have all the appropriate regulations around it the same way we do for narcotics and other pharmaceuticals.
12
u/Responsible_Screen81 2d ago
I am a vet who came home got addicted to opiates and threw away years of my life. I moved from the Deep South to PNW and grew my shrooms and then I experimented after watching buddies go through John Hopkins studies with MDMA ect.
It changed and saved my whole life. No more addiction, no more self harm or risky behaviors and I actually like life again after a decade of wishing for death everyday. I microdose now and it helps me write grants, take care of my clients, be a better father and more patient in general. Can’t convince me that it’s not powerful stuff. I left the Army on a one way trip to dying addicted and broken and today I can’t even understand who I was then! It works for a lot of people…..not everyone I’m sure but a lot of us have used shrooms to great effect…