Back in 2019, Denver made national headlines as the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms. On Monday, Denver City Council unanimously repealed that landmark law.
The reason for the change: Voters across Colorado approved an even bigger change, decriminalizing psilocybin statewide and creating a legal therapeutic industry through Prop. 122.
“The initiative approved by Colorado voters … essentially makes the Denver psilocybin initiative obsolete,” said Abbey Soisson of the Department of Excise and Licenses.
With the passing of a bill on Monday, the city has fully embraced the state’s regulatory framework, she said. That includes creating rules and regulations for where and how the state's new psilocybin cultivators and therapy services can operate in Denver.
Healing centers could take many forms, ranging from retreats to “social consumption venues” or something more like a therapist’s office, according to city officials.
It’s not clear when exactly Denver’s first legal psilocybin businesses will open, but the state was expecting to start licensing some businesses this month.
Some critics worry that overregulating the industry will make it prohibitively expensive to grow and use psilocybin mushrooms legally and will hurt people who have found an affordable approach to natural medicine. Now, they will have to pay for state and local licenses.
What are Denver’s new rules for psilocybin?
The new state law does not allow for the retail sale of psilocybin. Instead, customers will pay to use it in a supervised environment, or it can be shared free of charge for personal use.
Under Denver’s new rules, healing centers and practitioners must have both a state and local license, while cultivating, manufacturing and testing facilities need only a state license.
Denver will ban healing centers within 1,000 feet of childcare centers and K-12 schools, following state guidelines.
The new rule does not allow natural medicines to be advertised to minors or for healing centers to misappropriate Native American and Indigenous cultures. The city will ban all outdoor advertising for natural medicine, as it does with marijuana.
The law would exempt members of federally recognized tribes performing traditional or religious ceremonies from needing a license. But those individuals do have to inform the people participating in the ceremony that they are unlicensed, explained Soisson.
Under state law, individuals also can cultivate their own mushrooms in private spaces that are no bigger than 12 feet by 12 feet.
Denver will not be limiting when natural medicine businesses can operate, though the city does have that power under state law.
How will enforcement work?
Enforcement will be focused on businesses operating in a gray area or without a license. A range of unlicensed psilocybin businesses have already cropped up in Denver, including some that give away the drug while charging for related services.
“In order to support the regulated market and the licensed market that the voters voted for in Proposition 122, we would need to be able to do some enforcement, to bring those unlicensed operators into compliance,” Soisson said.
That would be civil enforcement, not criminal.
How state and local laws will now work:
While Denver’s previous decriminalization ordinance was limited to “psilocybin mushrooms,” state law offers a framework for a broader array of natural medicines including psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline.
The repealed Denver law made enforcement involving psilocybin mushrooms the lowest law enforcement priority. That’s no longer an issue, since the state law now allows the personal use and possession of magic mushrooms.
One big change: Under Denver’s former law, the city could not use local funds and resources for enforcement. Now, the city must use local resources to enforce state and local laws regarding natural medicine.
The state’s Division of Professions and Occupations will oversee the regulation of the substances, and the Division of Natural Medicine will oversee where natural medicines can be grown, manufactured, tested and administered.
Under state law, cities can enact ordinances and regulations managing when, where and how natural medicine licenses can be granted. But localities can’t completely ban the establishment or operation of natural medicine licenses, ban the transportation of natural medicine by people with licenses or adopt rules that conflict with state law, according to Excise and Licenses.
The debate
In written testimonials submitted to council, people largely came out against repealing the previous ordinance.
Many were concerned that repealing decriminalization would take away rights from mom-and-pop producers and instead favor investor-backed companies that could afford the cost of licensing.
“This repeal is nothing short of a cash grab by an institutional body that is shortsighted in nature,” wrote Kyle Obenberger to council.
Councilmember Chris Hinds, who supported the voter-passed ordinance, described the repeal as “the natural evolution of the work we began in Denver years ago.”
He pointed to the work of other states that have figured out a regulatory framework for natural medicine and said that to keep up with progress, Denver should embrace something similar.
“State law has already surpassed what Ordinance 301 set out to do,” he said. “Keeping it on the books only creates confusion and regulatory conflicts. So instead of holding on to an outdated law, we should embrace a stronger, clearer system that builds on what we started.”
