The governor of Colorado says a bill he recently signed into law to facilitate pardons for low-level psychedelics possession convictions represents another step “towards a fairer future.”
Gov. Jared Polis (D) last week gave final approval to legislation that empowers him and future governors to grant pardons to people who’ve been convicted of psychedelics-related offenses, which he’s advocated for since the state legalized certain entheogenic substances.
Polis promoted the “great news” on Monday, sharing a link to a Marijuana Moment article about the signing of the bill, as well as a separate measure aimed at reducing certain regulatory restrictions on cannabis businesses.
The bill allows for low-level “possession of psilocybin, ibogaine, and DMT, which is now legal today, to be removed from criminal records,” the governor said. “We’re working towards a fairer future.”
The newly enacted legislation from Sen. Matt Ball (D) and Rep. Lisa Feret (D) authorizes governors to grant clemency to people with convictions for low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT that have since been legalized for adults under a voter-approved ballot initiative in 2022.
It will also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”
That must include data on law enforcement activities, adverse health events, consumer protection claims and behavioral impacts related to psychedelics.
Prior to passage by the Senate last month, a committee amendment removed a government appropriation to pay for data collection and tracking, replacing a reference to “ongoing appropriations” with “appropriations or gifts, grants, or donations.” Ball said at the time that lawmakers have a letter of intent from the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative—a nonprofit that supports advancing psychedelic therapy—to fund the program for the entirety of its five-year duration.
The bill will earmark $208,240 in those funds for the governor’s office of information technology. “To implement this act, the office may use this appropriation to provide information technology services for the department of public health and environment,” the text says.
The legislation further amends rules around licensing and ownership of psychedelic healing centers. For example, it removes a requirement for fingerprint background checks for owners and employees of licensed facilities, making it so they would only be subject to a name-based criminal background check.
It additionally “requires the state licensing authority to adopt rules related to product labels for regulated natural medicine and regulated natural medicine products and permits the state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding the types of regulated natural medicine products that can be manufactured.”
The proposal overall earned support from an array of advocates, including psychedelic medicine proponents as well as groups more skeptical of legalization. Public commenters at a hearing seemed to agree that the bill’s data collection provisions would help observers both inside and outside Colorado better understand the outcomes around regulated psychedelics.
Late last month, Polis touted the fact that Colorado’s legal psychedelics program is “fully launched” now that regulators have issued licenses for each part of the psilocybin supply chain.
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Earlier this session, the governor signed into law a bill that would allow a form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal government authorizes its use.
While Colorado already legalized psilocybin and several other psychedelics for adults 21 and older through the voter-approved ballot initiative, the newly enacted reform will make it so drugs containing an isolated crystalized version synthesized from psilocybin can become available under physician prescription.
Polis signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal psychedelics in 2023.
Separately in Colorado, a bill that would have limited THC in marijuana and outlawed a variety of psilocybin products died following the lead sponsor’s move to withdraw the legislation.
Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert.
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