Denver Votes to Decriminalize Shrooms

As much of the country hems and haws about legalizing a plant that nearly half of adults in the U.S. have tried at least once, Denver is ahead of the curve, as usual: The city has voted in an initiative that will decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The measure—called Initiative 301—passed in the Eleventh Hour with just 50.6 percent of the vote, the Denver Post reports, but a passage is a passage. Though the results won’t be certified until May 16, and military and overseas ballots will continue to be counted, observers seem certain that they won’t overpower the 1,979 margin by which the initiative was passed.

“We’re sending a clear signal to the rest of the country that America is ready to talk about psilocybin,” Kevin Matthews, the leader of the “Decriminalize Denver” movement, which spearheaded the measure, told the Washington Post. “We have work to do, we’re ready for it and we couldn’t be happier.”

It’s not that mushrooms will be legal in Denver, but Initiative 301 does make the personal use and possession for people 21 and over the lowest law enforcement priority. It also calls for the establishment of a review panel to analyze the effects of decriminalization.

Still, mushrooms will remain a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, even as the FDA has granted “breakthrough therapy” status to study the effects of psilocybin on depression.