Senator Scott D. Wiener. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
Psychedelic Drug Decriminalization Bill Narrowly Passed By CA Assembly & Senate
SB 58 currently awaits either Newsom’s signature or veto
By Evan Symon, September 8, 2023 12:14 pm
A bill to decriminalize plant-based psychedelic drugs was passed by the Assembly and Senate on Thursday, sending the bill to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk following a long battle in the legislature.
First introduced in December of last year, Senate Bill 58 by Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) proposed to decriminalize plant-based and other natural hallucinogens such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms), dimethyltryptamine (psychedelic drug DMT), ibogaine (psychedelic substance), and mescaline (psychedelic hallucinogen). In addition, law enforcement would be unable to charge those holding the drugs with a criminal penalty while also still being completely illegal for minors.
SB 58 also would remove bans on having psilocybin or psilocyn spores that can produce mushrooms, and on having drug paraphernalia associated with all decriminalized drugs. Specific limits outlined by the bill include up to 2 grams of DMT, 15 grams of Ibogaine, and 2 grams of Psilocybin. If approved, the bill would then go into effect beginning on January 1, 2025.
The current form of the bill is a significantly pared down version of SB 519, first introduced in January 2021 by Weiner that would not only have legalized the psychedelics in SB 58, but also would have included synthetic hallucinogens such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine (“dissociative anesthetic”), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy, molly). However, the bill was amended heavily in 2021 and 2022, removing ketamine, peyote derivatives of decriminalized mescaline, and other troubling parts for legislators and opposition groups, including law enforcement agencies. Despite the amendments, the bill was still gutted in August, removing everything but a single study on the use of the remaining drugs. In March, it was finally passed by the Senate Public Safety Committee, with the bill then moving directly to a Senate vote in May.
Since then, SB 58 has worked its way through the Assembly. While opposition remained strong, the bill managed to eke out just enough votes to move on. On Thursday, the bill continued this trend. In the Assembly, it passed 43-15, but with a much larger than usual 22 Assemblymembers choosing not to vote. The bill then went to the Senate again because of the number of amendments being made since May. There it was finally passed with a 21-14 vote, but with 5 abstaining.
BREAKING: Our bill to decriminalize personal possession & use of mushrooms & several plant-based psychedelics (SB 58) just received final approval from the Senate & is heading to the Governor!
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) September 7, 2023
Following passage on Thursday, Senator Wiener reiterated that the few remaining plant-based drugs left in the bill would only be decriminalized, and that the bill was mainly to help those suffering from disorders and conditions such as PTSD, depression, and addiction.
“We know these substances are not addictive, and they show tremendous promise in treating many of the most intractable conditions driving our nation’s mental health crisis,” said Wiener. “It’s time to stop criminalizing people who use psychedelics for healing or personal well-being.
“California’s veterans, first responders, and others struggling with PTSD, depression, and addiction deserve access to these promising plant medicines. SB 58 has prudent safeguards in place after we incorporated feedback from three years of deep engagement with a broad array of stakeholders. We know these substances are not addictive, and they show tremendous promise in treating many of the most intractable conditions driving our nation’s mental health crisis. It’s time to stop criminalizing people who use psychedelics for healing or personal well-being.”
While supporters celebrated the crucial votes on Thursday, opponents noted on Friday that the bill still has a long way to go.
“We were kind of expecting passage at this point because of how many Senators and [Assemblymembers] were saying that they would just abstain,” said former police officer and current drug counselor Marty Ribera. “But the bill has so much else to face right now. Newsom is first, and unlike a lot of other bills that are up right now, he has not exactly been endorsing this one. Newsom has presidential aspirations, and choosing to approve this has serious consequences. Well over half of all Americans oppose decriminalizing LSD, and when you take into account on the fence voters, the same goes for mushrooms. And we’re not just talking red states. Swing states like Georgia, Florida, and Virginia all have majority opposition, as do some blue states too. He’d also have to defend this decision in debates.
“But even if he approves that, the bill won’t come into effect until 2025. So that gives over a year to formulate court cases, get courts to block this, organize a signature drive to have voters vote on it, and so much more. As we’ve seen through things like Prop 22 overturning part what was a big part of AB 5, California voters have had enough of lawmakers making unpopular decisions on their behalf, so SB 58 could follow that. I don’t think Wiener knows exactly what a storm there is still ahead.”
Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) released a statement saying that SB 58 would only add to the current issues facing California, with decriminalized psychedelics joining such major problems like crime and homelessness.
“Crime and homelessness are out of control in California. If Democrats don’t think this will make things worse, they’re hallucinating – no mushrooms needed,” said Gallagher.
Governor Newsom has until October 14th to make a decision on the bill.
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Democrats want as many Californians as possible to not be present in reality so they can get away with their tyrannical rule? If there is any reason to avoid psychedelics, just look at creepy Democrat Senator Scott Weiner’s crazy dead eyes that look windows into hell?
SB-58 Controlled substances: decriminalization of certain hallucinogenic substances.(2023-2024)
Bill Votes
Date
09/07/23
Result
(PASS)
Location
Senate Floor
Ayes Count
21
Noes Count
14
NVR Count
5
Motion
Unfinished Business SB58 Wiener et al. Concurrence
Ayes
Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Becker, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Gonzalez, Laird, McGuire, Menjivar, Newman, Padilla, Roth, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Wiener
Noes
Alvarado-Gil, Blakespear, Dahle, Glazer, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Min, Nguyen, Niello, Portantino, Seyarto, Umberg, Wahab
NVR
Ashby, Limón, Ochoa Bogh, Rubio, Wilk
Bill Votes
Date
09/06/23
Result
(PASS)
Location
Assembly Floor
Ayes Count
43
Noes Count
15
NVR Count
22
Motion
SB 58 Wiener Senate Third Reading By Wilson
Ayes
Aguiar-Curry, Alvarez, Arambula, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Wendy Carrillo, Connolly, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Garcia, Gipson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, McCarty, McKinnor, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Pellerin, Rendon, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Ting, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas
Noes
Alanis, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Cervantes, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Irwin, Lackey, Muratsuchi, Joe Patterson, Sanchez, Ta
NVR
Addis, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Chen, Gabriel, Grayson, Hoover, Maienschein, Mathis, Papan, Jim Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Schiavo, Soria, Valencia, Wallis, Weber
SB 58, another destructive bill brought to us by the deluded and moneyed special interests behind Sen Scott Wiener, who for whatever reason decided to put Asm Lori Wilson in the line of fire as the author of this one, while Sen Wiener stood on the sidelines as co-author. SB 58 was then passed by legislative Dem/Marxists who have probably spent their whole lives doing drugs and hedonistically experimenting with the very hallucinogens that will be “decriminalized” in this bill, or even better using their “friends” for experimentation; ‘lawmakers’ whose worthless legislative seats are likely financed by the hallucinogenic/Big Pharma lobby and other destructive money-making interests, and who, at this point in their thus-far purposeless lives, apparently wouldn’t know the ‘right thing’ to do in any given situation if it repeatedly banged them over the head a few hundred times. Congratulations to you all, shameless Dem/Marxist legislators who voted in favor of SB 58, for your part in making the future in California even more of a smoldering landfill of a hellhole than it is now.
P.S. Wanted to express appreciation for Evan Symon’s thorough coverage of this bill in all of its reappearances and manifestations over these past two-and-a-half or so years.
CORRECTION: Please forgive me, I got my horrible bills mixed up — SB 58 and the recently passed AB 957. Sen Scott Wiener introduced SB 58 and was the principal author. Asm Lori Wilson was not the author or co-author of SB 58.
“Showandtell,” are you still at it? Still insisting that somehow it’s a great idea to continue threatening people with arrest and incarceration for growing small quantities of a safe and natural product in a shoebox, that they themselves will consume? Do you also want to criminalize brewing beer at home rather than buying Bud Light? Do you want to criminalize cooking from scratch rather than buying frozen dinners made by a big corporation? You seem convinced that somehow, some kind of Big Pharma is behind home-grow and home-use, with no money changing hands. Here’s a basic lesson in Capitalism: Corporations want people to buy their products, not to heal on their own. Think of Nestle, wanting mothers to buy their formula rather than breast-feed their children.
So fine, you want to throw around ad hominem attacks on the Democrats you don’t like, because you don’t have any meaningful argument for continuing prohibition. Accusing Dems being “hedonistic” doesn’t justify jailing people who expect to use their private homes for private purposes. Or maybe Wiener’s choice of nail polish color just doesn’t work for you.
And BTW, Wiener is still the author. I don’t know how you think something was foisted onto Wilson.
Hopefully Governor Newsom will sign this bill into law. It won’t change your life at all, because you won’t grow or use any of these materials. But it will change life much for the better, for a lot of other decent and deserving people.
Science Facts are you still at it? Still insisting that somehow it’s a great idea to ingest dangerous substances like psychedelics that threaten people who consume them as well as the people around them ? Show the proof that these substances have a benefit to health. Have you ever been on a highway or road at a late night or early morning hour when a motor vehicle is driving the wrong way? Fortunately I have not and hopefully you have not. My son in law is a Police Officer and has had the experience of dealing with drivers behaving in this manner in the act and unfortunately with the after effects of vehicular collision. He has seen an increase in these accidents since the legalization of marijuana in California and most of these accidents have other drugs involved. And yes the Wieeeeennnnneeeeeeerrrr is the author and I’m sure Governor Climate Change will sign it into law.
John the Patriot: If your son really is a police officer, ask him what substances show up in DUI tests. Alcohol is number one. Yes, cannabis shows up a lot, but it is not in SB-58. Other substances that show up include fentanyl, meth, cocaine, other opiates. They aren’t in SB-58, but those very substances in SB-58 facilitate the most promising addiction recovery protocols for alcohol, fentanyl, meth, cocaine and other opiates. So who is “on the side” of combatting DUIs? Is it prohibitionists trying to suppress SB-58?
Also ask your son how many times the primary intoxicant in a DUI turns out to be anything permitted under SB-58.
There are plenty of review articles you can look at if your question is sincere. For example, Van Der Meer, Pim B., et al. “Therapeutic effect of psilocybin in addiction: A systematic review” from Frontiers in Psychiatry is free to read. But in any sane world, the burden of proof should be on the party that wants to continue prohibition. What proof do you have that SB-58 would cause any ills at all? What proof do you have that prohibition is motivated by anything but oppression and tyranny?
Oh goodie, more drugged out zombies coming to a city near you.
I had a drugged out guy my porch in the middle of the night, just last week. Fun times.
This again is a slippery slope just like the marijuana laws.
How many people are now in public places literally blowing it in bystanders faces?
Sweetie, the “zombies” are the ones who want to continue prohibition for no coherent reason. There’s no such thing as “liberally blowing it in bystanders faces.” That is LITERALLY nonsensical. If these substances scare you, don’t use them. It’s that easy!
On the other hand, if you’re faced with PTSD, with existential anxiety, with a terminal cancer diagnosis and any host of other elements of the human condition, this new legislation will at least give you the freedom to make a choice for yourself, whether you want to address those burdens or not. The alternative is to let rather than having the nanny state make it for you.
Science Facts, your picture looks familiar! Are you not that person I see outside the courthouse at the Trump indictments? You know, the guy with the “No One Is Above the Law” sign wearing the short pants with the white pasty legs? Get some sunscreen dude!
John, it’s nice that you like my picture, but you don’t know me. Someday we might have a beer together and actually get to know each other.
“Science Facts” – I suppose you think it’s cute or funny that a drugged-out stranger shows up on the porch of someone’s house in the middle of the night? Or blows a lungful of super-strength foul-smelling pot smoke (or worse) in someone’s face on the street? So that anyone passing by is affected too, whether they want to be or not? What an unpleasant, condescending, abusive person you are.
Science Facts, are you the bizarre Timothy Leary style drug character that used to occasionally show up on Dragnet, and always manage to suck all the air out of the room? You rock, sweetie!
Oh Science Facts you never disappoint.
Thank you for catching my typo , I meant to say, literally not liberally.
You remind me of a past poster named, “Concerned Citizen”.
Yes, people purposefully blow smoke into others faces in public places.
Still snarky, I see. Maybe a puff would do you some good in private of course.
Actually, I did not make a typo, as I just put on reading glasses to reread my original post.
I stand by my observations.
So have a good night S.F. or should I say sweetie!
I know I will sleep well tonight. Prayer and knowing there is a loving God is what gets me through life. No drugs needed. I pray that those suffering will find solace in Jesus as well.