Senator Scott Wiener. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
Senator Wiener Admits Psychedelic Drug Decriminalization Bill May Not Pass
Support for SB 58 has been declining throughout the year
By Evan Symon, June 17, 2023 2:45 am
Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) admitted at a virtual event this week that his bill to decriminalize some psychedelic drugs would have a hard time passing the Assembly in the coming months. His bill needs to pass two tough Committees and a growing number of lawmakers are not on board with the bill.
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.
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.
In late May, the bill managed to pass the Senate, but due to a growing number of lawmakers opposing the bill, it only passed 21-16. The historical problems of similar past bills in the Assembly, combined with more lawmakers scrutinizing SB 58, have greatly increased the odds of the bill managing to get out of the Assembly at all, with Senator Wiener finally noting the challenges ahead at a Psychedelic and Entheogen Academic Council (PEAC) event on Wednesday.
Concern grows over SB58 chances of passing Assembly
“It’s not guaranteed to pass in the Assembly,” Wiener said on Wednesday. “But we’re going to try the very best we can. Part of the complication, is that the measure has been referred to a second Assembly policy committee before it potentially moves to Appropriations and then the floor. It may clear the Public Safety Committee when it goes before that panel on June 27, but its fate is less certain in the Health Committee after that,” he said.
“That is a very hard committee for us. And so I cannot guarantee that we’re going to be able to get a majority of the votes in that committee. We barely got it out by the skin of our teeth last year, and the committee is probably a little less favorable this year. It’s very uncertain what’s going to happen in the Assembly. We’re just going to do our very best to try to move forward.”
“There’s a variety of reasons why people express concerns. I also have colleagues who, despite those concerns, have been willing to listen, meet with our veterans, meet with experts and really think it through and ultimately support the bill. But it’s always been a tough pill.”
Even if it passes the Assembly, Wiener also said that it would still be up in the air, as Governor Gavin Newsom has not publicly said if he would vote on the bill or not.
“It’s unclear to me as the governor is not expressing any opinion pro or con,” added Wiener.
Opponents of the bill have, conversely, grown more optimistic that the bill would be voted down once again due to the growing discontent of the bill, with many hoping that it won’t even reach Newsom by the end of the session in August.
“We’re seeing more and more people in the Assembly question SB 58,” former police officer and current drug counselor Marty Ribera told the Globe Friday. “Many are open to the idea, especially of helping veterans, but want to see a pilot program first or something similar to show there are no major risks and that it can be done safely.”
“Because, as I’ve said before, there is still a long road ahead. It needs to get past the Assembly Committees, which is hard. Than the Assembly itself, also hard. The Governor, who is 50/50 at this point and may not want to risk signing that. Than legal challenges to it. And then pushing it to a statewide vote, which means it would be halted until then. It’s a rocky road, and even Wiener is having doubts that it can make it now.”
“Attitudes about drugs do change. Marijuana is legal now for example, and we’re rethinking what the roles of opioids should be more and more. But for many psychedelics are a hard line to cross. And we’re seeing that more and more.”
SB 58 is expected to go before Assembly Committees later this month.
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There are a lot of wacked out crazy Democrat voters in the SF Bay Area, but no doubt Democrat voter fraud and rigged voting machines played a role in installing a creepy ghoulish globalist groomer like Senator Scott Wiener? He’s a demonic monster.
You said it, TJ.
I say it would be wise to keep up the pressure on these committee members and our own assembly members at this point.
June 27 (save the date!) SB 58 will be heard in the infamous Assembly Public Safety Committee, chaired by the even more infamous Asm Reggie Jones-Sawyer (Mr. “I-Will-Invoke-the-Spectre-of-Mass-Incarceration for every bill that would actually improve public safety”). Here is the link:
https://apsf.assembly.ca.gov/
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the link to the names of the committee members.
More below….
If SB 58 should pass Asm Committee on Public Safety it will go on to the Asm Committee on Health.
(Date of hearing not yet known.)
There’s a better chance of it being killed in Health because of some strong Repub committee members. That’s likely why Wiener is worried. Here is the link to the Assembly Committee on Health:
https://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/
Again, scroll down to the bottom of the page for the link to the names of the committee members.
In the meantime, please be sure to call or email or “contact box” your Assembly member, letting them know that you oppose SB 58, that you are their constituent, and that you strongly urge them to Vote NO on SB 58 should it reach the Assembly floor.
The list of reasons why is LONG; e.g., it is a step on the road to all drug legalization, it is meant to keep as many Californians as possible in a haze so they can’t or won’t speak up about CA’s continual downfall, it is absurd to legalize psychedelics given the drug-addled mentally-ill horrors already on our streets, etc. Pick a reason and add it to your brief comments. Find your Assembly member and contact them here:
Assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers
Yes, we want people stoned on mushrooms on the road like this guy while your kids are walking to school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkz7jJQLSxE
The politicians approving legalizing drugs are stupid, which includes my state Senator Stein. He’s a moron.
Wow. Not good. He had a psychotic break from the mushrooms; thought he was being chased.
Yeah, sure, this is the kind of thing we really need right about now. (no)
Thanks for posting, Protect Freedom.
The crap coming out of the Capitol is unreal. (Most people here decry (nice word) Weiner and his crazy bills, so won’t go there…)
Can CA legislature be changed to a part-time job with pay cuts all around? Maybe if ASMs and Senators had less time on their hands, they would focus on high priority/ important issues?
Thank you, ShowandTell, for the link to contact my assembly member. I live in the worst district where Wiener is my senator and Matt Haney is my assemblyman. I contacted both of them and told them to vote NO, but doing so means nothing to them, I’m sure. Nothing. I now have a memory trick as to how to correctly spell Wiener. For him it’s always “I” before “We.”
You have my sympathies, Joey Virgo. I have two awful reps down here in Southern CA too. I contact them for the big stuff anyway, with the hope that many others in my district are piling on too. With my own eyes I’ve seen these people, whether state reps or city council members or school board members, get scared and nervous when the opposition gets fierce and numerous so I think it CAN have an effect on the outcome, depending. And there are other advantages to reminding these goofballs that we exist and aren’t happy that I won’t bore you with now.
I like your method for remembering the correct Wiener spelling. Ha
By the way, get a load of this. I just saw it:
“Sen. Fetterman Calls Himself ‘Advocate of Psychedelics,’ Promotes Mushrooms For PTSD” (!!!)
https://hightimes.com/news/sen-fetterman-calls-himself-advocate-of-psychedelics-promotes-mushrooms-for-ptsd/
Gee, what a coincidence. Guess this nonsense is a nationwide push, in the blue states, anyway. Also pretty funny (and odd) that it comes from the infamous Sen Fetterman, of all people.
Thanks, Showandtell, for the Fetterman article. People like Fetterman and Wiener espouse psilocybin therapy without allowing any discussion of the science behind this project so that citizens can make an informed decision. Has there been a scientific paper published proving the efficacy of such therapy? As far as I know, there have been only “studies.” And how does this bill, if passed, prevent the same drug abuse that it acknowledges already exists even though there is a supposed “war on drugs”? I don’t see any mention as to what precautions this bill will enlist to prevent abuse, and Wiener is completely untrustworthy.
Joey Virgo: If they come from the Usual Suspects, Sen Wiener and many others, I reject any studies or scientific papers that they have likely commissioned themselves or cherry-picked. Our own common sense and their horrendous record of destruction is the key. It’s my opinion that the purpose of this bill is to go down the road to legalizing all drugs eventually, if they can pull it off, which OF COURSE we don’t want. I think that with passage of this legislation — which is already bad enough — they hope to keep their foot in the door for further, even more damaging drug legalization. And it’s about money, “Big Pharma,” etc.
They often start “small,” and sound “reasonable,” and pretend to offer “science,” (but mostly don’t bother), and next thing you know your daughter is being taken from you because you won’t “affirm” her brainwashed delusion that she is a boy.
On drug and crime policy, go look at what has happened to Portland, as one example. Their drug legalization and anything-goes crime policy has TRASHED the city. It may not ever come back! Used to be a wonderful small city, once upon a time.
Look at how untrustworthy the politician Usual Suspects and their Apologists have been about the marijuana issue. Outright lies to get it passed. No debate, and little, if any, discussion. The questions to ask when this stuff comes up are, e.g., what other legislation has this person — Sen Wiener, for example —- introduced? Has it been or will it EVER be good for California? More drug legalization, gender-affirmation nonsense that strips parents of their rights, more stack-and-pack rabbit-hutch housing that destroys neighborhoods? Threatening doctors with taking away their licenses if they don’t agree with the government and instead properly advise you about your health? Constantly banging away at stripping law enforcement and other public safety entities of ALL of their teeth? Covid vaccine mandates for all? Etc.?
Maybe this clown will realize that MOST of his legislative proposals are TERRIBLE IDEAS …
STOP voting for him, San Francisco (and Dom inion )
Showandtell: I agree with all you have written in reply. And “their horrendous record of destruction is key.” You’ve said it all. Thanks so much for sharing your smarts.
Thank YOU, Joey Virgo, for your generous reaction to my ‘rant,’ especially because I figured you were aware of this stuff already and agreed. 🙂