‘A grand experiment’: how ‘shrooms made Denver America’s most drug-friendly city
With the decriminalization of psilocybin, the Colorado city has cemented its pioneering drug-friendly status
M held up the jarful of mushroom caps and stems, most of which showed the “blue bruising” unique to mushrooms that contain the natural hallucinogenic compound psilocybin. He showed me his stash at a Denver coffee shop. M is an IT director, he buys his psychedelic mushrooms on the darknet, and about once a year, he grinds three grams’ worth into powder, which he then puts into capsules.
If police had walked in while we were talking, M could theoretically have been cited for possession. But as of this month, that has become unlikely. On 7 May 2019, Denver voters passed Initiative 301, a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin and direct local law enforcement to give psychedelic mushrooms the lowest arrest priority for adults 21 and older.