Minneapolis Mayor to Loosen Enforcement of Psychedelics
Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said he intended to issue an executive order on Friday instructing the city’s police officers to, in essence, look the other way when it comes to the purchase and use of certain illegal psychedelic drugs.
Coming as a growing number of cities, including Denver, Detroit and Washington, D.C., have adopted more permissive stances on psychedelics, Mr. Frey’s order notes that people are increasingly turning to substances like psychoactive mushrooms to improve their mental health.
The widening appeal of psychedelics in clinical and spiritual settings has alarmed some health professionals who say they worry about the rise of an unregulated field of therapeutic interventions through mind-altering compounds. At the same time, efforts to decriminalize and expand access to psychedelics have received a surprising degree of bipartisan political support in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Mr. Frey, a Democrat, acknowledged that some residents might oppose any loosened enforcement of drug laws. But he said he hoped the measure would contribute to a national rethinking of drug laws that date back to the Nixon era, and draw attention to the role plant-based psychedelics can play for people dealing with depression, trauma and addiction.
Source: The New York Times
