He is advocating for the legislation in an effort to increase access to mental health care and roll.Nonetheless, some legislators claim that Wiener takes too much of a stance. It would legalize a number of drugs, including ketamine, which law enforcement officials claim is occasionally used to enable sexual assaults.

GOP Sen. Melissa Melendez of Temecula said, “I don’t know why in the world we would be contemplating legalizing a drug like ketamine, used to incapacitate young women and girls for the purpose of raping them,” during a contentious debate on the Senate floor.

After Wiener consented to remove ketamine from the bill, the Assembly public safety committee approved it on June 29. Prior to a potential vote by the Assembly as a whole, it goes to the health committee.

Law enforcement agencies are also against the bill. The California Association for Peace Officers’ Research

“We believe many of the penalties related to controlled substances work as a deterrent or a reason for individuals to get the treatment they need to turn their lives around,” the group wrote to the Senate Public Safety Committee. “As we have seen so many times, it is often the most vulnerable populations, and those who have the weakest support systems, that will be most susceptible to the increased access and use of drugs.”

Democrats are divided over the proposal.

Pico Rivera Democrat Sen. Bob Archuleta stated he opposed the bill because it would legalize psychedelics before lawmakers had more knowledge of their effects. The bill would create a working group within the state Department of Public Health to conduct more thorough research on psychedelic drugs. Archuleta stated that he would prefer to hold off until the group provided clear direction, Legalize psychedelics texas.

In Wiener’s eyes, there is no time to wait. Lives are on the line. Suicide rates of veterans were signficantly higher than the national suicide rate, according to 2016 data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Help for veterans?

The psychedelics arrive, Scientific research appears to be promising. According to recent research, psychedelics like MDMA, also referred to as ecstasy or molly, may be able to help veterans with PTSD who are in need of more mental health services.

Research from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research revealed that nearly half of California veterans who sought mental health treatment felt they were not given the care they required. For this reason, the bill has the support of several veteran’s organizations, Legalize psychedelics california.

“I felt hopeless after trying numerous ineffective treatments. Former Navy SEAL Marcus Capone wrote an op-ed pleading with lawmakers to approve the bill, saying, “With no other options left, I felt I had nothing to lose by pursuing psychedelic treatment outside the U.S.” Practically speaking, I felt a significant

According to recent scientific studies, psychedelics can assist PTSD sufferers in overcoming trauma and learning new thought patterns.

Fear-based memories are highly well encoded in the brain, and MDMA has a part to play in helping them disappear, according to Jennifer Mitchell, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco and member of the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. “It seems to have an effect on how fear-based memories are consolidated and remembered.”

These memories based on fear are not eliminated by the MDMA dosage. According to Mitchell, it enables patients to relive traumatic events without the accompanying guilt or fear. Patients can process their thoughts more thoroughly and eventually let them go with the help of a therapist.

Mitchell likens the effects of MDMA on memories to snow falling in a snow globe. Imagine skiing down a mountainside using the same trail every time. “Every time you take that trail, the snow gets a little bit more deeply packed and the trail gets a little bit more worn. And soon, that’s the only way up the mountain,” said Mitchell.

“The psychedelic allows you to shake the snow globe and for a fresh, smooth, new coat of snow to fall everywhere, such that that path is no longer apparent and you can find a new way off the mountain.”

Psychedelic drugs have potential applications in the treatment of anxiety and depression in addition to PTSD. Adults with depression responded favorably to two doses of psilocybin, according to a Johns Hopkins study conducted last year, and they flourished. Over 70% of those who took part reported feeling better mentally. The psychedelics performed four times better than other antidepressants on the market today. In a different study, after receiving psilocybin-facilitated therapy sessions, a participant who had taken numerous anti-anxiety medications that had never helped his depression finally recovered. Psilocybin assisted him in interrupting his negative thought pattern, which was keeping him stuck and preventing him from healing, Legalize psychedelics oregon.

Particularly in the last two years, a number of research universities have committed to investigating the potential medical benefits of psychedelics. UC Berkeley’s Neuroscape Psychedelics Division”

‘Social sharing’ debate

As long as there is no financial exchange, adults are permitted by law to trade psychedelics with one another. According to Laguna Niguel Republican Sen. Pat Bates, it would essentially legalize party drugs.

She voted “no,” saying, “I totally support if we want to confine it and specify its therapeutic use with our veterans, but I do believe that this steps way beyond that.”

Wiener contends, however, that social sharing is a necessary component of legalization.

Even though most people use psychedelics safely, anyone can have a negative reaction to any kind of drug, legal or illegal, according to him, so if they’re going to use them, it’s best for them to use them with someone else.

However, Mitchell, the neuroscientist, is also concerned about liability issues that arise from social sharing. “Who’s to say that someone picking their own mushrooms in a field is the right thing to do unless there’s a rule? And who is at fault and how can we make things right if they share it and do the wrong thing and someone dies? Mitchell stated, Legalize psychedelics colorado.

Some Native American groups in the Southwest are still worried that decriminalization movements may intrude on their traditional practices as they gain traction on the West Coast. The Navajo Nation’s religious ceremonies revolve around the peyote cactus, which is a natural source of the hallucinogenic substance mescaline. A report from the Los Angeles Times last year stated that some Navajo were offended by plans in some cities to decriminalize peyote. They are afraid of it.

“In an email to CalMatters, Wiener’s spokesperson Catie Stewart stated, “We made this decision to honor the sovereign rights of Native Peyote practitioners, who point out that the peyote cactus is a sacrament and the peyote gardens in Texas have a dwindling supply of naturally-growing peyote.”

Oakland was the first Californian city to decriminalize all psychedelic plants in 2019. A comparable law was passed in Santa Cruz less than a year later.

However, those are some of California’s most progressive communities. This summer, when the state Assembly considers Wiener’s bill, the question of whether the entire state is prepared to embrace psychedelics will be resolved. A group of centrist Democrats in the Assembly, some of whom represent swing districts, occasionally sides with.”