It took at least five years of public debate, lobbying and bill amendments for New Jersey to make marijuana legal for recreational use in 2021. Now the state may do the same with psychedelic mushrooms — but much faster.
After it was pulled back for revisions late last year, a bill was reintroduced in the state Senate last week that sets up a legal framework for the manufacture and sale of products containing psilocybin — the chemical in magic mushrooms that produces a hallucinogenic effect.
The bill would decriminalize the use of psilocybin by anyone over 21 and expunge past and pending offenses involving the drug.
Although language in the bill, called the “Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Act,” is centered around mental health, its provisions would decriminalize recreational use. Anyone 21 or older could “possess, store, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport” 4 grams or less of psilocybin.
Unlike with marijuana, residents would be allowed to grow their own mushrooms for personal use in their homes under the bill.
Hellbound and Down 