As FDA approval of psychedelic medicine looms, decriminalization advocacy persists

As FDA approval of psychedelic medicine looms, decriminalization advocacy persists

Pierce County, Washington and Nevada City, California, and Amherst, Massachusetts keep the decrim movement alive in the US of A

By Jack Gorsline

As the federal government and pharmaceutical industry move closer to approving psychedelic compounds as legitimate medical treatments, grassroots activists across the United States are successfully pushing local governments to decriminalize the substances for personal, non-medical use. The diverging approaches highlight a growing tension in drug policy: while federal regulators prioritize strict clinical frameworks and corporate pharmaceutical development, local municipalities are increasingly prioritizing cognitive liberty, equitable access, and the reallocation of law enforcement resources.

The momentum for local reform has continued to accelerate into the fall. On Sept. 2, the Pierce County Council in Washington voted unanimously to pass Resolution R2026-177, throwing its support behind continued research into entheogens and alternative treatment modalities. The passed resolution formally designates entheogen-related activities to be among the county’s lowest law enforcement priorities when no other suspected law violations are present.

The Pierce County resolution followed two years of sustained community advocacy led by the Key Peninsula Psychedelic Society. The effort culminated in two highly emotional public hearings where military veterans, first responders, healthcare advocates, and ordinary community members shared deeply personal experiences with entheogens. Testimonies detailed profound psychedelic healing, particularly regarding the management of post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment-resistant depression, and other complex, difficult-to-treat mental health conditions.

This localized approach to drug policy reform is part of a much broader wave sweeping through city halls and county chambers nationwide. In California, the Nevada City Council recently voted unanimously to approve a resolution designating the personal use, cultivation, possession, and non-commercial sharing of naturally occurring psychedelic mushrooms and other entheogenic plants as the absolute lowest priority for local law enforcement.

Driven by organized community advocacy from groups like Nevada City Entheogenic and backed by emerging clinical research highlighting the potential mental health benefits of these substances, the newly adopted policy applies specifically to adults aged 21 and older. Importantly, the resolution does not outright legalize these substances or override existing state and federal laws. Instead, it serves as a directive that shifts police focus to better align with the city's specific public safety needs.

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Under the Nevada City policy, commercial sales and synthetic analogs remain strictly prohibited. Law enforcement will reserve intervention primarily for cases involving minors, incidents occurring near schools, impaired driving, or immediate public safety threats.

Nevada City Police Chief Dan Foss openly supported the measure before the council, emphasizing that deprioritizing these offenses builds better community relations and allows officers to allocate limited resources toward greater public safety risks.

“As a police chief of any community, it's really important to understand the values of that community, and I think the values for our community are very clear," Foss said. "This is something that we want to be on the forefront of.”

Larger metropolitan areas are also taking definitive action. The Portland City Council recently advanced the Psychedelic Health and Safety Act, an ordinance that formally designates the non-commercial, personal use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants and fungi as among the lowest priorities for local law enforcement in Oregon's largest city.

Driven by an urgent need to allocate limited public safety resources more efficiently amid ongoing civic challenges, the Portland measure directs police to focus their efforts on dismantling illicit drug trafficking networks and addressing high-risk, synthetic substances tied to the ongoing overdose death crisis, rather than penalizing personal psychedelic use. Like Nevada City, the ordinance does not fully legalize these substances. Law enforcement retains full authority to enforce laws against illegal commercial sales, impaired driving, and other conduct that directly threatens public safety.

However, Portland's legislation goes a step further by establishing the Portland Psychedelics Advisory Commission. The commission would be comprised of experts in public health, behavioral health, and active community stakeholders — is tasked with providing evidence-based recommendations on harm reduction, public education, and safety protocols. By creating a structured, municipal forum for expert guidance and public input, the ordinance aims to align city policies with evolving statewide frameworks and broader public health goals, cementing Portland's role as a continuing leader in science-based psychedelic policy. A final city council vote on the measure is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30.

The rapid succession of these local resolutions comes at a critical juncture for psychedelics in America. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently weighing the approval of several heavily funded, clinically trialed psychedelic compounds for targeted psychiatric use. While medical professionals and pharmaceutical investors celebrate the impending arrival of these breakthrough therapies, grassroots advocates warn that the "medicalization" model threatens to lock these natural compounds behind expensive paywalls and corporate patents.

As the debate over who controls access to psychedelics intensifies, some local coalitions are beginning to push the boundaries of decriminalization even further. Although most resolutions to date have strictly limited protections to naturally occurring "plant medicines" like psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, and mescaline, newer campaigns are advocating for the inclusion of synthetic compounds with proven therapeutic histories.

In Massachusetts, for example, the Amherst LSD Policy Coalition is currently mounting a highly visible campaign pushing for an expansion of Amherst's existing "Plant Medicine" resolution. The coalition's primary goal is the decriminalization of LSD in Amherst, arguing that the synthetic nature of a compound should not disqualify it from the harm reduction and cognitive liberty protections afforded to natural substances.

As 2026 draws to a close, the landscape of psychedelic policy in the United States appears to be splitting into two distinct tracks: while federal regulators and pharmaceutical giants meticulously constructing a lucrative, tightly controlled medical framework for psychedelic psychiatric treatments, a relentless, grassroots decriminalization movement continues to win victories at the city and county levels, ensuring that for many Americans, access to psychedelics will remain a community issue rather than a corporate one.