(Headline USA) Drug reform advocates hailed Oregon as a progressive leader when it became the first in the nation to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, but Oregon voters are backtracking after a few years of drug legalization.
Four years later, voters in a growing list of its cities have banned the substance.
Four cities, spanning Portland suburbs and rural and coastal towns, added new voter-approved prohibitions for the federally illegal compound in the Nov. 5 election.
A dozen additional communities that approved two-year moratoriums in 2022, when a majority of Oregon counties and over 100 cities voted to temporarily or permanently ban psilocybin, voted in this election to make the restrictions permanent.
Oregon voters, in particular, appear to have soured on drug reform.
A law passed by voters four years ago that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of hard drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine, was rolled back by the state legislature earlier this year after heated debate over whether it played a role in a spike in public drug use and deaths.
“Perhaps the fact that the drug policy reform pendulum appears to be swinging back towards prohibition is part of a broader trend toward a preference for ‘law and order’ among American voters,” said Josh Hardman, founder of Psychedelics Alpha, a consulting firm and newsletter on psychedelic research, business and policy.
“Oregon, specifically, has been touted as an example of liberal drug policies gone wrong.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
