Proposal aims to decriminalize ‘magic mushrooms’
Evanston council member cites priorities, health
An Evanston City Councilmember wants to decriminalize psilocybin and other entheogenic plants, also known as “magic mushrooms,” citing the need for better management of law enforcement resources and possible health benefits.
It is currently a Class 4 felony to possess up to 200 grams of psilocybin mushrooms in Illinois punishable by one to three years in prison and a Class 1 felony to possess over 200 grams punishable by four to 15 years in prison.
The reduced punishment under Councilmember Devon Reid’s proposal would be a fine up to $100. The fine could be waived by attending an approved rehabilitation program or completing public service work. Low-income entheogenic plant possessors wouldn’t have to pay for the required rehabilitation program provided they show proof of earned income tax credit eligibility under the federal Internal Revenue Code or Illinois Income Tax Act, the referral states. The Evanston Police Department would also make investigating and enforcing psilocybin violations its lowest priority.
The proposal has not yet been discussed in committee, and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss did not reply to calls seeking comment on whether he would support or oppose the proposal.
Reid said he believes
Evanston should decriminalize these substances to adhere to its value of prioritizing drug treatment over punishment.
“My priority here is to ensure we are deploying our limited law enforcement resources as effectively as we can,” Reid said. “I want to make sure we are treating the underlying issue of drug use. It should be a public health issue and not a criminal issue.”
Health benefits also play a role, Reid said. Researchers from John Hopkins Medicine have discovered that psilocybin helps with depression and alcohol abuse. John Hopkins staff also said psilocybin decreases mental health problems experienced by terminally ill patients.
This isn’t the first time Reid tried to decriminalize drugs. His previous proposal aimed at decriminalizing all controlled substances died before the Human Services Committee in Sept. 2021 but Reid is still optimistic about the latest attempt.
“Council wasn’t too enthusiastic about that and so I made this new referral,” Reid said. “I think they’re going to be a bit more open to this. We have new City Council members. Peter Braithwaite and Cicely Fleming left so the council has changed and I think its views and dynamic has shifted as a result.”
After the Sept. 2021 controlled substances proposal failed, Reid went back to draft this psilocybin proposal where only natural substances with fewer safety implications are included.
“We can’t just decriminalize something and not have support in place,” Reid said. “Particularly with drugs like fentanyl or heroin, which have a strong history of overdosing. Those are the substances that I’m worried about and (those more dangerous substances aren’t currently in the conversation).”
Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart declined Pioneer Press’ interview request to discuss how the proposal would impact public safety if approved.
Racial discrimination was a motivator behind Reid’s 2021 proposal where he said a reduced punishment was necessary considering the Black community receives drug-related charges at a disproportionately high rate. Prior to its legalization, Illinois’ Black residents were seven times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white residents.
“The issue (impacting) the Black community is not just the use of substances but specifically the government’s response to that use,” Reid said during the Sept. 7, 2021 Human Services Committee meeting. “We know that these policies have a racist impact and it’s not just the use of the drugs, it’s the way we’ve responded and we have to stop the harm that we are causing.”
Psilocybin possession is already decriminalized in Oregon and the District of Columbia. Some municipalities in Massachusetts, Michigan, California, Colorado and Washington have decriminalized it at the local level, similar to what Reid hopes to accomplish in Evanston. Reid said his proposal is modeled after Ann Arbor, Michigan’s policy that unanimously passed its City Council in Sept. 2021. Denver was the first city to decriminalize psilocybin in the United States in 2019.
The city of Chicago explored decriminalizing psilocybin in 2019 with a resolution proposed by 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins, but it died in committee. Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune reported that state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, is working with health professionals to draft a bill decriminalizing plant-based psychedelics in Illinois.
Evanston’s Referral Committee has yet to assign the psilocybin proposal to a committee but Reid designated the Human Services Committee, which he chairs, as a preference on the city’s proposal tracker.
The psilocybin referral would join several other drug-related actions taken by the city in recent months. These include Biss proactively pitching Evanston to dispensaries to increase tax revenue for its reparations program, a proposal approved by consent agenda last month ending preemployment drug tests for city staff and a special order of business to decriminalize the public possession of cannabis Reid said is expected to come before City Council in November.
The proposal no longer requiring a preemployment drug test for staff was helmed by Councilmember Bobby Burns after a Water and Sewer Service candidate was offered a position but failed the drug test, according to Reid.
Reid said he hopes to decriminalize public cannabis possession this month considering President Joe Biden pardoned all federal cannabis possession offenses on Oct. 6. When Biss sent out dispensary licenses holders letters pitching Evanston, Reid said in a September Reparations Committee meeting that the city needs to make itself more cannabis-friendly to attract such businesses.
“If someone went to the dispensary downtown and wanted to come (to the Civic Center) and pay their water bill with that cannabis in their backpack, that person could be (held accountable),” Reid said at the Reparations Committee meeting. “Being inside of a city building, walking through a city park (or) along the lakefront with a cannabis container is an … offense in Evanston. I think we have to, across the board, make this (city) a more welcoming space.”
Councilmember Eleanor Revelle said the reparations program being funded by the municipal cannabis retailers’ occupation tax gives Evanston incentive to embrace cannabis and served as a catalyst for drugfriendly legislation.
“It was very easy for us to understand (the reparations project’s need). I think most residents hadn’t focused on our long history with redlining and other kinds of discrimination before, particularly around housing,” Revelle said. “The reparations program just seemed like a really necessary next step. This was just a way to fund it and so then the idea was if we’re about to have this new cannabis tax (we might as well put it to use).”
Revelle joins Reid in acknowledging the discrimination Black and other minority communities face regarding drug enforcement and said Evanston kept that in mind with its approach to welcoming cannabis into the city.
“Given the history of criminalization, particularly of Black and Brown people for possession of cannabis in the past, it seemed like a very logical way to fund the reparations program,” Revelle said.