WATCH – “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC – MUSHROOMS?” –

June 3, 2021 – Some cities in the U.S. including Oakland and Santa Cruz, have already effectively decriminalized possession of magic mushrooms. And Oregon voters last year went a step further, approving a ballot measure to decriminalize the personal use of hard drugs in what advocates hailed as “the biggest blow to the war on drugs to date.”

But while the bill has received support from veterans and drug advocacy groups, it also has its share of opposition. 

One opponent of the legislation is Tak Allen, the president of the International Faith Based Coalition/Congress of Racial Equality, who previously expressed concerns to KTXL over how the bill was written, as well as certain substances that the measure will decriminalize. 

“You’re saying that this is for therapeutic purposes, and the way the bill is written, it’s written more as a recreational bill,” Allen told the station nearly two months ago. “I also had major concerns within my coalition that ketamine is another known date rape drug, and that’s on the list of drugs that they would like to have legalized.”

Allen said she has experienced drug addiction in her family and fears the bill doesn’t address the root causes. 

“This is a behavioral health issue and that there is a socioeconomic correlation between drug abuse, drug addiction, drug exposure,” she told KTXL. “Why are we spending our time writing bills to decriminalize something first and foremost before we come up with a technique or tactic that would solve these underlying issues in the first place?”

more@KTLA