Denver First City to Decriminalize "Magic Mushrooms"

Magic Mushrooms

Denver is on a fast track to be the stupidest city in America, and that is saying a lot. It was the first city to vote to decriminalize marijuana possession in 2004, and now it is the first city to decriminalize the possession and use of psilocybin mushrooms, a potent hallucinogenic. On May 7, voters approved the ballot measure by a slim margin. This is not legalization, and the mushrooms won’t be on sale in Denver’s marijuana shops, but it is probably a step toward legalization. Eight years after Denver voted to decriminalize marijuana, it was legalized statewide. As with the legalization of marijuana, promoters are claiming great medical benefits for psilocybin, though none have been scientifically proven. The acceptance of a drug for medical use breaks down barriers and prepares the way for its legalization in recreational use. I know firsthand that psilocybin is a dangerous, mind-altering drug. I used it in 1972 when I was working at a psychiatric hospital in south Florida. We picked the mushrooms ourselves and boiled them to make a nasty-tasting brew. It was the most foolish and devastating thing I ever did to myself, more psychologically devastating then LSD. Of course, we had no idea of the exact potency of the brew; we were on a fool’s errand, carried along by the indulgent, libertarian philosophy of the rock & roll pop culture. The sorcery/witchcraft that is condemned in Scripture is the Greek pharmakeia, which is the use of drugs in magical arts. Psilocybin was used by the Aztecs in their demonic, idolatrous rituals, which should be warning enough for a Bible believer. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

​(Friday Church News Notes, May 24, 2019, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

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