California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that would have decriminalized the possession and personal use of several hallucinogens, including psychedelic mushrooms.
The veto from Newsom, which came on Saturday, struck down a bill that would have allowed those 21 and older to possess psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and mescaline, the hallucinogenic components often found in psychedelic mushrooms.
The bill would not have made it legal for people to sell the substances and would have made it illegal to possess the substances on school grounds.
However, it would have ensured those caught with limited amounts of the substance in their possession would not be prosecuted or arrested.
When it comes to why Newsom decided to veto the bill, he said in a statement that the state needs to do more first.
“California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines — replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychoses,” Newsom’s statement said. “Unfortunately, this bill would decriminalize possession prior to these guidelines going into place, and I cannot sign it.”
Like cannabis laws, if the hallucinogens were made legal in California, they would still be illegal under federal law.
Newsom also vetoed a bill that would have outlawed caste-based discrimination. He said that California already has protections in place and that the bill was unnecessary.
He said the state “already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and state law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed. Because discrimination based on caste is already prohibited under these existing categories, this bill is unnecessary.”