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 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 other 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.
In the wake of the fentanyl crisis, the rejection of drug liberalization measures in Oregon and states across the country this election has some experts questioning whether voters are rethinking their appetite for such policies.
In Massachusetts, for example, voters rejected a measure that would have allowed residents over 21 to grow and use plant-based psychedelic drugs in certain circumstances. All three states that had measures to legalize recreational marijuana voted against it .
