AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine would be the third state to decriminalize small amounts of “magic mushrooms” for personal use under a bill that got through both chambers of the Legislature by one-vote margins this week.
The House of Representatives endorsed the bill in a 70-69 vote on Monday that was followed Tuesday by a 17-16 vote in the Senate. The measure faces further action in both Democratic-led chambers, with Gov. Janet Mills looming as a potential obstacle after her administration sent police to testify against decriminalization earlier this year.
But the votes were still a milestone for advocates who have brought a fringe cause somewhat close to passage in the State House. Mushrooms containing psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound, have been banned under federal law since 1970, even though federal researchers are studying its use as a treatment for addiction and certain mental illnesses.
Maine would follow Colorado and Oregon in decriminalizing psilocybin, although local bans in the latter state have effectively overturned the 2020 referendum that did so. The bill, from Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, would allow Mainers to have 1 ounce for personal use.
Advocates including the libertarian Reason Foundation have noted the potential for medical treatment and the low toxicity of psilocybin, calling Lookner’s bill “a modest step forward in drug policy reform” in testimony to the Legislature’s public safety committee earlier this year.
The mushrooms can lead people to experience sights and sounds that lead them to engage in risky behaviors, according to the National Institutes for Health. For example, a pair of lost hikers in New York recently called forest rangers to report that a third member of their group had died. He was alive, and the two hikers were high on mushrooms.
The Democratic governor’s administration opposed the bill through the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, which told lawmakers that it has seized 4 1/2 pounds of psilocybin since January 2021, mostly in the course of investigating mid- to high-level traffickers who were distributing it alongside more harmful drugs including fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.
“Like all illegal drugs purchased from illegal drug traffickers, there is no quality control, no recommended non-lethal dose to assure the purchaser of a safe, therapeutic experience,” Commander Scott Pelletier said in testimony arguing against the psilocybin change.
The issue has cut a strange path through the Legislature, with seven Republicans joining all but 11 Democrats to advance it Monday in the House. Two of those Republicans, Reps. David Boyer of Poland and Quentin Chapman of Auburn, were co-sponsors of Lookner’s bill. There were 12 absences during that vote, making passage uncertain the next time through.
“That’s a really powerful idea, that you could cure addiction like that,” Boyer said on the floor.