California’s SB 519 Gutted in Committee, Further Delaying Psychedelic Decriminalization

By Lauren Mendelsohn

August 15, 2022

Last week, Senate Bill 519  — which would have removed criminal penalties from certain activities associated with LSD, psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, mescaline, ibogaine, and MDMA — was amended and gutted of all meaningful parts in a hearing before the Assembly Appropriations Committee last week.  The most recent version of the bill merely calls for a working group to study the impact of decriminalizing currently-controlled substances without any actual decriminalization language. The most recent version of the bill can be found here. (We previously discussed SB 519 here and here.)

State Senator Scott Wiener (San Francisco), who introduced SB 519, was disappointed at this latest turn of events, but expressed dedication to continuing to push psychedelic decriminalization forward. He released the following statement on Twitter:

 

The revised text of the bill was not published until Monday night.

 

This is a developing story; stay tuned to our blog for further updates.

 

This information is provided as a public educational service and is not intended, nor shoud be construed, as legal advice. For specific questions regarding psychedelic laws in California, please contact the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa at 707-829-0215 or info@omarfigueroa.com.