Magic Mushrooms are legal in Colorado! Here’s what you need to know | $1.7MM Biden Administration grant will support expansion of in-home behavioral therapy across Colorado | Auon’tai Anderson and 4 other Democrats are running for Rep. Leslie Herod’s CO House seat in District 8 | Rebirth Brass Band is playing 5 Colorado shows in the next 5 daysSong playsIntro by hostWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod’s Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let’s get into it: COLORADO SUN:Colorado decriminalized psilocybin. Here’s your guided trip through what happens next.What’s the timeline? Is natural medicine right for you? Should you microdose? We answer these questions and more.Chryss Cada4:28 AM MDT on Jun 18, 2023Four moms gather around a Saturday morning breakfast table exchanging the obsessive anxieties that come from raising teenagers in today’s society.  They share the usual concerns: Does their daughter have enough friends? Is their son being bullied at school? Are their child’s frequent dark moods typical teenage emotions, or does their angst cross over into depression? As they talk, it becomes clear that the constant stress of worry for their teens is spiraling them down into anxiety and depressive disorders of their own. Right down to steaming mugs of coffee and plates of avocado toast, the scene is quintessential suburban life in the early 2020s. But this meeting of the moms will likely produce more answers, more insight and more empathy than most. Because the night before these moms consumed some natural medicine known for helping to see things in a new light, bringing clarity to stubborn, problematic patterns. These women, along with thousands of others across Colorado, have found psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) useful in bringing relief from the anxiety and depression so prevalent in today’s society. Now, after Colorado voters approved Proposition 122 in November, they no longer have to risk state criminal penalties for their use of this indigenous medicine.The dramatic efficiency of mushrooms to ease mental health disorders that haven’t been helped by traditional medicines and therapies isn’t just anecdotal. Recent studies from respected institutions like Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have shown psilocybin is helpful in treating everything from alcohol dependence to major depressive disorder. However, those experienced with this medicine suggest that it be approached with intention, reverence and most importantly understanding.Under Proposition 122, The Natural Medicine Health Act, Coloradans 21 and older are allowed to possess and use psilocybin, the psychedelic fungi commonly known as “magic mushrooms.” In addition it proposes the eventual decriminalization of the substances dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, ibogaine and mescaline (excluding peyote). The law allows the state to immediately begin the process of the “medicalization” of psilocybin mushrooms by creating a framework for state-regulated “healing centers,” where people can receive medically guided psilocybin treatments. Although decriminalized in Colorado, psilocybin and the other medicines named in the Health Act remain illegal under federal law. “The measure is therapeutically oriented, so recreational and retail sales are not allowed,” explained Kevin Matthews, one of the authors of Proposition 122. “You can share these medicines with family and friends or in religious uses, but we didn’t want this to become a for-profit industry.”A veteran,