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Lawmakers propose bill to decriminalize magic mushrooms in Rhode Island


Psilocybin mushrooms. (WJAR)
Psilocybin mushrooms. (WJAR)
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Rhode Island Rep. Brandon Potter and Sen. Meghan Kallman are looking to legalize the use of psilocybin, which can be found in psychedelic mushrooms.

"The research is compelling and and clear and repeated over and over and over again," Kallman said.

Both lawmakers said research shows the chemical can help with post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.

The House version of the bill would allow a person to possess less than 1 ounce of psilocybin and would allow psilocybin to be grown at a person’s residence for their own use.

The bill would also, contingent on FDA approval, allow psilocybin to be used as a treatment for chronic mental health disorders.

"The state would then join a number of states that are allowing it to be used in a therapeutic setting," said, Potter, who represents District 16.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the mushrooms do grow in the USA and can be eaten or be put into tea. They can cause hallucinations and an inability to discern fantasy from reality.

NBC 10 spoke with the nonprofit the Mushroom Hunting Foundation. The couple educates people about mushrooms in the Ocean State.

"We come across these things but obviously we don't sell them or even collect them," said Ryan Bouchard of the Mushroom Hunting Foundation.

The DEA says magic mushroom have slender stems topped by caps with dark gills on the underside.

"Psychedelic mushrooms are in the category that we would say it’s difficult to identify, experts only, in other words if you identify them incorrectly you could eat a poisonous mushroom," said Bouchard.

Meanwhile, the Bouchards told NBC 10 they've seen studies too that have shown some benefits to shrooms.

"The war on drugs has been a total failure and one of the issues the war on drugs has really caused is preventing therapies from being available to a number of people for decades," Potter said.

The bills still have to go undergo a number of steps before it would be passed.

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