YPSILANTI, MI – Ypsilanti has joined more than two dozen cities across the country by embracing the personal use of “magic mushrooms” and other psychedelic plants and fungi.
City leaders voted unanimously on Tuesday, Jan. 9 to effectively decriminalize a spectrum of plants deemed illegal under state and federal law.
They include ayahuasca, ibogaine, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms and other plants and plant substances with hallucinogenic properties.
“By passing this policy today you will forever be remembered as stewards of consciousness, cognitive liberty and personal spiritual growth for all,” said Larry Norris, a California resident and University of Michigan alumnus who co-founded the advocacy group Decriminalize Nature, during the Tuesday meeting.
Ypsilanti joins Detroit, Ferndale, Hazel Park and Ann Arbor in backing off criminal investigation and penalties associated with so-called entheogenic plants and fungi.
The Ypsilanti resolution passed Tuesday declares that the investigation and arrest of people “involved with the personal use, growth, and possession of entheogenic plants, including those scheduled at the state and federal levels, be the lowest priority for the city of Ypsilanti.”
The resolution prohibits the use of city funds or resources in investigating, detaining or prosecuting violations of law dealing with the plants. The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office has already rolled out a policy not to prosecute their use, growth or possession.