Magic mushrooms, whose active ingredient is psilocybin, could see relaxed laws around their cultivation and use in Rhode Island. (Workman/Wikimedia)
A partisan bill going before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday offers a vision for a drug known for making people see things: psilocybin, the main ingredient in “magic mushrooms.”
Bill H7047 introduced Jan. 5 by Rep. Brandon Potter, a Cranston Democrat, and nine other Democrats, would temporarily decriminalize possession and cultivation of up to an ounce of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The bill’s provisions would last for a two-year trial period before being evaluated.
It’s the third time Potter has tried to pass a mushroom bill. He introduced an almost identical version of the bill last year while the 2022 version focused expressly on allowing mushrooms in medical practice. That bill was sponsored by five representatives and never made it to a vote.
That doesn’t mean the past bills went unnoticed: “The amount of people that reached out to me and thanked me for it was really staggering,” Potter said in a phone interview. “I mean, I got recognized at the beach. Somebody came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I really appreciate you doing the mushroom bill,’ and told me about their story and how it helped them.’”