Hawaii allows adults to possess as much as three grams of marijuana under decriminalizing legislation that went into effect a year ago, under which users could be subject to a fine of $130.

Like pakalolo, psilocybin is also a Schedule I drug, determined by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to have a “high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence.”

Heroin, LSD, Ecstasy and peyote are also on the list.

Stanley Chang, candidate for State Senate district 9 waves to cars on the eve of election day Monday, November 2, 2020. (Ronen Zilberman photo Civil Beat)
Stanley Chang running for re-election to the state Senate in 2020. He has introduced a bill to allow for the use of magic mushrooms. Ronen Zilberman/Civil Beat/2020

Under state Sen. Stanley Chang’s legislation, psilocybin and psilocyn — also known as magic or psychedelic mushrooms — would be removed from the list of Schedule I substances.

Senate Bill 738 would also require the Hawaii Department of Health to establish designated treatment centers for “the therapeutic administration” of psilocybin and psilocyn and establish a review panel “to review and assess the effects of this measure.”

“There is an increasing number of reputable studies that show how psilocybin and psilocyn can have promising results on people suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction,” Chang said in a press release Tuesday. “People with these conditions need options and this bill would give them that while also ensuring that (it) is stored and administered at licensed treatment facilities.”

The release says Hawaii would be the second state after Oregon to legalize psychedelic mushrooms.

Care to chime in? SB 738 has a hearing Friday.

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