Is Michigan ready to decriminalize psychedelic drugs? 

On a muggy summer night in the tropical savanna of northern Peru, Barry Richardson and a contingent of fellow U.S. military veterans sat inside a small, dimly lit hut to prepare to enter the spiritual void — each of them on the same mission, but none quite sure what to expect next. 

Richardson sat shirtless and cross legged in a circle while robed “shamans” paced about the straw-roofed hut, burning herbs and chanting an unfamiliar language. One by one, the veterans lined up to sip on small cups of a brown, bitter tasting liquid before they returned to their mats to meditate. About 30 minutes later, each of them was vomiting uncontrollably into plastic buckets positioned nearby just for that purpose. The “purge,” after all, was a key part of the evening’s big ceremony. And the herbal beverage known as ayahuasca doesn’t sit too well on the stomach. 

“I wouldn’t call it nausea or vomiting. It was more like this energy inside me that had to be released. I basically opened my mouth with this loud roar and let it all out,” Richardson recalled. “It was just pure liberation — followed by the most loving and rewarding experience of my life.” 

Richardson, 46, of Vicksburg, a small village south of Kalamazoo, still has trouble finding words to describe the six-hour period that followed his vomit session — which isn’t too unusual of the typical hallucinogenic experiences usually triggered by consuming ayahuasca. Like many other psychedelic drugs, the bitter brew (made from the stem and bark of a tropical plant native to South America) is known primarily for its ability to induce profound visions and new feelings. 

Those aren’t always the easiest stories to drag back into reality. 

Richardson recalled laying outstretched in a trance while his mind floated to another dimension, one filled with intense new feelings of empathy, self-love and understanding. At one point, a vision of “Mother Ayahuasca” presented Richardson with an infant version of himself. He also remembered kissing himself — a lot. Back on Earth, however, he was just lying on the ground. 

The alkaloid DMT — dimethyltryptamine— is typically responsible for ayahuasca’s potent psychoactive effects, which can include intense euphoria; a profound sense of connectivity to the universe; hallucinations in the form of “visions” that often include female deities; an altered perception of space and time; and, of course, plenty of violent puking to kick off the adventure. 

Richardson and his veteran friends turned to the substance in 2016 in search of new ways to heal old traumas, kick addictions and improve their mental health. Reintegration back to citizen life outside of the military was the breaking point in a life already filled with repressed trauma, Richardson explained. One of his earliest childhood memories was his father assaulting his mother; depression and “near full-blown psychosis” led to drug addiction and suicide attempts. 

Studies have shown some success in ayahuasca’s ability to help people to recover from alcohol and drug abuse, as well as stave off other dependence-related mental health conditions, but it’s rarely a cure-all. The experience, which research also shows to be relatively safe from a toxicological standpoint, is often instead viewed as a launch point to more introspective change. 

“When I started using psychedelic substances, I started to realize that I didn’t want to be this aggressive person anymore. I didn’t want to fight with people. I didn’t want to push people away,” he said. “I just couldn’t piece it together, but after these experiences, I realized that.” 

Detailed scientific literature on psychedelics like ayahuasca is relatively limited, at least for now, because possession of the substances is punishable by felony charges and prison sentences in the United States. It’s why Richardson and the veterans held their therapy sessions in Peru — an experience that later appeared as an online documentary titled “Soldiers of the Vine.” 

“It was a total rebirth,” Richardson said. “There was a lot of self-love in that moment and for me. Ayahuasca is really only about self-love. I was able to rebuild and find a way to love myself.”  

Bringing it home 

This week, now about six years and eight ayahuasca trips later, Richardson is set on opening new psychedelic doors for those searching for alternative remedies to their mental ailments as the co-founder of the Southwest Michigan Psychedelic Network — a community of like-minded people who discuss their experiences with psychedelic substances on Facebook and advocate alongside more politically oriented groups like Decriminalize Nature to bring about reforms. 

The group has only grown since the state of Oregon and cities like Ann Arbor and Detroit have made moves to decriminalize psychoactive psychedelic drugs like ayahuasca, as well as other mind-bending natural substances like “magic mushrooms” that contain psilocin and psilocybin. 

Richardson said more and more Michigan residents are turning to psychedelics to help “rewire” their brains and tackle a variety of underlying issues like PTSD, anxiety, depression and drug addiction. And with a little help from a statewide ballot initiative that is set to begin circulating for signatures as early as this month, he hopes to bring those trippy experiences to the masses. 

“For me, I’m all about making sure these medicines are available for people and building a community around that,” Richardson said. “You can’t hide the truth that these medicines are helping people. It’s decriminalization that will help build resources and support around them.” 

The proposal, titled the “Michigan Initiative for Community Healing,” is expected to be approved (now for a second time) this week by the state’s Board of Canvassers. And it aims to make Michigan the second state in the nation to steeply decriminalize the use and possession of all natural plants and mushrooms. Among them: both ayahuasca and DMT; “magic mushrooms” that contain hallucinogenic psilocybin and psilocin; various cacti such as peyote and others that contain the dissociative mescaline; and ibogaine from the roots of the Tabernanthe iboga plant. 

The proposal calls for a rewrite of the state law that dictates the penalties for the use and possession of those substances, notching them all down from four-year felony charges to a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of only $100 with no possibility of jail time upon conviction. Only certified religious groups and hospitals would be able to sell and distribute them, but individuals would also be free to cultivate their own and “give away” their harvest. 

The board is expected to approve the petition language on Friday (March 18), which would give organizers fewer than three months to collect the 340,000 signatures needed to get the measure on the November ballot — an admittedly steep hill that optimistic activists are ready to climb. 

“We’ve had some delays, and that’s frustrating but we’re still going to push really hard to get as many signatures as possible,” said Kat Ebert, a Michigan State University alumnus who founded the campus’ chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and plans to help circulate petitions. “I’d say I’m feeling very optimistic. The hardest part is going to be getting the signatures. Once we have that, I have 1,000% faith in our ability to get this passed once it actually hits the ballot.” 

The 340,000-signature benchmark represents 8% of the numbers of voters in the last gubernatorial election, the legal threshold to formally amend state law. If those are gathered and deemed acceptable, the amendments could be adopted by the Legislature or make their way directly to the November ballot to be decided by the public. 

“This is an initiative by the people and for the people,” Ebert said. “It is all about keeping it out of corporate, capitalist hands and protecting people’s rights to grow their own plants and mushrooms. Really, it’s also a big step toward bodily autonomy and allowing individual choice.”  

A Nassar survivor’s story 

As a survivor of convicted child rapist and ex-MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar, Ebert said she also used an assortment of psychedelic drugs, particularly LSD, to help recover from the trauma. She said those experiences helped her regain confidence and find happiness during one of the darkest periods of her life — and end an unhealthy relationship with pharmaceutical drugs.  

One particularly memorable night on LSD helped lead to a real breakthrough, she explained. 

“With everything they had prescribed me, I was never happy. It was like I was this zombie. With psychedelics, I could feel something again,” she said. “This trip forced me to zoom out from my own little world and my own problems and look at everything from a bigger picture perspective.” 

Ebert said she has since used several other psychedelics — including mushrooms, DMT and ayahuasca — as a tool to find new introspective paths to self-recovery. With each trip, she noticed her social anxiety waning, as well as the shadows of her past trauma, she explained. 

“They’re not all healing experiences, but I think they’re all learning experiences,” she said. “I was very socially anxious in high school. These made me realize: Who cares what people think? It really helped me to take the power away from other people and hold onto it. I feel most authentically and genuinely myself when I’m in an elevated state on a psychedelic drug. It’s then I feel most connected to myself, my body, the people around me, the energy, the universe.” 

Since her first trip, Ebert said she has helped guide at least a dozen people through their first experiences with a wide array of psychedelic drugs — so many that she joked that perhaps she was a shaman in a past life. Decriminalizing the substances will only make it easier to research their potential therapeutic benefits and create new opportunities for treatment, she contended. 

Ebert added: “I think it’s important to note that psychedelic drugs, while they can be fun, beautiful and amazing, can also be hard work. These aren’t miracle drugs. You can’t just take them and be better. They help, but if you want to actually heal, then you have to put in work.” 

Myc Williams, the co-director of the Michigan chapter of Decriminalize Nature, outlined to City Pulse a 10-point plan on why voters should hop aboard the ‘shroom train this year and decriminalize psychedelic drugs. Beyond the therapeutic potential, he also cited basic American liberties and personal freedoms. Put simply: Cops have much better stuff to do than worry about  all-natural plants with little to no potential for addiction or overdose, he said. 

“The drug war has been an epic failure in terms of sending people to prison — often with life-changingly long sentences — for simple possession and from choices made at a younger age,” Williams said. “All that has done is take away opportunities to recover and get ahead.”  

Decriminalization on the move 

Denver became the first city in the country to decriminalize psychedelic drugs in 2019. Since then, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and a handful of smaller cities enacted similar measures — as has the state of Oregon, where its voters approved a measure to legalize plants and mushrooms and decriminalize all other drugs across the state in 2020.  

In Michigan, the cities of Detroit and Ann Arbor have also made some strides in decriminalizing entheogenic plants and mushrooms. Last year’s voter initiative in Detroit passed by 61%. A similar psychedelic decriminalization shift in Ann Arbor was also extended last year to all of Washtenaw County under a broad prosecutorial policy against charging for entheogenic plants. 

“The sky has not fallen,” Prosecutor Eli Savitt confirmed to City Pulse. “Our community still exists. We really have not seen any adverse consequences from these changes here. And truthfully, it has been a non-issue for law enforcement. It’s not like we had a bunch of cases, so I really don’t think it would hurt to have this be more of a standardized approach statewide.” 

Data shows that psychedelic drugs are a bit of a non-issue in Ingham County too. While studies from the University of Michigan show a rising nationwide trend in the use of hallucinogens like LSD and ‘shrooms, the psychedelic caseload is virtually nonexistent in Greater Lansing. 

Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon’s office, for example, was only able to track down nine criminal cases that involved psilocybin mushrooms in the last seven years — none in the last four. And most also involved weapons or more dangerous drugs like methamphetamine. 

“In most of these cases, police aren’t actively investigating people for using or possessing psilocybin,” according to an email from Scott Hughes, a spokesman for Siemon’s office. 

Siemon said she doesn’t have a particular policy or stance on charging for those drugs, except to keep most small-time controlled substance cases focused on treatment and recovery over punishment. She noted, however, she “wouldn’t likely oppose” psychedelic decriminalization. 

Last September, State Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, co-sponsored state legislation that had attempted to accomplish many of the same goals of this year’s petition. If that bill hadn’t been abandoned in a committee by Republican lawmakers last year, it would’ve legalized the therapeutic use, possession and the non-commercial cultivation of magic mushrooms, DMT and mescaline. 

“There is no value in arresting, prosecuting, or jailing people who use psychedelic plants or fungi,” Irwin reiterated in an email last week. “These substances have medicinal value, they have religious and cultural significance, and they have a very low likelihood of abuse.” 

Irwin also acknowledged that his bill was dead this week — making this year’s voter initiative even more critical in bringing an overdue end to the state’s war on drugs, he explained. 

Irwin added: “It is a good proposal and I support it. I look forward to signing it, and it is probably the only path to decriminalizing entheogenic plants and fungi in the short term. I also think the War on Drugs is the granddaddy of failed, big-government programs. We should end the war.”