Colorado Prop 122 Co-author Josh Kappel Joins Psychedelic Passage Podcast to Address Protections and Regulations Under the Natural Medicine Health Act
Jan 6, 2023
Vicente Sederberg founder and chair of the Natural Medicine Health Act campaign committee, Josh Kappel, recently sat down with co-hosts of the Psychedelic Passage podcast to discuss the ins and outs of Colorado Proposition 122, as co-author of the initiative.
The interview covers topics such as:
- What is Proposition 122? (2:00)
- Limitations in Colorado Proposition 122 (9:30)
- Protections in Colorado Proposition 122 (11:35)
- Regulations on Sharing Psychedelics Under Colorado Prop 122 (16:45)
- Limitations on Possession of Psychedelics for Personal Use (11:25)
- Is Colorado Proposition 122 Retroactive? (29:20)
Josh Kappel on Prop 122 (6:30):
I think it’s really important to know that everything that’s permitted under Prop 122 is illegal under federal law.
Similar to cannabis, if you possess cannabis in Colorado, you’re still violating federal law. Now how this works from a legal perspective, generally, is that 95% to 99% of all drug arrests are made at the state level, not the city level.
When you look at these different psychedelic ballot measures moving forward, you have some at the city level, you have some at the state level, and then maybe one day we’ll see some at the federal level. What we did with Prop 122 is we just focused on the state level.
I was also one of the drafters of the measure that decriminalized psilocybin in Denver, and it’s important to note that even these city-based laws actually don’t change any criminal laws. They’re really just a statement for the law enforcement to not enforce the state criminal law. What we did with Prop 122 is we actually changed state criminal law, which effectively changes 95% to 98% of all arrests in Colorado related to these natural psychedelics.