---
title: "Denver Becomes First U.S. City to Decriminalize “Magic Mushrooms”"
description: "Denver became the first city in the US to decriminalize psilocybin, a compound with hallucinogenic properties that occurs in some \"magic mushrooms.\""
date: "2019-05-09"
modified: "2019-05-09"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/denver-decriminalize-magic-mushrooms"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "drugs"
  - "medicine"
  - "psilocybin"
  - "the digest"
---

# Denver Becomes First U.S. City to Decriminalize “Magic Mushrooms”

![Denver became the first city in the US to decriminalize psilocybin, a compound with hallucinogenic properties that occurs in some "magic mushrooms."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/denver-decriminalize-magic-mushrooms.png>)
*\<em\>Image: chrissmith12 via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Magic Mushrooms

This week, Denver, CO became the first city in the United States to decriminalize psilocybin, a compound with hallucinogenic properties that occurs in some mushrooms — a move that could signal new frontiers both in the country's evolving relationship with mind-altering substances and in the medical community's accelerating [exploration of psychedelics](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/study-microdosing-fights-depression-improves-focus>).

"Because psilocybin has such tremendous medical potential, there’s no reason individuals should be criminalized for using something that grows naturally," said Kevin Matthews, the director of the campaign to legalize psilocybin in Denver, in [an interview](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us/denver-magic-mushrooms-decriminalization.html>) with the *New York Times*.

## Magic Mushroom

The new law passed by a narrow margin, according to the *Times*, of less than 2,000 votes. It [doesn't entirely legalize](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/denver-voting-decriminalize-psychedelic-mushrooms>) psilocybin-containing mushrooms, but it makes the prosecution of possession and cultivation of them an extremely low-priority offense.

But not everybody in Denver is pleased.

"We’re still in the very early stages of marijuana legalization, and we are still learning the impact of that substance on our city," Carolyn Tyler, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, told the *Times*. The district attorney, she said, "is not in favor of Denver being the only city that doesn’t enforce the law."

**READ MORE:** [Denver Voters Support ‘Magic’ Mushrooms](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us/denver-magic-mushrooms-decriminalization.html>) \[*The New York Times*\]

**More on psilocybin:** [Scientist Tells World Leaders MDMA and Magic Mushrooms Should Be Legal](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientist-world-leaders-magic-mushrooms-mdma-medicines>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)