Psychedelic mushrooms were federally banned in the seventies, but there is a resurgence of  interest in increasing access to “magic mushrooms.”

On Tuesday, Denver voters will decide whether the naturally occurring drug should be decriminalized, which could make Denver the first city in the nation to do so.

The ordinance would prohibit the city and the surrounding county from “spending resources” on enforcing criminal penalties for possession of psychedelic mushrooms.

California failed to pass a similar measure last year.

Larry speaks to two professors of psychiatry who have studied various psychedelic drugs about the implications of decriminalization.

Guests:

Charles Grob, M.D., professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at UCLA and director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; he has published several studies examining the medical uses of psilocybin, the active psychedelic ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms”

Matthew W. Johnson, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at John Hopkins University; He has been doing research on psychedelics for the last fifteen years.