GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- There is likely enough support among Grand Rapids elected officials to decriminalize the use, possession, growing and gifting of psychoactive plants and fungi, according to one city commissioner.
And the vote could happen later this year.
“In terms of my discussions with my colleagues, they’re all very open minded to it; They all have a lot of questions,” said 1st Ward City Commissioner Kurt Reppart. “Several of them have expressed explicit support. I believe we have enough support to pass a resolution.
“The best case scenario for me is that during the fall it would come up and it would pass with a resounding vote. I don’t know if it would be unanimous, but it would be a strong vote.”
Reppart is a political advisor for Decriminalize Nature Grand Rapids, a group calling on city leaders to decriminalize psychoactive plants and fungi classified as “entheogens,” such as psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline-containing cacti, ayahuasca and ibogaine.
Related: Group encourages Grand Rapids to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, plants like Ann Arbor
Under the proposed resolution, the plants and fungi would remain illegal under state and federal law.
However, the investigation and arrest of those growing, gifting, possessing and using them would be the city’s lowest law enforcement priority and there would be no budgetary resources dedicated to doing so.
Selling the psychoactive plants and fungi would remain forbidden.
The push in Grand Rapids follows the success of sister group Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, or DNA2, which got Ann Arbor city leaders to adopt a similar resolution in September 2020. There are similar statewide and national movements.
Following that vote, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit declared support for the resolution and said his office would no longer prosecute those acts in the county. Grand Rapids could call upon Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker to do the same.
In Grand Rapids, the resolution is currently being vetted by city staff and attorneys. Afterward, it will go back to the city commission’s Legislative Committee for recommendation to the full body for approval or rejection.
Reppart said there’s no firm timeline on when it may be recommended to the full body, but it could happen as early as August or sometime in the fall.
“I’m hoping that we can vote on this, we can pass it this fall and then people in this city will have access, and therapists in this city and practitioners in this city will have access to leveraging these sacred medicines for the healing of our city,” Reppart said at an open house the group held Thursday evening, July 29, at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids.
The open house was intended to educate people on entheogens and the campaign, and help fundraise.
Decriminalize Nature GR activists say non-addictive entheogens show promise in treating addiction, end-of-life anxiety and grief, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, PTSD, depression and more. They may also encourage spiritual and personal growth.
One study from Johns Hopkins University found taht psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, showed promise in alleviating or curing depression.
Chad Beyer, executive director and co-founder of Decriminalize Nature GR, shared his own story of how entheogens changed his life at the open house.
Five years ago, Beyer was diagnosed with a neurological disease. The outlook was grim: the disease will progress and there is no cure, his doctor said.
A few years later, he read an article on how entheogens help people to experience love more deeply, and he sought them out.
“I discovered a therapist who uses plant medicines in their therapy. I had two sessions and I cannot say enough about how my life has changed,” he said. “I feel self-acceptance and gratitude beyond anything I had ever imagined.
“I am no longer afraid of dying, but instead I am grateful for every day. I want more people to have more access to this kind of love, self-acceptance and gratitude.”
From left, Executive Director and co-founder of Decriminalize Nature Grand Rapids Chad Beyer shares his story Thursday, July 29, with group board members Mary Reed Kelly, Andrea Hendrick and Luke Johnson.
While therapists and other professionals who use these entheogens in healing would probably still have to remain underground after decriminalization, due to fears of losing their medical license, those in Grand Rapids potentially wouldn’t have to worry about calling emergency services if needed, Beyer said.
It’s stories like Beyer’s, stories of healing, that were part of the reason Reppart got involved with the campaign.
“I’ve met so many people, many of whom are in this room, who have personally been healed by these medicines,” he told attendees at the open house. “And so the research is there, it’s the right thing to from a budgetary standpoint and emphasis as a city, but for me, I want to be known as somebody who promotes healing and promotes people’s wellbeing and for people to be able to thrive, especially as this world continues to throw more and more at us.”
The old ways of dealing with addiction and mental health issues through policing and shame and just saying no haven’t worked, Reppart said, adding that it’s time to look at the science and data and stop trying to address these ailments the old way.
The efforts to decriminalize align with national and local conversations to deprioritize policing where other strategies can better address root issues or policing simply isn’t needed, he said.
“Decriminalizing things that are not harming anyone ought to be the first thing that we take away from law enforcement and say, ‘You know what, we’ve been asking you to do that. You no longer have to go to those places where you don’t have the training and the expertise and it’s always uncomfortable,’” Reppart said.
“To me, it fits nicely with this call nationally to shift addressing these rooted problems in our community away from police-based strategies and toward strategies that are harm reduction, risk reduction, supporting things like Housing First and all those kinds of things.”
The bulk of the open house Thursday was comprised of a talk between Trillium Institute Executive Director Dr. John Mulder and Professor Michael De Wilde, the director of the Koeze Business Ethics Initiative at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business, about plant medicines, their history and their potential benefits to palliative and end-of-life care.
Those interested in getting involved with the Decriminalize Nature GR campaign, or donating to it, can find out more at this website: https://www.decrimnaturegr.org/.
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