OK, folks, I feel the first vibrations coming on, like sitting in one of those high-priced vibrating massage chairs at the mall — a gentle hum and tingle all over the body — which means I better get this piece done, and soon.
Right. It was a little more than a year ago when I ate a mushroom and attempted to write a short story about Andrew Jackson in the American presidents’ wing of hell when, suddenly, the keys on my keyboard began to slowly gel into one another, creating a weird, indescribable alphabet — but I digress.
Reason No. 2 why psilocybin must be decriminalized: “the bail trap.”
“What is that? I haven’t even heard of that,” a friend asked me recently at a local brewpub west of downtown.
“It’s when innocent people are incarcerated for an indeterminate amount of time simply because they can’t afford to post bail,” I said.
And of course “the bail trap” impacts mostly people of color as well the poor. Imagine being incarcerated — not convicted, mind you, just incarcerated — and held in a cell for, say, a week. In this span of time, people caught within the system lose jobs and paychecks.
Along with the science supporting the decriminalization of psilocybin mushrooms, “the bail trap” itself should be reason enough to vote in favor of legitimizing these fungal beings.
It was also “the bail trap” that inspired Matthews and his group to call for the decriminalization of psilocybin mushrooms.
“We are working to keep individuals out of jail, keep families together,” he said.
Indeed. And no one should be denied clinically proven medicine merely because it’s demonized.
And as the low hum and tingle grows, as I prepare for the new pathways of knowledge, and just before the keys on this keyboard begin to gel into that weird alphabet, I wonder if Colorado and the rest of the country will in 10 or 20 years from now clear mushroom convictions, just like marijuana.
Well, I can hope — for the sake of the sick and discriminated — I can hope.
And now, the keys begin to gel.
Simon Moya-Smith is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a Chicano. He was born and raised in Denver and is an adjunct professor of journalism. Follow him at @SimonMoyaSmith.
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