Why Stop at One Campaign to Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms? Oregon Has Two--and They Don't Get Along.

Oregon's fall 2020 ballot may feature a first-in-the-nation measure to legalize psilocybin—the psychoactive component in so-called magic mushrooms—when taken under the supervision of therapists.

If this legalization campaign is unusual, so too is the effort to gather signatures, which has devolved into a bizarre fight.

The chief petitioners behind Initiative Petition 12, Beaverton therapists Tom and Sheri Eckert, have filed two complaints with the Oregon secretary of state. They allege that a disgruntled former campaign employee, Christopher Abrahamsen, has become a rogue canvasser, improperly soliciting funds and squirreling away signatures that could put mushrooms on the ballot.

"It appears [Abrahamsen] is invested in our failure, which he attempts to facilitate in a variety of ways," says Sheri Eckert, "including, apparently, by withholding signatures."

Read more: https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2019/04/03/why-stop-at-one-campaign-to-legalize-psychedelic-mushrooms-oregon-has-two-and-they-dont-get-along/
(Williamette Week)