With marijuana now going mainstream, some Californians are starting to wonder: Could psychedelics be next?

The idea, once unthinkable, is getting attention thanks to a 2018 ballot proposal that would legalize psilocybin, the natural hallucinogen in magic mushrooms.

The U.S. has outlawed psilocybin for more than 40 years, placing it in the same classification as heroin and ecstasy.

Kitty Merchant, who is leading the campaign along with her partner Kevin Saunders, said thousands of Californians are already safely using the drug.

“I think that people are sophisticated enough to be able to deal with this,” she said, “and those that don’t just don’t touch on it.”

Psilocybin users report experiences of lasting well-being and gratitude. A growing body of research has led some clinicians to reconsider its potential to treat depression, anxiety and addiction.

But the public has shown little eagerness to allow it. A national poll last year found that only about one in five registered voters supported the legalization of magic mushrooms.

Dale Gieringer of the nonprofit Drug Policy Forum of California said he backed the ballot effort, but doubted that Californians would make the leap.

“It’s a little surprising to see this come up. It’s not like there’s been a lot of publicity around psilocybin,” he said. “I think the challenge is going to be to educate the public.”

Some psilocybin supporters are looking skeptically toward Merchant and Saunders to pull that off.

A longtime marijuana activist, Saunders once ran for mayor of Marina, the small city on Monterey Bay where he and Merchant live. He drew coverage in the local press for outbursts that got him expelled from the Monterey College of Law and banned from Starbucks. He didn’t respond to email or phone messages.

To qualify for the November 2018 ballot, the psilocybin campaign needs to gather 365,880 signatures by April. So far, said Merchant, they’ve got “several thousand.”

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