In 2019, voters made Denver the first U.S. city to decriminalize the use of psilocybin, the psychedelic substance in certain mushrooms. Then in 2022 Colorado Proposition 122 set the groundwork for medical centers to open up statewide to administer the substances for medicinal purposes. Psychedelics derived from plants, commonly referred to as psychedelic mushrooms or natural medicine, are coming to Colorado after the state legalized use in a 2022 ballot proposition. Fountain is the second municipality after Colorado Springs in the Pikes Peak area to start looking at zoning regulations for potential related businesses.
Under the new state law, a licensed facility can supervise the use of psilocybin and psilocin — the psychoactive substances in psychedelic mushrooms — for people over the age of 21 in a controlled setting. Growing mushrooms for personal use under certain conditions is also legal.
The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies will begin taking licensing applications for facilities on Dec. 31.
The new law allows local governments to regulate the time, place and "manner" of psychedelic facilities without banning facilities entirely. Fountain on Tuesday night passed an ordinance on first reading that would define its regulatory abilities.
The new ordinance proposes a 1,000-foot minimum pedestrian distance between a facility and any school, childcare center or residential dwelling. The requirement is less geographically extensive than Colorado Springs’ proposed ordinance, also discussed at a meeting this week, that requires a mile minimum distance.
Colorado Springs looks to zone ‘magic mushroom’ healing centers out of majority of the city
The Fountain restrictions would provide some location possibilities for a psychedelics facility, including in industrially zoned spaces both west and east of Interstate 25.
Fountain officials said that a larger radius like a mile would effectively prohibit a facility anywhere in Fountain city limits, which would be unreasonably discriminatory.
"I think that probably doesn’t fit into the ‘reasonable’ category, especially looking at our zoning map, because we can’t outright ban it through adding so much distance that there would be no land available in Fountain," said Fountain Assistant City Attorney Grace Williams at the meeting.Mayor Sharon Thompson and other council members emphasized that the […]
Fountain joins Colorado Springs in seeking to regulate fledgling psychedelic mushroom industry
