Alaska Psychedelics Campaign Ends Push To Put Legalization On 2026 Ballot, Shifting Focus To 2028

An Alaska campaign says it failed to collect enough signatures to put an initiative
to legalize certain psychedelics such as psilocybin and DMT on the state’s
2026 ballot—but activists are emphasizing that the “work is far from over”
as they shift focus to placing the reform measure before voters in 2028.

About three months after state officials cleared Natural Medicine Alaska to
collect signatures for the initiative, the campaign announced on Wednesday
that, “despite months of tireless work,” they were “unable to gather enough
signatures to place the Alaska Natural Medicine Act on the 2026 ballot.”

“Throughout this effort, we submitted initial signatures, mobilized
volunteers across Anchorage, the Valley, the Kenai Peninsula, Haines,
Juneau, and communities statewide, and built strong grassroots momentum,”
it said. “Even with these tremendous efforts, we have determined that we
will not reach the full signature threshold to qualify the Alaska Natural
Medicine Act for the 2026 ballot.”

A spokesperson for the campaign told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday that
organizers collected more than 10,000 signatures during the relatively
short window to qualify the initiative for next year. But they won’t have
to start over again to make the ballot in 2028, as those petitions will
still be good toward the roughly 35,000 needed to qualify.

“We are profoundly grateful to everyone who gathered signatures, donated,
volunteered, or helped spread the word,” the campaign said. “Your
dedication and passion have meant more than we can express. And we want to
be clear: we are not giving up. Alaskans deserve safe, legal access to
natural medicines for therapeutic and traditional use, and the freedom to
make choices about their health with dignity, safety, and respect.
Therefore, we are formally announcing that we are shifting focus to the
2028 ballot cycle.”

“While we won’t appear on the 2026 ballot, we remain fully on track for
2028, and we will continue moving forward with determination, focus, and
the support of our community,” Natural Medicine Alaska said. “This movement
is gaining momentum every day. In fact, over 65 percent of Alaskans support
this initiative–and that number continues to grow.”

An earlier policy outline from the campaign explained that the proposal is
“building off of” Colorado’s voter-approved 2022 Natural Medicine Health Act,
under which facilitators recently administered the state’s first legal dose
of psilocybin.

In addition to establishing a licensed psychedelics industry in the state,
the Alaska measure would legalize non-commercial use, cultivation and
sharing of DMT, non-peyote mescaline, psilocybin and psilocin among adults
21 and older under a so-called “grow, gather, gift” model popular among
psychedelic reform proponents.

The measure “shifts away from a restrictive healing center model, allowing
individual practitioners to provide [natural medicine] in their offices and
at-home facilitation, increasing accessibility in rural communities” that
are common in Alaska, the organizers’ policy outline said.

Cultivation would need to take place in a space no larger that 12 feet by
12 feet and remain out of public view, and growers would be required to
take reasonable steps to prevent access by minors.

Transfers of psychedelics between adults, meanwhile, would need to occur
without any form of payment.

Public consumption of the substances would be forbidden, subject to a civil
fine of up to $100.

On the commercial side, Alaska would license healing centers—where
certified facilitators would supervise psychedelic administration—as well
as testing labs, cultivation facilities, product manufacturers, handlers
and other related businesses.

Traditional healers would also be protected under the proposed initiative
for “ceremonial, spiritual, or cultural use of plant medicines” through
legal exemptions to state drug laws. They would not need to hold a state
license, the proposal said, “but must be certified or credentialed as a
traditional practitioner.”

The system would be overseen by a Natural Medicine Control Board a
“regulatory and quasi-judicial agency” that would be housed within the
Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. It would
include members from the public safety and public health sectors, as well
as someone from a rural area, a representative of the natural medicine
industry, an Alaska Native traditional healer, a professional practitioner
of psychedelic-assisted therapy and someone either from the general public
or the natural medicine industry.

A separate Natural Medicine Advisory Committee consisting of 15 members
would make recommendations around the program. That body would include
mental heath professionals, natural medicine therapists or researchers,
tribal representatives, a physician, a military veteran, a first responder,
healthcare experts and others.

As for traditional use, the measure would also create a Traditional Use
Council to develop best practices and educational materials around
Indigenous-based psychedelic use and harm reduction principles. That would
include a separate credentialing or certification process that “may include
consideration of lineage, apprenticeship, community recognition, and
cultural practice, rather than formal clinical or academic training.”


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A poll last year found that nearly half (49.4 percent) of Alaska adults
would support a ballot measure to more broadly remove criminal penalties
for using substances such as psilocybin mushrooms.

That support rose markedly—to nearly two thirds (65 percent)—when
participants were told that Alaska has high rates of mental illnesses that
could potentially be treated with psychedelics.

Last year, Alaska lawmakers passed legislation to create a state task force
to study how to license and regulate psychedelic-assisted therapy. The
measure took effect without the signature of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R).

So far two other states have facilitated psychedelics programs that are
fully operational. Oregon voters legalized therapeutic psilocybin in 2020,
and Colorado’s program was passed at the ballot box in 2022, with the
state’s governor signing legislation a year later to create the regulatory
framework for the program.

Separately in Alaska, a federal judge ruled in June that state officials
did not violate the constitution when restricting intoxicating hemp
products in 2023.

*Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.*

The post Alaska Psychedelics Campaign Ends Push To Put Legalization On 2026
Ballot, Shifting Focus To 2028 appeared first on Marijuana Moment.