Colorado Governor Grants Mass Psilocybin Pardon Following Voters’ Approval Of Psychedelics Legalization At The Ballot

The governor of Colorado has announced a first-ever round of mass pardons
for people with psilocybin-related convictions.

Just about two weeks after Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill into law
empowering him and future governors to issue clemency for people who’ve
committed psychedelics offenses, he announced during a speech at the
Psychedelic Science 2025 conference on Wednesday that he’s exercising that
authority.

The pardons he’s granting through executive order will provide relief to
anyone with a state-level conviction for psilocybin and psilocyn possession.

“Colorado has been a national leader in breaking through outdated laws
around cannabis, and now we are doing the same for natural medicine,” Polis
said in a press release. “This action eliminates past state-level
convictions for psilocybin and psilocin possession that would be legal
today. With these pardons, we are fulfilling the will of Colorado voters
and moving away from ineffective drug policy and encouraging local
municipalities to follow suit.”

At the conference, the governor stressed that, while his executive order
covers state-level convictions, the major of people with
psychedelics-related records were prosecuted at the local level, so he
urged people to reach out to their city council representatives and mayors
and ask them to pursue similar clemency actions.

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“This is an important step forward, of course, for the individuals who will
now have this cleared from their record—but also to really acknowledge the
error in public policy that led to their conviction, creating a more just
system to break down barriers and help them move on with their lives,” he
said. “Maybe they want to go on to higher education or get a sensitive job
that requires a criminal background check, and they will now be able to do
that because, of course, they have not violated anything that is currently
a law of Colorado.”

The executive order states: “Pursuant to the authority granted to me by SB
25-297, I am granting full and unconditional pardons for State convictions
of possession of psilocybin and psilocin for those 21 years old or older at
the time of the offense because possession of psilocybin and psilocin is no
longer illegal in the State of Colorado and it should not be held against
people since it is not a crime.”

In addition to granting the clemency, the order also calls on the
Department of Public Safety, through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,
to develop a process to indicate on criminal background checks that these
individuals’ convictions have been pardoned.”

Shortly after signing the legislation that now allows him to grant the
pardons, Polis said the reform represents another step “towards a fairer
future.” He’s advocated for the policy change since the state legalized
certain entheogenic substances in 2022.

“Governor Polis is showing exactly the kind of courage and compassion that
we hope to see from all governors across the country by using his executive
authority to right the wrongs of prohibition and calling on Colorado
municipalities to do the same,” Jason Ortiz, director of strategic
initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project (LPP) told Marijuana Moment.

“I look forward to working with his office to support and empower local
municipalities to carry the torch of freedom forward until there is no one
burdened by a criminal history for actions that are now generating tax
revenue across the state of Colorado,” he said.

The psychedelics clemency move comes several years after Polis issued mass
pardons for people with prior marijuana convictions.

The recently enacted psychedelics legislation from Sen. Matt Ball (D) and
Rep. Lisa Feret (D) authorizes governors to grant clemency to people with
convictions for low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin,
ibogaine and DMT that have since been legalized.

It will also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of
Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the
use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”

That must include data on law enforcement activities, adverse health
events, consumer protection claims and behavioral impacts related to
psychedelics.

Prior to passage by the Senate, a committee amendment removed a government
appropriation to pay for data collection and tracking, replacing a
reference to “ongoing appropriations” with “appropriations or gifts,
grants, or donations.” Ball said at the time that lawmakers have a letter
of intent from the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative—a nonprofit
that supports advancing psychedelic therapy—to fund the program for the
entirety of its five-year duration.

The bill earmarks $208,240 in those funds for the governor’s office of
information technology. “To implement this act, the office may use this
appropriation to provide information technology services for the department
of public health and environment,” the text says.

The legislation further amends rules around licensing and ownership of
psychedelic healing centers. For example, it removes a requirement for
fingerprint background checks for owners and employees of licensed
facilities, making it so they would only be subject to a name-based
criminal background check.

It additionally “requires the state licensing authority to adopt rules
related to product labels for regulated natural medicine and regulated
natural medicine products and permits the state licensing authority to
adopt rules regarding the types of regulated natural medicine products that
can be manufactured.”

The proposal overall earned support from an array of advocates, including
psychedelic medicine proponents as well as groups more skeptical of
legalization. Public commenters at a hearing seemed to agree that the
bill’s data collection provisions would help observers both inside and
outside Colorado better understand the outcomes around regulated
psychedelics.

Late last month, Polis touted the fact that Colorado’s legal psychedelics
program is “fully launched” now that regulators have issued licenses for
each part of the psilocybin supply chain.


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Earlier this session, the governor signed into law a bill that would allow
a form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal
government authorizes its use.

While Colorado already legalized psilocybin and several other psychedelics
for adults 21 and older through the voter-approved ballot initiative, the
newly enacted reform will make it so drugs containing an isolated
crystalized version synthesized from psilocybin can become available under
physician prescription.

Polis signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal
psychedelics in 2023.

Separately in Colorado, a bill that would have limited THC in marijuana and
outlawed a variety of psilocybin products died following the lead sponsor’s
move to withdraw the legislation.

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Approval Of Psychedelics Legalization At The Ballot appeared first on Marijuana
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