Michigan Court Orders University To Allow Psychedelics Festival, Ruling That Permit Denial Was Unconstitutional

A Michigan court is upholding the constitutional right of an advocacy group
to hold an event celebrating psychedelics in a common space at the
University of Michigan this weekend.

The Student Association for Psychedelic Studies (SAPS) requested a permit
to hold this Sunday’s Entheofest 2025 event on the campus “Diag” earlier
this year, but the university denied it last month, arguing that the
celebration promotes illicit drugs and that it would pose a “safety risk”
for attendees.

A Michigan Court of Claims judge on Thursday rejected that justification
for the permit denial, and it approved SAPS’s request for a preliminary
injunction against the university on the grounds that prohibiting the event
constituted a violation of the U.S. Constitution protecting free speech.

“The First Amendment is not without irony. Plaintiffs want to celebrate the
local decriminalization of psilocybin on the iconic Diag of the University
of Michigan, where thousands of speakers have spoken their words to
hundreds of thousands of willing (if not always sympathetic) listeners,”
Chief Judge Brock Swartzle said in an opinion. “But it is this very
decriminalization at the local level that has purportedly neutered the
University’s ability to keep the peace, imperiling the parties’ collective
ability to ensure a safe and lawful space for free speech.”

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“Although sympathetic to the University’s position, the Court concludes
that denying use of the Diag for ‘Entheofest 2025’ is not reasonable in
light of the purposes of that limited public forum,” he said, adding that
the university’s attempt to prevent the event because of security issues
experienced at a separate rally centers around cannabis reform and culture
are unfounded.

“While both events celebrate the use and cultivation of unlawful
substances, the scale of each event is dramatically different, at least
10:1 when comparing Hash Bash to Entheofest,” the opinion says. “The
University has the resources needed to ensure a safe and lawful Entheofest,
and, as a result, plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary injunction to
protect their First Amendment rights.”

“The purpose of the Diag is to provide a designated space to gather and for
expression and public discourse-the core constitutional rights of free
speech and assembly. The provision of this forum not only benefits the
speakers and listeners themselves, but also the University, as it promotes
the University’s core mission of educating a virtuous citizenry. In other
words, the University benefits from the provision of this forum; it is not
solely a source of expense.”

The court ultimately granted the student group’s request for a preliminary
injunction.

The university “shall approve plaintiffs’ application for a Diag
reservation permit to host Entheofest 2025 on September 21, 2025,” Swartzle
said. “The parties shall work collaboratively to develop and implement
sufficient security measures to ensure a safe and lawful event.”

However, the case isn’t officially closed because of that “pending claim”
concerning collaboration between the university and SAP.


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Meanwhile, Michigan Senate Democrats are reportedly moving toward
implementing a major tax hike on marijuana that was previously proposed by
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).

While no legislation to effectuate the policy change has been filed yet,
the plan is to impose a 32 percent wholesale excise tax on cannabis—which
would be in addition to the existing 16 percent in taxes that are placed on
marijuana at the retail level.

Officials separately announced in February that they’re disbursing nearly
$100 million in marijuana tax revenue to over 300 cities and tribes across
the state thanks to the state’s adult-use legalization law. That’s part of
the overall $331 million in tax dollars Michigan is distributing across
various initiatives.

The tax revenue supporting these disbursements is the result of a record
year for marijuana sales in Michigan, with over $10 billion in adult-use
cannabis products sold in 2024.

State officials said in late 2023 that tax revenue from legal marijuana
grew by 49 percent compared to 2022, surpassing the amount of revenue made
from alcohol sales. Marijuana sales incur a 10 percent excise tax—among the
lowest rates in the nation—as well as a 6 percent state sales tax.

Also, lawmakers recently introduced legislation that would exempt adults
with PTSD from state laws against the possession, cultivation and use of
psilocybin and psilocin, the two primary active components of psychedelic
mushrooms.

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Ruling That Permit Denial Was Unconstitutional appeared first on Marijuana
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