Westword
Audio By Carbonatix
Independent Journalism in Denver Needs You
We need to raise $25,000 by August 9 to support the reporting our community depends on. Reader support keeps us independent and is playing a larger role in funding local journalism and shaping what comes next. If you believe independent local journalism matters, make a contribution today.
Dear Stoner: Where does ketamine fit in with Colorado’s legalized psychedelics? I’ve seen the clinics, but didn’t see it listed with mushrooms on last November’s ballot.
Holly
Dear Holly: Ketamine is less accessible in Colorado than magic mushrooms, but more legal across the country. Although not included in Colorado’s recently passed Natural Medicine Health Act, ketamine is permitted by the FDA for supervised clinical use. As research has come out about ketamine’s potential for mental health treatment, more clinics that use it have sprouted up across the country, including in Colorado.
Ketamine clinics are legal in Colorado, but not thanks to the state’s recently enacted Natural Medicine Health Act.
Flickr/Focal Foto
Synthesized and already legal medically, ketamine wasn’t included with psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline in Colorado’s Proposition 122 language approved last fall. While these naturally occurring substances haven’t attained ketamine’s federal status, they are now decriminalized here for personal cultivation and possession without clinical supervision. Ideally, national and state psychotherapy laws will meet in the middle.
