Editor's Note: This article has been updated to clarify the source of quoted comments and correct details about police testimony during the hearing.
Portland councilors on Tuesday waded into one of the city’s more Portland debates: whether to formally tell police that personal possession, small-scale cultivation and gifting of natural psychedelic mushrooms should be at the bottom of their to-do list. Backers pitched the move as a public health play that would free up officers to chase traffickers and violent crime, while skeptics warned it could blur already tricky legal lines.
What the ordinance would do
The proposal would add Chapter 14B.140 to Portland’s city code, declaring that personal use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants and fungi is a low law enforcement priority. It would also create the Portland Psychedelics Advisory Commission, tasked with developing strategic plans and harm reduction guidance around natural psychedelics.
The ordinance spells out that it is not intended to authorize sales or impaired driving and that it must be applied in a way that is consistent with state law. According to Portland.gov, the new commission would publish annual recommendations along with a multi-year strategic plan.
Supporters' case
Advocates from the Portland Psychedelic Society told the committee the ordinance would simply codify what many in the community are already doing, while expanding education and creating safer pathways for people who say they have benefited from natural psychedelics. Their materials highlight years of public programming, conferences and, more recently, political organizing through an Action Fund aimed at pushing policy changes at City Hall.
For more on the group’s work and how it has tried to shape the local conversation around psychedelics, see Portland Psychedelic Society.
Opposition and policing
Not everyone on the public safety side is sold. Police union leaders and some officials have pressed for clarity around the proposal. Portland Police Association president Aaron Schmautz previously told Willamette Week he needed more time with the ordinance language because he did not understand “what it does or why.”
During Tuesday's hearing, Commander Brian Hughes testified that the ordinance would not change how the Portland Police Bureau currently treats natural psychedelics, and consequently, the bureau would remain neutral on the proposal. Union leaders have expressed concerns that locking a low-priority policy into city code could shift enforcement in ways that are hard to predict.
Federal limits and legal questions
Even if the city tells officers to treat personal use as a low priority, psilocybin and psilocin are still Schedule I substances under federal law, which complicates how much wiggle room local policymakers actually have.
The Drug Enforcement Administration notes that Schedule I drugs are considered to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use, a classification that can box in local experiments around criminal enforcement. See DEA Drug Scheduling for the federal framework.
What’s next
After public testimony, the Community and Public Safety Committee opted not to rush a decision and continued the item. The ordinance was listed as “continued” on the committee’s June 2 agenda, and the council record now includes written and in-person testimony from residents and advocates on both sides.
According to Portland.gov, the committee met in Council Chambers at City Hall, and the ordinance will return for further consideration, with additional written comments accepted before the next hearing.
