It is with deep sadness and anger that I write this statement strongly condemning the State Senate’s revisions of NJ S.2283.

After a New Jersey Senate committee hearing, bill NJ S.2283, which promised to decriminalize psilocybin-producing mushrooms and expunge criminal records, has become a large-scale market sell-off to the healthcare industry. Without decriminalization, as originally mentioned in the bill, it is clear that interventions made by for-profit health insurance lobbies seek to rob the people of New Jersey of a naturally-occurring medicine. This will substantially reduce access to life-saving services.

Furthermore, any economic justice-related guise shielding the New Jersey State Senate from public backlash has now entirely disappeared. Under the revised bill, no justice for those incarcerated by the racist prison industry will be found.  And, commenting on the decision to remove decriminalization and expungement language, Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) said, “It would seem to me that those who were penalized in the past for possession or use were likely not using it for medical purposes.” This utterly ignorant statement erases any notion of self-medication, a growing practice amongst the millions of victims of the mental health crisis. 

But, in fact, this bill was never meant to achieve such justice. Just like New Jersey’s shameful mass-privatization of the cannabis industry, the goal of the New Jersey State Congress is to create profits for donors and lobbies. In the case of drug policy reform, it has been obvious from the beginning that the “reform” we so desperately need has instead been neatly packaged as a gift for insurance and pharmaceutical companies. This tactic is nothing new– the public is intentionally misled into believing that privatization can bring justice to working people. This is a lie. It cannot. 

As a mycologist, I feel that I should remind our lawmakers of the native psilocybin-containing fungi that naturally populate the state of New Jersey. One of which, Psilocybe graveolens, is presumed to be extinct due to the destruction and exploitation of the meadowlands ecosystem. Gymnopilus subspectabilis is common near oak trees and stumps, while Panaeolus fimicola grows abundantly in well-groomed lawns. Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata has recently spread through mulch distribution networks, breaking down land development waste and returning nutrients to the earth.

Labeling any of these native fungi as illegal is absurd in its own right, but gutting an attempt to remove this label in the name of corporate profits demonstrates just how morally bankrupt and corrupt our State Congress really is.

I call on the immediate reversal of these revisions. This shamefully revised bill should not be passed without decriminalization and expungement guarantees. This bill, in its current state, is a loss for racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice, and healthcare access.

We must learn from past mistakes and reject privatization masquerading as drug policy reform. I wholly condemn this policy betrayal by the State Senate. Many community leaders, advocates, and victims of the prison industry and the mental health crisis are heartbroken.

Ben Taylor

6/8/2024