Fort Bragg psychologist proposes decriminalizing psychedelics: a Q&A on “how do we want to live?”

FORT BRAGG, CA, 4/16/23 — Dr. Richard Miller, a Fort Bragg resident for decades and a practicing psychologist since 1961, has brought a couple big ideas before the Fort Bragg City Council in 2023. He wants the town to create a Community Morale Commission, and to decriminalize garden-grown psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, peyote, and ayahuasca. 

Cities and states around the country have pursued decriminalizing, legalizing, or further studying psilocybin mushrooms and some other psychedelics in recent years. Though these substances have long histories of human consumption, with indigenous communities using some plants in ceremonies for centuries, use of the drugs is illegal (aside from tribal and religious exemptions for some). Increasingly, studies have shown that psychedelic therapy could help people struggling with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and PTSD.