Activists in Alaska are working to put a measure on the 2026 state ballot to legalize certain psychedelics—including psilocybin, mescaline and DMT—and create a state-regulated system for facilitated use.
This week, the group Natural Medicine Alaska began collecting signatures at the Anchorage and Palmer cities as a part of the first phase of the initiative process in Alaska.
To get things started, organizers must first submit 100 valid signatures from registered voters. The state’s Lt. Nancy Dahlstrom, (R), has 60 days in which to make a decision on whether or not to certify the proposed proposal to continue signature collection to be eligible for the ballot of 2026.
While language of the prospective ballot measure is not available on Natural Medicine Alaska’s website—and the group did not immediately respond to an emailed request from MEDCAN24—a policy outline explains the plan as “building off of” Colorado’s voter-approved 2022 Natural Medicine Health Act, under which facilitators recently administered the state’s first legal dose of psilocybin.
Alaska’s proposal legalizes non-commercial DMT use, cultivation, and sharing, under the so-called “grow, collect, gift” model, popular with psychedelic reform advocates.
It would further create a state-regulated program where adults would be administered natural medicines in a supervised setting, and it would allow certain medical professionals to “prescribe and dispense microdoses…to patients.”
In the outline of policy it is stated that this measure “moves away from an restrictive model for healing centers, and instead allows individuals to provide services.” [natural medicine] In Alaska, rural communities often benefit from increased accessibility through their office and home-based facilitation.
The facilities would have to be owned by “majority Alaskans, in order for the economic benefits to stay within Alaska.”
The proposed legislation would provide legal protections for traditional healers who use plant medicine in a “ceremonial or spiritual” manner.
Natural Medicine Alaska, an online campaign that was launched in February on YouTube, states: “We imagine a society where natural remedies are readily available to those who seek healing and wellness. A future where the Alaskan people are empowered with knowledge of these drugs and can use psilocybin or other natural psychedelics for personal purposes.” The decriminalization and regulation of entheogens will transform Alaska into an environment that is supportive of the therapeutic use of psychoactive substances.
Ibogaine is one natural medicine that will be prohibited from personal use. Treatment centers, however, are part of the proposal and “will be implemented as soon Alaska’s regulated-access program has been established.”
Traditional use [of iboga] The plan also protects “highly trained and recognized practitioners”.
Other provisions of the policy include expungement, record clearing for criminal convictions related to herbal medicine and local protections. [military] First responders, members of the law enforcement community and other first aiders who use [natural medicines] Covered under the initiative and support for synthesized versions of ibogaine, “to promote sustainability as well as prevent over-harvesting from natural sources.”
The outline of the proposal states that Alaska will be required to provide training on psychedelic crises assessment and intervention for first responders in order to improve their skills and knowledge to respond quickly to behavioral and emotional crisis situations involving people who use psychedelics. [natural medicines].”
An Alaskan poll from last year showed that almost half (49.5%) of Alaskans would be in favor of a measure on the ballot to remove more criminal penalties associated with substances such as Psilocybin Mushrooms.
That support rose markedly—to nearly two thirds (65 percent)—when participants were told that Alaska has high rates of mental illnesses that could potentially be treated with psychedelics.
Alaska legislators passed legislation last year to establish a task force in the state to examine how to regulate and license psychedelic assisted therapy. This measure was passed without Governor’s signature. Mike Dunleavy is a Republican.
As of now, two states offer psychedelics that are operational. Oregon voters approved therapeutic psilocybin at the 2020 ballot, while Colorado passed its program in 2022. The state’s Governor signed legislation to establish the regulatory framework.
Oregon may soon see more patients able to access legal Psilocybin, following a recent ruling by a federal judge in favor plaintiffs who had argued the first psilocybin laws passed anywhere in the country were preventing homebound people from getting medical care.
Four care providers—three licensed psilocybin facilitators and a physician specializing in advanced and terminal illnesses—sued the state about year ago, alleging that the state Psilocybin Services Act (PSA) discriminates against disabled individuals who can’t travel to designated service centers where the substance is administered.
In Maine, meanwhile, lawmakers last week reversed course and rejected a bill to legalize possession of up to one ounce of psilocybin by people 21 and older.
At the federal level, attorneys for a doctor seeking to reschedule psilocybin so he can administer it to terminally ill patients recently demanded an update from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which previously agreed to submit a request for a scientific review of the psychedelic from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A federal judge in Alaska ruled last month, that officials in the state did not break the Constitution by restricting hemp intoxicating products for 2023.
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