DENVER — The 2025 Psychedelic Science conference and trade show in Denver started with a bang — or perhaps with the creaking sound of jail cells opening — on Wednesday when Gov. Jared Polis declared that he will pardon Coloradans with past state convictions for possession of psilocybin and psilocin, the naturally occurring chemicals in magic mushrooms.
Polis made a similar sweeping pardon after recreational cannabis was legalized a decade-plus ago. With the 2022 passage of Colorado Proposition 122: Natural Medicine Health Act, Colorado voters decriminalized the possession and use of certain psychedelic plants and fungi and set the stage for new pardons and the establishment of a new industry centered — for now, at least — on the use of psychedelic drugs in research, spiritual and therapeutic settings.
Hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, the Psychedelic Science conference, which is expected to draw thousands of attendees to the Colorado Convention Center this week, is a celebration of that industry and its move into the mainstream.
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