Marijuana Moment: Alaska Psychedelics Campaign Ends Push To Put Legalization On 2026 Ballot, Shifting Focus To 2028

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An Alaska campaign says it failed to collect enough signatures to put an initiative to legalize certain psychedelics such as psilocybin and DMT on the state’s 2026 ballot—but activists are emphasizing that the “work is far from over” as they shift focus to placing the reform measure before voters in 2028.

About three months after state officials cleared Natural Medicine Alaska to collect signatures for the initiative, the campaign announced on Wednesday that, “despite months of tireless work,” they were “unable to gather enough signatures to place the Alaska Natural Medicine Act on the 2026 ballot.”

“Throughout this effort, we submitted initial signatures, mobilized volunteers across Anchorage, the Valley, the Kenai Peninsula, Haines, Juneau, and communities statewide, and built strong grassroots momentum,” it said. “Even with these tremendous efforts, we have determined that we will not reach the full signature threshold to qualify the Alaska Natural Medicine Act for the 2026 ballot.”

A spokesperson for the campaign told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday that organizers collected more than 10,000 signatures during the relatively short window to qualify the initiative for next year. But they won’t have to start over again to make the ballot in 2028, as those petitions will still be good toward the roughly 35,000 needed to qualify.

“We are profoundly grateful to everyone who gathered signatures, donated, volunteered, or helped spread the word,” the campaign said. “Your dedication and passion have meant more than we can express. And we want to be clear: we are not giving up. Alaskans deserve safe, legal access to natural medicines for therapeutic and traditional use, and the freedom to make choices about their health with dignity, safety, and respect. Therefore, we are formally announcing that we are shifting focus to the 2028 ballot cycle.”

“While we won’t appear on the 2026 ballot, we remain fully on track for 2028, and we will continue moving forward with determination, focus, and the support of our community,” Natural Medicine Alaska said. “This movement is gaining momentum every day. In fact, over 65 percent of Alaskans support this initiative–and that number continues to grow.”

An earlier policy outline from the campaign explained that the proposal is “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.

In addition to establishing a licensed psychedelics industry in the state, the Alaska measure would legalize non-commercial use, cultivation and sharing of DMT, non-peyote mescaline, psilocybin and psilocin among adults 21 and older under a so-called “grow, gather, gift” model popular among psychedelic reform proponents.

The measure “shifts away from a restrictive healing center model, allowing individual practitioners to provide [natural medicine] in their offices and at-home facilitation, increasing accessibility in rural communities” that are common in Alaska, the organizers’ policy outline said.

Cultivation would need to take place in a space no larger that 12 feet by 12 feet and remain out of public view, and growers would be required to take reasonable steps to prevent access by minors.

Transfers of psychedelics between adults, meanwhile, would need to occur without any form of payment.

Public consumption of the substances would be forbidden, subject to a civil fine of up to $100.

On the commercial side, Alaska would license healing centers—where certified facilitators would supervise psychedelic administration—as well as testing labs, cultivation facilities, product manufacturers, handlers and other related businesses.

Traditional healers would also be protected under the proposed initiative for “ceremonial, spiritual, or cultural use of plant medicines” through legal exemptions to state drug laws. They would not need to hold a state license, the proposal said, “but must be certified or credentialed as a traditional practitioner.”

The system would be overseen by a Natural Medicine Control Board a “regulatory and quasi-judicial agency” that would be housed within the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. It would include members from the public safety and public health sectors, as well as someone from a rural area, a representative of the natural medicine industry, an Alaska Native traditional healer, a professional practitioner of psychedelic-assisted therapy and someone either from the general public or the natural medicine industry.

A separate Natural Medicine Advisory Committee consisting of 15 members would make recommendations around the program. That body would include mental heath professionals, natural medicine therapists or researchers, tribal representatives, a physician, a military veteran, a first responder, healthcare experts and others.

As for traditional use, the measure would also create a Traditional Use Council to develop best practices and educational materials around Indigenous-based psychedelic use and harm reduction principles. That would include a separate credentialing or certification process that “may include consideration of lineage, apprenticeship, community recognition, and cultural practice, rather than formal clinical or academic training.”

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A poll last year found that nearly half (49.4 percent) of Alaska adults would support a ballot measure to more broadly remove criminal penalties for using 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.

Last year, Alaska lawmakers passed legislation to create a state task force to study how to license and regulate psychedelic-assisted therapy. The measure took effect without the signature of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R).

So far two other states have facilitated psychedelics programs that are fully operational. Oregon voters legalized therapeutic psilocybin in 2020, and Colorado’s program was passed at the ballot box in 2022, with the state’s governor signing legislation a year later to create the regulatory framework for the program.

Separately in Alaska, a federal judge ruled in June that state officials did not violate the constitution when restricting intoxicating hemp products in 2023.

Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

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