Colorado needs more hallucinogenic mushrooms out of respect for veterans and Mother Nature. So say advocates of the latest push for more normalization of recreational drugs.

Movements advocating the decriminalization of psychedelic mushrooms are underway in Boulder and Colorado Springs. From there, advocates plan to take on Fort Collins, Jefferson County, and to seek statewide decriminalization by the legislature or at the ballot box.

Pot legalization began in Colorado with the decriminalization of “medical” THC — they told us veterans needed it — which quickly led to full legalization and the state’s incubation of Big Marijuana. If the mushroom campaign keeps gaining momentum, Colorado could become the world’s first large-scale, state-sanctioned hub for the recreational production and sale of psychedelic drugs.

Mainstream society respects and appreciates military veterans for good reasons. Veterans of combat and other military service made personal sacrifices to defend our country’s sovereignty and the American way of life. Most are functional, above-average members of their communities and do not want themselves or their loved ones on illicit drugs of any type.

Veterans suffering from PTSD or other psychological and/or physical conditions need professional help, not easier access to schedule 1 drugs consumed without medical advice or supervision.

Because society so appropriately cares about veterans, activists exploit their collectively good reputation to justify the acceptance of destructive behaviors. Some veterans are homeless and need our help. As such, advocates of anything-goes public squatting play the vet card without shame. They say rules against tents on sidewalks and in parks violate those who defended our country — because some of them live in tents.

Some veterans — like people from all walks of life — use marijuana. Therefore, activists tell us, we must allow minimally fettered production, sales, transportation, and consumption of pot. If we forbid these activities, we criminalize freedoms veterans have earned.

Building on demographic stereotyping, the veteran card provides an emotional end-run around rationality. Taken to its logical conclusion, this reasoning could justify nearly any activity that counters community values and conventional rules. One could find a few veterans who steal for survival and argue to decriminalize theft.

The latest effort to exploit our affection for veterans comes from groups called Decriminalize Nature Colorado Springs, Decriminalize Nature Boulder, and others forming throughout the state with similar names and agendas.

These activists have their marketing all figured out. Instead of focusing on the drug and the hallucinations it causes, these activists focus on “veterans” and “nature” — two concepts that trigger emotions of approval.

Because some veterans use shrooms — likely a small percentage — they cloak the drug in the high character we associate with military service. Wrap the cause in “nature” because mushrooms are natural and nature is good. Nevermind the fact “natural” makes mushrooms no more special than plutonium.

“I had to make the approach military-friendly,” says 28-year-old Anthony Caballero, as quoted by Westword in Denver. Caballero, of Decriminalize Nature Colorado Springs, pitched the City Council in March on his crusade.

Caballero, who served in combat in Afghanistan, says psychedelic drugs cured his post-traumatic stress disorder. Two other combat veterans also made a case that psychedelic drugs helped them.

We, as a society, cannot thank Caballero and his colleagues enough for their service. We can and should question their push to legitimize the unrestrained use of a drug tolerated almost nowhere else in the world.

When Denver voters decriminalized shrooms in 2019, it became the first jurisdiction in all of North America to do so. At the time, one had to travel more than 5,000 miles in any direction to find a society that did not impose serious consequences for possession or use of psilocybin mushrooms. Even Amsterdam, a city known for tolerating recreational drugs, outlawed shrooms in 2008 after years of users losing control. The country said “no more” after a teenage girl took the drug, believed she could fly, and jumped from a bridge to her death.

Incredibly, Colorado Springs City Council President Richard Skorman expressed appreciation for the pro-psychedelics campaign. He told the vets about a relative with cancer who participated in a clinical study of psilocybin mushrooms at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The study found psilocybin can help cancer patients cope with depression.

“I appreciate everyone coming forward,” Skorman told the veterans, who complimented his tacit approval.

With all due respect to the Council president, the Ivy League study of a hallucinogen — conducted in a controlled environment — does not remotely justify decriminalization of the drug. If that were the case, we could justify recreational morphine because it lessens pain for trauma patients.

Colorado’s race to break with traditional drug interdiction does not make us avant-garde, progressive, or cool. It makes the state look careless, ignorant, and dismissive of wisdom developed through the ages and respected around the globe. Don’t fall for efforts to normalize deviant behavior — even if they wrap it in Mother Nature and veterans.