A hopeful politician in California is trying to get something new on the ballot next year, psychedelic mushrooms. Kevin Saunders, a former heroin addict, told Vice that using the magic mushrooms helped him get clean from heroin and now he thinks that it could do the same for others as well.

The Attorney General for the state of California approved a “circulating title and summary” meaning that Saunders could begin collecting signatures to get the proposed change to state law onto the ballot next year. That way, residents would at least have the opportunity to vote on the decriminalization of Psilocybin. To get the proposed initiative on the ballot Saunders must collect 365,880 signatures.

If passed, the proposed initiative would “Decriminalize use, possession, sale, transport, or cultivation of psilocybin (a hallucinogenic compound) by persons at least 21 years of age,” according to the California Secretary of State’s website. The submission by Saunders to amend the California statute was filed in August. The costs the proposed change would save the state would only amount to a “ few million ” dollars annually.

The psilocybin is the hallucinogenic part of the mushrooms that Saunders is trying to decriminalize, otherwise known as magic mushrooms or shrooms. They can generally be found in tropical and subtropical regions and are usually either consumed through ingestion either raw or dried or after they’ve been brewed into a tea, according to the National institute on Drug Abuse.

What are the side effects of psilocybin?

Most hallucinogens work to alter the user’s perceptions, thoughts and emotions. In some cases users might see, feel or hear things that aren’t actually there. Sometimes other physical side effects may appear, like numbness, loss of urinary control, anxiety, nausea or muscle twitches. The effects usually appear within 20 minutes and can last up to eight or so hours but can vary quite a bit from person to person and from mushroom to mushroom.

While there is little evidence that people can end up addicted to magic mushrooms there is proof that users can end up building up a tolerance to the drug with regular use. The long-term effects are not well understood but shrooms have been connected to the development of disconnected thoughts, delusions, hallucinations and changes in mood of behavior in a longer term.

What Saunders is currently lacking is the financial support that some other initiatives have gained in the past, like that the push to decriminalize and eventually legalize medical marijuana had.

But he told LA Weekly that he’s willing to ask for help and create a massive campaign on the ground. He told Vice that to get the signatures he’s working to get coordinators at every college, at festivals and parades as well as online

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