DENVER (KDVR) — Gov. Jared Polis spoke at the Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference on Wednesday, announcing the pardons of people who were convicted at the state level of possessing psilocybin or psilocin.

The announcement follows Coloradans' decision to decriminalize natural medicines and direct the state to build a regulatory framework for it, via a vote in 2022. Another factor in the decision stems from the signing of SB25-297: Implementation of Colorado Natural Medicine Initiative in 2025.

The bill gives the Colorado governor the authority to grant a class of defendants a pardon.

“Colorado has been a national leader in breaking through outdated laws around cannabis, and now we are doing the same for natural medicine. This action eliminates past state-level convictions for psilocybin and psilocin possession that would be legal today. With these pardons, we are fulfilling the will of Colorado voters and moving away from ineffective drug policy and encouraging local municipalities to follow suit,” said Polis in a press release on Wednesday. 

The Executive Order will apply to all state-level possession convictions for psilocybin or psilocin.

Those who were convicted did not need to apply for the pardon, and the Governor's Office said it has not conducted assessments of the people who were pardoned. The state said it has identified four convictions that will be pardoned by the Executive Order.

The Governor's Office also said that any Coloradan who believes they have a conviction for psilocybin or psilocin possession that qualifies for the pardon, but was not pardoned themselves, can reach out to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and apply for clemency.

This is not the first time that Colorado has seen a decision similar to this one. In 2020, Polis issued an Executive Order that pardoned Coloradans with marijuana possession convictions of one ounce or less.

The decision pardoned 2,732 convictions.

An increase in the legal amount of marijuana a person could possess occurred in 2021, which saw Polis pardon another 1,351 possession convictions. The Governor's Office said that the action removed barriers for Coloradans whose past convictions were no longer illegal under current laws.