Proposition 122 — the ballot issue that legalized dangerous hallucinogens in Colorado two years ago — was a cynical charade. Backed by big money from out of state and pitched disingenuously as a way to provide “therapy” for mental health issues, it really was an attempt to kick-start another recreational drug industry to rival retail marijuana.

At a hearing Thursday, regulators will have a chance to limit the damage the reckless measure will do to Colorado’s youth. Let’s hope they lean hard on what was a bad idea in the first place. A draft of pending rules for dispensing the drugs falls far short of the mark.

The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division, a new bureaucracy set up to implement Prop. 122, is holding its final public hearing on the matter before settling on rules governing the distribution of now-legal hallucinogens such as psilocybin and mescaline.

Among the serious concerns about the current draft, as noted by children’s advocates, is it would allow psilocybin to be available in “soft confection and chocolate” form.  

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Here we go again. Just as the purveyors of pot in our state have tried to peddle their products in ways that appeal to kids — including candylike “edibles” — the new wave of hallucinogen hawkers is up to the same tricks.

Nixing “soft confection and chocolate” should be the first order of business in Thursday’s hearing.

A leader of a watchdog group that is fighting for tighter regulation of hallucinogens pointed out the loophole in a public statement this week.

“Making it available in forms that are appealing to children is our major issue,” said Henny Lasley, executive director of One Chance to Grow Up. “If it’s billed as a medicine, make it available in capsule form, not in gummies or chocolate. If adults are concerned about how it tastes, chase a capsule with a Kit Kat.”  

Exactly.

Of course, calling psilocybin a medicine is a stretch to begin with and, as legalized under Prop. 122 — a farce.

The fraud that the ballot measure perpetrated on Colorado voters had them believe legalized “magic mushrooms” actually offered therapeutic value. A slick, multimillion-dollar campaign bankrolled by the national legalization movement promoted hallucinogens as treatment for wide-ranging psychological and emotional disorders. The campaign claimed it could help military veterans suffering from PTSD.

There has been scant research evidence supporting the use of hallucinogens in treating mental health maladies. And national news last month cast doubt even on that. A key advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that pharmaceutical Lykos Therapeutics’ proposed use of the hallucinogen MDMA is not an effective PTSD treatment.

If medical science does conclude there is potential for hallucinogens in treating disorders, the drugs should be strictly regulated and prescribed only by medical professionals.

Prop. 122, by contrast, makes a mockery of medical science. While it doesn’t allow for retail sales per se, it will let the drugs be dispensed by “facilitators” at state-licensed “healing centers.” Also permitted will be growing psychedelic mushrooms, for supposed personal use. A grower can “give” the product to others but not sell it. Oh, please.

In reality, money will change hands as it always does with recreational drug use.

Meanwhile, Colorado’s kids will be placed in harm’s way yet again. Having checked their middle-schoolers’ backpacks for disposable, high-potency pot vapes, parents now might have to be on the lookout for gummies laced with high-flying mescaline or some other hallucinogen.

“It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when a child will accidentally ingest psilocybin thinking it’s candy so long as the drug comes in confection form,” Lasley said. 

The time for regulators to rein it in is now — at Thursday’s hearing — before it’s too late.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board