A GOP Lawmaker in Iowa Filed a Bill to Allow Psychedelic Access for Seriously Ill Patients

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

A Republican Iowa lawmaker recently filed a bill that would allow seriously ill people to use psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, DMT or peyote as alternative treatments after they’ve exhausted traditional legal medicines.

Rep. Jeff Shipley (R), who also introduced legislation earlier this month that would remove psilocybin from the state’s list of controlled drugs, told Marijuana Moment that adding these substances to Iowa’s “right to try” law would be “the most conservative approach to usher in the new age of mental and emotional healthcare.”

“This bill relates to the decriminalization of certain schedule I controlled substances for the purposes of use by a patient diagnosed with a terminal illness or a life-threatening disease or condition,” an explanation of the measure states.

Terminally ill patients and those with life-threatening diseases or conditions would be eligible for alternative treatments with the psychedelics if a healthcare provider attests that they 1) considered and rejected, or tried and failed to respond to, traditional pharmaceuticals, 2) received a recommendation to use a controlled substance for treatment, 3) have documentation proving as much and 4) have submitted written informed consent.

If anyone should be allowed to use psychedelics, it’s people who are at the end of their lives.


A New California Bill Would Decriminalize Psychedelics

Vivian Ho, writing for The Guardian:

A California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would decriminalize psychedelics in the state, the latest bold step in a movement to end America’s war on drugs.

Scott Wiener, the state senator who authored the bill, hopes that in following the lead of places such as Oakland, Santa Cruz and the District of Columbia – all cities which have decriminalized psychedelics – California will move one step closer to decriminalizing the use and possession of all drugs, something that Oregon passed by voter initiative in November.

“People should not be going to jail for possessing or using drugs,” Wiener told the Guardian. “It’s a health issue, not a criminal issue, and I hope that we get all the way there.”

Although this bill is similar to the typical natural psychedelics decrim efforts that have been pushed recently by groups like Decriminalize Nature, it would go one step further by also decriminalizing synthetic psychedelics and expunging criminal records for possession and use:

This bill, unveiled on Thursday, would decriminalize possession and personal use of psilocybin, psilocyn, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine – all drugs that can be used for medical treatment. While the decriminalization would apply for any kind of possession or use, not just medical, the bill makes a point to tout the medical benefits of psychedelics, a strategy familiar to drug policy reform advocates. […]

The bill would also expunge criminal records for people convicted of possession or personal use of these substances. It would create a taskforce to recommend which regulatory body would oversee personal and therapeutic use of these substances for mental health treatment.

Wiener did not include peyote as one of the substances because of a shortage of the drug among indigenous practitioners, he said. Peyote is a sacred plant for many indigenous tribes, and at the behest of the native community, the bill will not decriminalize peyote, or mescaline when it is sourced from peyote.


This Week in Psychedelics - 2.19.21

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Cannabis

  • The US cannabis industry now supports 321,000 full-time jobs (Leafly)

  • North Dakota Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

  • New Mexico Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee (Marijuana Moment)

  • Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Approved In First Committee Vote (Marijuana Moment)

  • Hawaii Senate Panel Approves Bills To Legalize Marijuana And Increase Decriminalization Limit (Marijuana Moment)

  • North Dakota Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Advances As Activists And Lawmakers Push Legalization Measures (Marijuana Moment)

  • New Jersey Lawmakers’ Marijuana Talks Break Down Months After Voters Approve Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

  • New York Governor To Send Amended Marijuana Legalization Plan To Lawmakers Amid Criticism (Marijuana Moment)

  • Cannabis spurs creative but unrealistic ideas, study shows (Marijuana Business Daily)

  • Maryland Lawmakers Push To Legalize Marijuana And Expunge Convictions (High Times)

  • South Dakota rejects telemedicine for medical marijuana consultations (Marijuana Business Daily)

  • Medical cannabis dependence: A critical review of issues and evidence (Drug Science)

  • Cannabis mixtures studied as treatment for COVID inflammation (Marijuana Business Daily)

  • Study: Adult-Use Marijuana Legalization Laws Associated with Declines in Workers’ Compensation Claims (NORML)

  • NFL Explores How Marijuana And CBD Can Be Used As Opioid Alternatives For Players (Marijuana Moment)

  • ‘Increasingly potent’: Do you have the heart to smoke marijuana? (The Independent)

  • DEA Wants To Know About Applicants’ Hemp And CBD Use, But Only Pre-Legalization (Marijuana Moment)

  • Cannabis Inhalation Associated with Clinical Improvement in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis (NORML)

  • Cannabinoids can improve skin, study says (Marijuana Business Daily)

LSD

Magic Mushrooms

  • New Grant Funds Clinical Trial to Assess Psychedelic as Treatment for Phantom Limb Pain (UC San Diego Health)

  • California Activists Gear Up For 2022 Push To Legalize Psilocybin Mushrooms (Marijuana Moment)

  • Researchers Demand Reparations to Mazatecs for Mushroom “Spirit” (Chacruna)

  • Tryp Therapeutics Launches Clinical Trials to Investigate Psilocybin for Over-Eating Disorders (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Silo Wellness expands mushroom efforts in Jamaica (Jamaica Observer)

  • PharmaTher Announces Sale of Psilocybin Program (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Blue Goba Goes Down Temporarily (Psillow)

  • From Magic Mushroom to Forbidden Fungus (and Back) (Reason)

MDMA

  • Mind Medicine Australia challenges TGA Interim Decision (Mind Medicine Australia)

  • Numinus announces milestones in compassionate access trial for MDMA-assisted therapy in collaboration with MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (Psilocybin Alpha)

Ayahuasca

  • Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca linked to changes in inflammatory biomarkers (PsyPost)

  • Ayahuasca Could Help With Grief (Truffle Report)

5-MeO-DMT

  • Jaguar (5-MeO-DMT) Vape Pens (Erowid)

Iboga

Novel Psychoactive Substances

Ketamine

  • The Nuances of Ketamine’s Neurochemistry (Psychedelic Science Review)

  • Off and on: Elijah McClain ketamine investigation now on hold at state health department (KDVR)

Miscellaneous

  • California bill would decriminalize psychedelics, paving the way for medical treatment (The Guardian)

  • GOP Iowa Lawmaker Files Bill To Allow Psilocybin, MDMA And LSD Access For Seriously Ill Patients (Marijuana Moment)

  • Envisioning a psychedelic future for Philadelphia’s USciences as it pairs with Compass Pathways for a Drug Discovery Center (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Washington Lawmakers Approve Drug Decriminalization Bill In Committee Vote (Marijuana Moment)

  • Vermont Lawmakers Prepare Psychedelics And Broader Drug Decriminalization Bills For Introduction (Marijuana Moment)

  • Will the Federal Government Finally Embrace the Psychedelic Revolution? (Rolling Stone)

  • ATMA Launches Canada's First Psychedelic Training Program for Mental Health Professionals that Includes a Legal Psychedelic Experience (Cision)

  • The Faux Shamanism of Jake “Angeli” Chansley (Lucid News)

  • Could the Embrace of Psychedelics Lead to a Mental-Health Revolution? (Vogue)

  • Cocaine, cannabis or ecstasy – whatever your drug, it has an impact on the planet (The Independent)

  • The Psychedelic Stock Liftoff. Why Psychedelics over Cannabis? (Dark Matters)

  • Current Psychedelic Research Lacks Diversity (Volteface)

  • Psychedelics in the Age of Sexual Liberation (The Oak Tree Review)

  • Celebrating 25 Weeks of ‘Women in the History of Psychedelic Plant Medicines’ (Chacruna)

  • Microdosing for Chronic Pain: Does it Actually Help? (DoubleBlind)

  • The Problem and Paradox of Bad Trips – Part 1 (Psychedelic Science Review)

  • Orientation Before Preparation (Psychedelic Frontier)

  • Future Generations Will Condemn the Drug War: Reform Is Urgent and Inevitable (Sydney Criminal Lawyers)

  • Will Health Insurance Ever Cover Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies? (Truffle Report)

  • Alberta’s First Full-Service Psychedelic Therapy Clinic Opens in Calgary, Ushering in a New Era of Hope to Deal with the Growing Mental Health Crisis in Canada (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Psychedelics and the Queer Art of Survival (Chacruna)

  • Why Psychedelics Are a More 'Compassionate' Way to Treat Trauma (Inverse)

  • Jade Ullmann is Bridging Together Psychedelic Communities (Lucid News)

  • From trippy drugs to therapeutic aids – how psychedelics got their groove back (The Conversation)

  • Rise In Consumer Acceptance of Psychedelic Drug Therapies Is Quickly Increasing (PR Newswire)

  • Could Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Help Treat Bipolar II Disorder? (Truffle Report)

  • How Psychedelics Can Help Treat Anxiety (Psychedelic Passage)

  • 'Could we treat depression by prescribing patients a psychedelic drug?' (Mirror)

  • A therapist explains what it’s like to give psychedelic-assisted therapy. (Inverse)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 2.12.21

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Cannabis

  • Virginia lawmakers vote to legalize marijuana (8News)

  • Judge rules recreational marijuana measure unconstitutional in South Dakota (Sioux Falls Argus Leader)

  • Lax THC vape rules still allow toxins into your lungs (Leafly)

  • Idaho Medical Marijuana Activists Approved For Signature Gathering Amid Legislative Complications (Marijuana Moment)

  • Jamaica faces marijuana shortage as farmers struggle (AP News)

  • Wisconsin: Governor Evers Includes Marijuana Legalization in State Budget Proposal (NORML)

  • Connecticut Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization Plan In Budget Proposal (Marijuana Moment)

  • South Dakota governor to delay medical cannabis program until 2022 (Marijuana Business Daily)

  • The Half-Legal Cannabis Trap (Politico)

  • Bipartisan Marijuana Research Bill Reintroduced In The Senate (Marijuana Moment)

  • Poll: 61 Percent of US Adults Say Marijuana Legalization Is a “Good Idea” (NORML)

  • Medical cannabis law has been left in a haze (The Times)

  • New weed group tries to unify disparate cannabis factions (Politico)

  • TV Show Host and Travel Author Rick Steves to Chair NORML Board of Directors (NORML)

  • Mississippi Senate Approves Alternate Medical Marijuana Program, Hours After Defeating It (Marijuana Moment)

  • Weed Could Make Dogs Less Aggressive to Humans (VICE)

  • Starting A Business? Study Finds Marijuana May Help—And Hinder (Marijuana Moment)

  • Poll: Majority of North Carolina Voters Support Marijuana Legalization (NORML)

LSD

Magic Mushrooms

  • Texas Would Study Psilocybin And MDMA To Treat PTSD And Depression Under New Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • Iowa GOP Lawmaker Makes Another Push To Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms (Marijuana Moment)

  • New nonprofit aims to advise on creation of Oregon’s psilocybin-assisted therapy system (OPB)

  • Hackers, Mason Jars, and the Psychedelic Science of DIY Shrooms (WIRED)

  • Psyence Group Signs Collaboration Agreement with Leading Jamaican Psilocybin Retreat Provider to Conduct Observational Study (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • Nova Mentis Psilocybin Approved for Shipment to Italy (Psilocybin Alpha)

MDMA

DMT

5-MeO-DMT

  • Conservationists Plead With Public to Stop Milking Psychedelic Toads (Euronews)

Mescaline

Peyote

  • Blessings of Life and Peyote with Debi Roan (Chacruna)

Novel Psychoactive Substances

Ketamine

  • Regular oral doses of ketamine significantly reduce suicidal thoughts (New Atlas)

Miscellaneous

  • Can a Company Patent the Basic Components of Psychedelic Therapy? (VICE)

  • A Biotech Startup Won a Patent to Combine Elements of Weed and Psychedelics (Future Human)

  • Self-admitted psychedelic use and association with psychedelic culture harm perceptions of researchers’ scientific integrity (PsyPost)

  • New Professional Associations for Medical and Legal Practitioners Emerge for the Psychedelic Space (Lucid News)

  • This Weird, Futuristic Helmet Will Let People Scan Their Brains While Tripping (DoubleBlind)

  • 20-Year-Old Kansas Lawmaker Files Drug Decriminalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

  • Black People Trip: Meet the Woman Creating Black Psychedelic Community (DoubleBlind)

  • MAPS, Fireside Project to Collaborate on Psychedelic Peer Support Line (Psych Congress Network)

  • Field Trip Health Ltd. Announces Official Opening of Psychedelic Research and Cultivation Facility in Jamaica (Psilocybin Alpha)

  • The case for mass producing psychedelic pharmaceuticals (Health Europa)

  • Psychedelic drug memo sparks uproar (The Australian)

  • Turn Off Your Mind, Relax—and Float Right-Wing? (Psymposia)

  • 3 Reasons You May Feel Unnecessary Guilt for Using Drugs (Medium)

  • Is Social Media the Best Place to Buy Drugs? (DoubleBlind)

  • Psychedelic Exploration (Maps of the Mind)

  • 10 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask a Psychedelic Lawyer (VICE)

  • Psychedelics And Spiritual Emergencies (Healing Maps)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalog how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Texas Would Study Psilocybin, MDMA, and Ketamine Under New Bill

Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:

A Texas lawmaker introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require the state to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine in the treatment of certain mental health conditions.

The legislation from Rep. Alex Dominguez (D) would mandate that the Department of State Health Services conduct the study in collaboration with the Texas Medical Board and report on its findings by December 1, 2022.

Researchers should “evaluate and determine whether alternative therapies are effective in treating the mental health and other medical conditions” such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, chronic pain and migraines, the text of the bill, HB 1802, states.

The study should also “compare the efficacy of the alternative therapies with the efficacy of treatments currently used for the mental health and other medical conditions,” it continues.

A couple weeks ago legislators in Connecticut filed a bill to establish a task force for studying the medicinal benefits of psilocybin and now Texas is following suit with this legislation. It’s nice to see states getting directly involved with psychedelic research—hopefully their studies will help them enact some progressive state-level drug policy reforms in the near future.