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A former Republican congressman has joined the board of a psychedelics advocacy group working to reform federal policies around entheogenic plants and fungi like psilocybin.<\/p>\n
Former Rep. Ryan Costello, who represented Pennsylvania in Congress from 2015 to 2019, is now part of the newly renamed Psychedelic Medicine Coalition (PMC), which was previously called the Plant Medicine Coalition.<\/p>\n
Beyond the name change and new additions to the board, PMC also announced on Thursday that it will be hosting its first annual National Psychedelic Policy Roundtable on January 26. The event will \u201cbring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working in the psychedelic medicine space to lay out the future of psychedelic policy in our nation\u2019s capital,\u201d according to a press release.<\/p>\n
\nThe news of Costello joining PMC\u2019s board is especially interesting. But while it might strike some as surprising that a former GOP congressman would be working on an issue more commonly associated with a progressive agenda, Costello has a record of championing drug policy reform, including while he was in office.<\/p>\n
The congressman cosponsored a variety of marijuana-related bills\u2014including ones to shield states that legalize cannabis from federal interference\u2014and supported several reform amendments on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n
It was also announced last summer that Costello had joined the multi-state cannabis businesses<\/a> Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (RWB) in a consulting capacity. He\u2019s not the first former member of Congress to enter the cannabis space, but he\u2019s a rare example of someone who actually worked to advance the issue while he was in power before making that transition. Others, such as former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), opposed reform while in office before leaving and then joining the industry.<\/p>\n In any case, the announcement from PMC signals that the organization is gearing up for an active year on the psychedelics front.<\/p>\n \u201cOur mission remains the same and is more important than ever: to create, protect, and promote safe and equitable access to natural and synthetic psychedelic and plant medicines,\u201d Melissa Lavasani, founder and executive director of PMC, said.<\/p>\n “I felt this name change was necessary in to reflect both the diverse coalition we have built over the last year and the leap in public awareness regarding the healing potential of psychedelic and plant medicines,” said Melissa Lavasani, Founder & Executive Director pic.twitter.com\/1uOenuJ4Wx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Psychedelic Medicine Coalition (@PMCinDC) January 6, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n She said that the group\u2019s name change \u201cwas necessary in order to properly reflect both the diverse coalition we have built over the last year, as well as the leap in public awareness regarding the healing potential of psychedelic medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are continuing to educate Congress and the Administration as we fight for funding for research for psychedelics and plant medicines,\u201d Lavasani said.<\/p>\n In addition to Costello, PMC announced that Tom Zuber of Zuber Lawler and Joe Moore of Psychedelics Today are also joining its board.<\/p>\n PMC also named advisory board founding members that include Dr. Bronner\u2019s CEO and activist David Bronner, Microdose CEO Patrick Moher, Nushama Director of Strategy Julia Mirer, Green Horizon CEO Los Arias and Pure Vitality Center owner Kelly Bender.<\/p>\n PMC\u2014founded by the head of the D.C. campaign<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0got psychedelics decriminalization passed locally<\/a> in the 2020 election\u2014also announced late last year that it had issued about $50,000 in its first round of grants<\/a> for various community groups to support efforts to educate and organize people around plant medicine.<\/p>\n\n While Congress has yet to end marijuana prohibition, psychedelics reform is gradually gaining attention in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n For example, a congressman recently started asking his fellow lawmakers to join him in requesting that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin<\/a> as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.<\/p>\n A Dear Colleague letter that\u2019s being circulated by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) notes that there are state and federal right-to-try (RTT) laws that should make it so certain patients can obtain the psychedelic given that it\u2019s shown early potential in ongoing clinical trials.<\/p>\n Yet DEA has denied access,\u00a0resulting in a lawsuit that was filed in March<\/a>\u00a0by a Washington State doctor who sought federal guidance to treat terminal patients with psilocybin mushrooms and was told there wasn\u2019t a legal avenue for him to do so.<\/p>\n The lawsuit against DEA is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which heard oral arguments in the case in September. Washington State\u2019s attorney general\u2019s office\u00a0joined the plaintiffs in support of psilocybin access<\/a>. DEA argued that the court should dismiss the suit because it lacked jurisdiction.<\/p>\n Blumenauer separately told Marijuana Moment last month that he\u2019s \u201cexcited\u201d about advancements in psychedelics research, as well as the implementation of a psilocybin therapy program that\u2019s being set up in his home state of Oregon, where voters approved the historic reform<\/a>\u00a0during last year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate also introduced legislation late last month that would make it easier for scientists to research Schedule I drugs<\/a> like marijuana and psilocybin.<\/p>\n \u2014 DEA has repeatedly proposed significant increases<\/a>\u00a0in the production of marijuana, psilocybin and other psychedelics for research purposes, with the intent of aiding in the development of new federally approved therapeutic medications.<\/p>\n NIDA Director Nora Volkow told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that she was encouraged by DEA\u2019s prior proposed increase in drug production quota. She also said that studies demonstrating the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics could be\u00a0leading more people to experiment with substances like psilocybin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Psilocybin Services Would Be Legalized In Washington State Under New Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Former GOP Congressman Joins Psychedelics Advocacy Group To Push For Federal Reform<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A former Republican congressman has joined the board of a psychedelics advocacy group working to reform federal policies around entheogenic plants and fungi like psilocybin. Former Rep. Ryan Costello, who represented Pennsylvania in Congress from 2015 to 2019, is now part of the newly renamed Psychedelic Medicine Coalition (PMC), whichContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":52212,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52213,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52211\/revisions\/52213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Former GOP Congressman Joins Psychedelics Advocacy Group To Push For Federal Reform<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"