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A Virginia Senate committee on Wednesday discussed a bill to decriminalize psilocybin, with members on both sides of the aisle expressing general support for the concept\u2014but a vote was delayed until next week to consider feedback on possible revisions to put a more specific focus on authorizing the substance for therapeutic use.<\/p>\n
The Senate Judiciary Committee took up the legislation from Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D), hearing testimony from advocates, military veterans and other people who have benefitted from psychedelics therapy. The legislation would make possession of psilocybin and psilocyn by adults 21 and older a civil penalty that carries a $100 fine<\/a>, instead of a Class 5 felony.<\/p>\n Any dollars collected from psychedelics possession violations would go to the state\u2019s Drug Offender Assessment and Treatment Fund, which supports substance misuse treatment programs and drug courts.<\/p>\n There was some bipartisan support for the proposal, but one Republican member suggested centering the focus on medical use, rather than broadly decriminalize the substances, to make it more passable in the newly GOP-controlled House.<\/p>\n Sen. Mark Peake (R) said that he felt the measure as introduced would stand a solid chance of advancing through the committee and full Senate under Democratic control, but he said, \u201cI bet the House is not ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n He recommended changing the legislation \u201cto make it where [psilocybin is] medically prescribed,\u201d to follow a similar policy trajectory that the state followed for marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bill the way it is written, where anyone can possess it for any reason, I don\u2019t see how that would get through the House in this session,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n Hashmi was amenable to the suggestion and said that \u201cwe have an opportunity to continue to work on the bill, put in the safety rails that you are recommending\u2014I think that would be a really good direction.\u201d<\/p>\n In her opening remarks<\/a>, the senator said that a growing number of studies are \u201cdemonstrating that psilocybin has the potential, really, to alleviate a lot of mental health issues, and especially for those folks for whom other medications are simply not working.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPreliminary research is showing that it also perhaps helps with substance addiction. We know that substance abuse, substance addiction, is a direct corollary to the rising use of opioid treatment,\u201d she said. \u201cPsilocybin might be an appropriate antidote to providing medical care service for folks with depression and PTSD in ways that are other drugs are not able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Notably, Senate\u00a0Minority Leader Thomas Norment (R) also voiced support for the proposal. He said that while in his early career \u201cthe mantra was get tough on crime,\u201d public opinion has shifted, as has medical research.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes I think we have to rely upon intuition and take a change,\u201d he said. \u201cI listened to the testimonies today\u2014and they\u2019re not testimonies that I\u2019ve heard for the first time. So I\u2019m going to support this because I generally think it\u2019s going to provide some relief and help individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n The committee is expected to vote on an amended version of the bill next Wednesday.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a separate, similar psychedelics reform proposal that\u2019s been filed in the House. It hasn\u2019t gone to committee yet, but it would decriminalize a wider array of substances for adults over 21, including peyote and ibogaine in addition to psilocybin and psilocyn.<\/p>\n At a recent virtual event organized by the reform group Decriminalize Nature Virginia,\u00a0the sponsors of both bills participated as hosts<\/a>, sharing their perspectives about the growing body of research indicating that psychedelics could be powerful tools to combat conditions like treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n If the legislature does approve the legislation, it could face resistance from the state\u2019s incoming Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, who has expressed concerns about implementing a commercial marijuana market<\/a>\u00a0in line with what the Democratic legislature and outgoing governor approved last year.<\/p>\n The filing of the psychedelics bills in Virginia is just the latest example of state lawmakers following the tide of local decriminalization efforts that have played out across the country.<\/p>\n For example, a GOP Utah lawmaker introduced a bill on Tuesday that would set up a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs<\/a> and possible regulations for their lawful use.<\/p>\n In Kansas, A lawmaker also recently filed a bill to legalize the low-level possession and cultivation<\/a>\u00a0of psilocybin mushrooms.<\/p>\n A Republican Missouri lawmaker introduced a bill last week to give residents with serious illnesses legal access to a range of psychedelic drugs<\/a>\u00a0like psilocybin, ibogaine and LSD \u00a0through an expanded version of the state\u2019s existing right-to-try law.<\/p>\n California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that his bill to\u00a0legalize psychedelics possession<\/a>\u00a0stands a 50\/50 chance of reaching the governor\u2019s desk this year. It already cleared the full Senate and two Assembly committees during the first half of the two-year session.<\/p>\n In Michigan, a pair of state senators introduced a bill in September to\u00a0legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery<\/a>\u00a0of various plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.<\/p>\n Washington State lawmakers\u00a0also introduced legislation this month<\/a>\u00a0that would legalize what the bill calls \u201csupported psilocybin experiences\u201d by adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n In Vermont, a broad coalition of lawmakers representing nearly a third of the House introduced a bill to\u00a0decriminalize drug possession<\/a>.<\/p>\n New Hampshire lawmakers filed measures to\u00a0decriminalize psilocybin and all drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last year, the governor of Connecticut signed legislation that includes language requiring the state to\u00a0carry out a study into the therapeutic potential<\/a>\u00a0of psilocybin mushrooms.<\/p>\n Similar legislation was\u00a0also enacted in the Texas legislature<\/a>, requiring the state to study the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and a military-focused medical center.<\/p>\n Voters in Oregon approved 2020\u00a0ballot measures to decriminalize all drugs<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0legalize psilocybin therapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Tuesday, urging that the agency allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin<\/a>\u00a0as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.<\/p>\n Most Americans Predict Biden Won\u2019t Uphold Marijuana Decriminalization Promise In 2022, Poll Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Wikimedia\/Workman<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Virginia Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill Enjoys Bipartisan Support In Senate Committee, But Revisions Are Forthcoming<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Virginia Senate committee on Wednesday discussed a bill to decriminalize psilocybin, with members on both sides of the aisle expressing general support for the concept\u2014but a vote was delayed until next week to consider feedback on possible revisions to put a more specific focus on authorizing the substance forContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":52423,"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\/52422"}],"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=52422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52424,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52422\/revisions\/52424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Virginia Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill Enjoys Bipartisan Support In Senate Committee, But Revisions Are Forthcoming<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"