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A bill to decriminalize a wide array of psychedelics in Virginia was taken up by a House of Delegates panel on Monday, only to be pushed off until 2023. But there\u2019s still a separate but similar reform proposal that\u2019s pending in the Senate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advocates were hopeful that a House Courts of Justice subcommittee would advance the reform, especially after an amendment from the sponsor was adopted to more narrowly apply decriminalization to medical practitioners and people using psychedelics in treatment with a practitioner.<\/p>\n But following some discussion of Del. Dawn Adams\u2019s (D) bill<\/a>, members approved a motion to carry it over to next year to give the legislature more time to refine it and build support. It was a disappointment for activists, and there was particular surprise that the delay motion was made by House Minority Leader Charniele Herring (D)\u200e, who is well known for championing marijuana legalization in the state.<\/p>\n Adams said in her opening remarks before the subcommittee that she has \u201cspent considerable time hearing from researchers, meeting with both local and nationwide community advocates, speaking with veterans and personally reading dozens of publications and studies about the benefits of plant medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019ve been able to learn is that there is strong evidence to support plant medicines\u2014once thought dangerous\u2014that really are effective and safe treatments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n There seemed to be some confusion among certain members about what the legislation would actually do.<\/p>\n \u2014 One member asked whether doctors would be able to prescribe psychedelics and whether the state would \u201csee peyote stores and psilocybin stores basically popping up.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill as amended wouldn\u2019t legalize psychedelics for medical or recreational use. It would simply make it so practitioners and people participating in psychedelics treatment would face a $100 fine for possessing peyote, ibogaine, psilocybin or psilocyn. Currently, such possession is considered 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 But following testimony<\/a> from advocates and researchers, Herring said that \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of issues have been raised\u201d and that she\u2019d like to see a \u201cprescription element\u201d built into the legislation. Of course, because the psychedelics are federally controlled substances, doctors are precluded from prescribing them, but they could theoretically make recommendations, as is done in medical cannabis states.<\/p>\n In any case, the motion carried and that bill has now been set aside until next year. Now advocates are eager to see what happens with a separate, more limited reform measure<\/a> that was considered in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.<\/p>\n At that meeting, there was bipartisan support\u2014including from the GOP minority leader\u2014but also talk about making the decriminalization proposal more medically focused. The sponsor, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D), agreed to go back and make revisions so that the panel could reconsider it at a future meeting. The expectation was that it would be taken back up this week, but it\u2019s not currently listed on the panel\u2019s agenda<\/a> for Wednesday.<\/p>\n The bill is scaled back compared to the House version because, as drafted, it would only decriminalize psilocybin and psilocyn by adults 21 and older. It\u2019s unclear what kind of amendments the sponsor might offer when the committee takes up the legislation again.<\/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\u00a0implementing a commercial marijuana market<\/a>\u00a0in line with what the Democratic legislature and outgoing governor approved last year.<\/p>\n These psychedelics reform proposals are some of the latest to be introduced in state legislatures this session as the decriminalization movement spreads.<\/p>\n For example, two Republican Oklahoma lawmakers recently filed bills meant to promote research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, and one of the measures would further decriminalize low-level possession of the psychedelic<\/a>.<\/p>\n A GOP Utah lawmaker also introduced a bill last week that would set up a task force to study and make recommendations\u00a0on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs<\/a>\u00a0and possible regulations for their lawful use.<\/p>\n In Kansas, A lawmaker also recently filed a bill to\u00a0legalize the low-level possession and cultivation<\/a>\u00a0of psilocybin mushrooms.<\/p>\n A Republican Missouri lawmaker introduced a bill this month to give residents with serious illnesses legal\u00a0access 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 At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this month, urging that the agency\u00a0allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin<\/a>\u00a0as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.<\/p>\n Oklahoma Republicans File Bills To Decriminalize Psilocybin And Encourage Research On Medical Benefits<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype<\/a> and Apollo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Virginia House Committee Pushes Back Psychedelics Decriminalization Bill Until 2023, But Senate Proposal Still Pending<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A bill to decriminalize a wide array of psychedelics in Virginia was taken up by a House of Delegates panel on Monday, only to be pushed off until 2023. But there\u2019s still a separate but similar reform proposal that\u2019s pending in the Senate. Advocates were hopeful that a House CourtsContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":52507,"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\/52506"}],"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=52506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52508,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52506\/revisions\/52508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Virginia House Committee Pushes Back Psychedelics Decriminalization Bill Until 2023, But Senate Proposal Still Pending<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"