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Virginia lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have allow people with serious mental health conditions to possess and use psilocybin mushrooms with a doctor\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n
The legislation from Del. Dawn Adams (D) wouldn\u2019t have legalized the psychedelic per se, but it would have provided an affirmative defense for those who use it to treat \u201crefractory depression or post-traumatic stress disorder or to ameliorate end-of-life anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the bill was revised from an earlier version that Adams sponsored last year<\/a> to more narrowly focus on medical uses of psilocybin, a House Courts of Justice subcommittee voted 5-3 to table the proposal, effectively killing it for the session.<\/p>\n The new measure would have additionally included legal protections against state-level prosecutions for doctors and pharmacists who distributed psilocybin for therapeutic purposes. State drug laws would have been amended to make non-medical possession of the psychedelic a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a maximum $500 fine.<\/p>\n Adams told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Wednesday that the Virginia legislature tends to move more slowly on drug policy reform issues, so she didn\u2019t have \u201cextremely high hopes\u201d that her bill would advance this session.<\/p>\n \u201cI had some hope that if I tailored the bill to something really, super narrow that it might have a shot\u2014but it was very clear that the bill was going nowhere from the start,\u201d she said. \u201cI just think that the folks that were reviewing the bill don\u2019t have an appetite for learning about psilocybin, and they don\u2019t have an appetite for, I think, attaching the reputation of mushrooms to their image.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 The committee\u2019s vote to lay the legislation<\/a> on the table came after members received testimony from people with experience with the psychedelic, including military veterans and business owners who attested to the profound therapeutic benefit of the fungi.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really fighting these stigmas that have been sort of indoctrinated throughout our youth. And I mean, I don\u2019t know what will be the tipping point,\u201d Adams said, adding that it took stories of children who found relief from intractable epilepsy with CBD for the legislature to move on allowing access to cannabis, for example.<\/p>\n During Wednesday\u2019s hearing<\/a>, one member did bring up CBD and expressed concern about the differences in the psychoactive effect of psilocybin compared to the non-intoxicating cannabinoid.<\/p>\n Adams acknowledged that psilocybin produces hallucinogenic effects, but stressed that the mushroom is \u201cnatural,\u201d not synthesized, and the point of the legislation is to simply \u201ctake away the concern of being arrested for trying to treat their mental health problems.\u201d<\/p>\n There is another psychedelics bill<\/a> that\u2019s still in play in Virginia this session\u2014a proposal from Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D) to reclassify psilocybin from Schedule I to Schedule III under state statute and establish a Virginia Psilocybin Advisory Board.<\/p>\n The board would be required to \u201cdevelop a long-term strategic plan for establishing therapeutic access to psilocybin services and monitor and study federal laws, regulations, and policies regarding psilocybin.\u201d<\/p>\n Adams, who is running for a Senate seat and is leaving the House after this session, said that she worried that if the legislature enacted that legislation and created an advisory board, it would give lawmakers an excuse to continue to delay action on comprehensive reform, kicking the issue \u201cdown the curb.\u201d<\/p>\n In any case, while her bill was defeated, the delegate said she remained \u201cgrateful that people were willing to share their stories and their vulnerabilities\u201d in the hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were several veterans who talked about their struggle and being at a crossroads with suicide,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is just such a serious issue\u2014and psilocybin saved their life and that\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n Virginia is just one of numerous states where psychedelics reform is being pursued in the 2023 session<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n For example, a Republican Missouri lawmaker filed a bill on Wednesday that would provide therapeutic access to psilocybin<\/a>\u00a0for people with serious mental health conditions.<\/p>\n A Republican New Hampshire lawmaker also recently filed a bill to legalize the possession and use of psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0like psilocybin and LSD by adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n New York Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D) pre-filed legislation late last month\u00a0to legalize certain psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0like psilocybin and ibogaine for adults 21 and older. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) also recently signed a bill mandating that\u00a0the state immediately reschedule or deschedule Schedule I drugs<\/a>\u00a0like MDMA and psilocybin if they\u2019re reclassified under federal law.<\/p>\n Bipartisan Washington State senators also recently\u00a0unveiled a revised bill to legalize psilocybin services<\/a>\u00a0for adults.<\/p>\n There are also psychedelics reform efforts underway in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey and Oregon.<\/p>\n Oregon voters approved a historic\u00a0ballot initiative to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use<\/a>\u00a0in 2020, and Colorado voters passed a\u00a0broad psychedelics legalization and psilocybin services measure<\/a>\u00a0during the November election.<\/p>\n An analysis published in an American Medical Association journal last month concluded that\u00a0a majority of states will legalize psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0by 2037, based on statistical modeling of policy trends.<\/p>\n New Jersey Regulators Release New Rules For Marijuana On-Site Consumption Areas, Open Public Comment Period<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Virginia Lawmakers Reject Bill To Allow Psilocybin Access For Medical Use<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Virginia lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have allow people with serious mental health conditions to possess and use psilocybin mushrooms with a doctor\u2019s recommendation. The legislation from Del. Dawn Adams (D) wouldn\u2019t have legalized the psychedelic per se, but it would have provided an affirmative defense for thoseContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":60925,"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\/60924"}],"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=60924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60926,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60924\/revisions\/60926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Virginia Lawmakers Reject Bill To Allow Psilocybin Access For Medical Use<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"