{"id":65518,"date":"2023-05-31T08:41:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T16:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/05\/31\/kentucky-is-funding-psychedelics-research-with-42-million-in-opioid-settlement-funds\/"},"modified":"2023-05-31T19:47:42","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T03:47:42","slug":"kentucky-is-funding-psychedelics-research-with-42-million-in-opioid-settlement-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/05\/31\/kentucky-is-funding-psychedelics-research-with-42-million-in-opioid-settlement-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Is Funding Psychedelics Research With $42 Million In Opioid Settlement Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

A Kentucky administrative commission announced on Wednesday that the state will be distributing $42 million in funding for research into the potential of the psychedelic ibogaine for the treatment of opioid addiction.<\/p>\n

At an event that featured Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R)\u2014who is also the Republican nominee in this November\u2019s gubernatorial election\u2014officials with the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission said the body will be spearheading the psychedelics research effort, using funds received from a legal settlement with major opioid manufacturers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to explore a new approach,\u201d Cameron, who was one of 18 state attorneys general who called on President Joe Biden to declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction last year, said. \u201cWe have to imagine new possibilities. We have to invest in programs, in potential solutions, for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Several military veterans and family members participated in the commission event alongside the state official, sharing information and anecdotes about ibogaine, which has been credited for helping people overcome substance misuse disorders when traditional therapies have failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that the commission will seek and find the next big breakthrough\u2014that its members will initiate the investigation and dialogue necessary to make Kentucky a leader in the 21st century opioid treatment,\u201d the attorney general said. \u201cNot just treatment but also healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The funding will be used to establish clinical trial sites for ibogaine therapy, with the commission coordinating research efforts with academic universities.<\/p>\n

The non-profit Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition (VMHLC), which has also advocated for congressional psychedelics reform legislation, helped organize Wednesday\u2019s briefing and brought together a coalition of people to speak to the potential of ibogaine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn collaboration with law enforcement, veteran organizations and our elected officials in Missouri, we will ensure that Kentucky is not alone as access to these revolutionary therapies is advanced,\u201d Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist working on psychedelic therapies, told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Adam Marr (@adammarr_)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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While Cameron didn\u2019t explicitly endorse the psychedelics research effort, his participation in Wednesday\u2019s\u00a0 event is notable, especially in the context of his race to replace incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear (D). He\u2019s prioritized addressing the state\u2019s challenges with opioid addiction and applauded the work of the body, members of which he appointed at the direction of the legislature.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks before Beshear signed a medical marijuana legalization bill into law<\/a> in March, Cameron said<\/a> that he would\u2019ve been willing to approve reform legislation if lawmakers \u201ccan get around a framework that is responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was running for attorney general in 2019, he said \u201cwe need a discussion about medical marijuana,\u201d though he acknowledged that law enforcement was \u201ca little bit leery\u201d about the issue.<\/p>\n

But on psychedelics, he hasn\u2019t moved to advance the potential alternative treatment until now.<\/p>\n

As the psychedelics reform movement has spread, public awareness about different substances has increased\u2014but ibogaine is still arguably less well-known than other substances like psilocybin and MDMA.<\/p>\n

The research funding is being made possible from settlement money that each state received from major pharmaceutical companies that were found to be partly liable for the opioid addiction crisis. Nothing requires states to use the money in a specific way, but several have invested in drug prevention and treatment. The Kentucky initiative is the first time the funds are being used to advance psychedelic science.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Kentucky, the governor called on the legislature to legalize medical cannabis \u201cthis session\u201d<\/a>\u00a0during his State of the Commonwealth speech in January, saying that it\u2019s an essential reform for the state to make sure it is \u201ctreating people right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The speech came after Beshear\u00a0signed a pair of executive orders in November<\/a>, allowing patients who meet certain criteria to possess up to eight ounces of medical cannabis legally obtained from dispensaries in other states and also regulate the sale of delta-8 THC products.<\/p>\n

Following that action, Cameron criticized the action and said Beshear\u00a0\u201cseems to relish ruling by decree instead of by the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKentucky\u2019s General Assembly is the sole and final policy-making body of this state and they must be allowed to have their say,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are reviewing these executive orders to determine next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update: This story has been updated to clarify the relationship between the opioid abatment commission and attorney general\u2019s office with respect to the ibogaine effort.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Feds Warn Marijuana Consumers About New Minnesota Legalization Law<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype<\/a> and Apollo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Kentucky Is Funding Psychedelics Research With $42 Million In Opioid Settlement Funds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Kentucky Is Funding Psychedelics Research With Million In Opioid Settlement Funds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Kentucky administrative commission announced on Wednesday that the state will be distributing $42 million in funding for research into the potential of the psychedelic ibogaine for the treatment of opioid addiction. At an event that featured Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R)\u2014who is also the Republican nominee in this November\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65518"}],"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=65518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65519,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65518\/revisions\/65519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}