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A California Assembly committee has unanimously approved a revised bill to create a state workgroup that would be tasked with exploring a regulatory framework to provide therapeutic access to psychedelics like psilocybin and ibogaine.<\/p>\n
The Assembly Health Committee passed the legislation from Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R) in a 11-0 vote on Tuesday. It now heads to the Appropriations Committee before potentially moving to the floor.<\/p>\n
If the legislature were to enact a regulatory framework as recommended by the workgroup, which would be situated under the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), the bill would also allow health practitioners to lawfully administer psychedelics in a therapeutic setting.<\/p>\n
The version of the legislation that is moving forward has been amended from what Waldron initially introduced last year, which focused exclusively on psychedelics-assisted therapy for military veterans. But the revision comes as the sponsor works with Sen. Scott Wiener (D) on separate legislation to establish a broader therapeutic access model for psychedelics in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia is experiencing a severe mental health crisis with rising rates of anxiety, depression, substance use, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide and other debilitating conditions,\u201d Waldron said at Tuesday\u2019s hearing<\/a>. \u201cMy bill, AB 941, proposes a solution to this crisis through the exploration of the therapeutic possibilities of psychedelic-assisted therapy. We need the data, the research and the recommendations of experts in this promising field of therapeutics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese therapies have the potential to save countless lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n However, the sponsor emphasized that this is a \u201ctrue study bill\u201d and that \u201cno one will be treated with psychedelics under the bill.\u201d That said, while the measure wouldn\u2019t automatically allow therapeutic access to psychedelics, it does say it would become lawful if the legislature adopts a regulatory framework as recommended by the workgroup.<\/p>\n Accordingly, psychedelic-assisted therapy is defined as \u201csupervised, lawful medical use of a controlled substance for treatment, including, but not limited to, group counseling and community-based healing, under the care of, administration by, and treatment of a licensed professional in a clinical setting.\u201d<\/p>\n Wiener also testified at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, stating that he\u2019s in \u201cfull support\u201d of the incremental reform bill and then previewing plans to introduce additional legislation in the next few weeks to \u201clegalize and create a structure for psychedelic-assisted therapy in line with the governor\u2019s veto message of our psychedelic decriminalization bill last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Wiener has been pushing for psychedelics reform over the past few legislative cycles, with his bill to legalize certain entheogenic substances passing the legislature last year,\u00a0only to be vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)<\/a>. In his veto message, the governor encouraged lawmakers to send an alternative proposal to his desk that focuses on therapeutic access\u2014and\u00a0that\u2019s what Wiener and Waldron are aiming to do<\/a>\u00a0with a measure that is still forthcoming.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Waldron\u2019s newly revised measure is designed to be more limited than what the bipartisan duo plan to soon introduce.<\/p>\n It would require the CalHHS to establish a workgroup \u201cto study and make recommendations on the establishment of a framework governing psychedelic-assisted therapy,\u201d the legislative summary<\/a>\u00a0says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bill would require that workgroup to send a report to the Legislature containing those recommendations on or before January 1, 2026,\u201d it says. And if the legislature does enact a framework for psychedelics-assisted therapy, it would \u201cauthorize a facilitator in a licensed facility to administer specified controlled substances to combat veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n Wiener told Marijuana Moment last week that his partner on the broader push informed him that her revised legislation is being moved \u201cas a backup to our bill, not in lieu\u201d of it. He said the plan is to introduce their separate bipartisan measure later this month or early February.<\/p>\n The\u00a0state is at an \u201cinflection point\u201d on psychedelics reform<\/a>, the senator said at an event last month, adding that he understood the governor\u2019s primary contention with his last bill was with provisions to legalize low-level possession of certain psychedelics.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, a campaign behind a prospective California ballot initiative to legalize psychedelics filed a final revised measure with state officials last month, making a handful of changes to the proposal\u00a0following a public comment period that ended late in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n The California Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office (LAO) has since released its review of that proposal, outlining not only the plan\u2019s policy implications but\u00a0also its potential fiscal impacts on the state<\/a>\u2014which the report calls \u201cvarious\u201d and \u201cuncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n While adults would be allowed to legally grow, possess and use substances like psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline under the measure, they would need physician recommendations to purchase the psychedelics at regulated stores.<\/p>\n A separate ballot proposal, meanwhile, would legalize psilocybin, including adult-use sales. That measure, backed by the group Decriminalize California,\u00a0recently got approval from state officials to begin collecting signatures<\/a>. Activists have tried twice to put the reform on the ballot in prior cycles, but they\u2019ve come up short due in large part to signature gathering complications during the pandemic.<\/p>\n A third California campaign withdrew its proposed ballot initiative to\u00a0create a $5 billion state agency tasked with funding and promoting psychedelics research<\/a>\u00a0in November, citing polling that advocates say led them to reevaluate whether to put resources into the effort.<\/p>\n Some California municipalities, meanwhile, are pushing forward with reform on the local level. The city of Eureka, for example, adopted a resolution in October to\u00a0decriminalize psychedelic plants and fungi and make enforcement of laws against personal use, cultivation and possession a low priority for police<\/a>. It\u2019s at least the fifth local jurisdiction in the state to embrace the policy change. Others include\u00a0San Francisco<\/a>,\u00a0Oakland<\/a>,\u00a0Santa Cruz<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Arcata<\/a>.<\/p>\n Delaware House Committee Approves Bill To Significantly Expand Medical Marijuana Program Ahead Of Adult-Use Sales Launch<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post California Lawmakers Approve Bill To Create Psychedelics Workgroup And Prepare For Legal Therapeutic Access<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A California Assembly committee has unanimously approved a revised bill to create a state workgroup that would be tasked with exploring a regulatory framework to provide therapeutic access to psychedelics like psilocybin and ibogaine. The Assembly Health Committee passed the legislation from Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R) in a 11-0 voteContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":71558,"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\/71557"}],"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=71557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71559,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71557\/revisions\/71559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: California Lawmakers Approve Bill To Create Psychedelics Workgroup And Prepare For Legal Therapeutic Access<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"