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Rhode Island lawmakers held a hearing on a newly reintroduced bill that would exempt psilocybin from the state\u2019s laws against controlled substances, legalizing possession and home cultivation for personal use.<\/p>\n
Members of the House Judiciary Committee discussed the proposal from Rep. Brandon Potter (D) on Tuesday, taking expert testimony on the science and policy landscape surrounding the psychedelic.<\/p>\n
\u201cPsilocybin is effectively a natural compound that\u2019s in a variety of mushrooms. It is non-toxic, non-addictive. It\u2019s a natural compound,\u201d Potter said in opening remarks. \u201cThere\u2019s an abundance of especially medical research that shows incredible effects for treating people with complicated PTSD, depression, severe anxiety, addiction\u2014just an absolute abundance of medical research from leading medical research institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m optimistic that we\u2019d be able to actually move this into law this year. And for what this bill does, so we\u2019re clear, this is just simply a decriminalization effort for personal possession,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if for nothing else, however you feel about the subject, I think you know most people can agree this is not something where we really should be prioritizing law enforcement action and subjecting people to criminal prosecution for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the bill, sharing psilocybin\u2014the main psychoactive compound in psychedelic mushrooms\u2014would also be permitted.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time lawmakers have considered such a proposal. The measure, H.5186, is a revised version of last year\u2019s H.7047, also from Potter<\/a>, as well as a similar bill in 2023 that\u00a0passed the House on a 56\u201311 vote<\/a>, but did not move forward in the Senate before the end of the session.<\/p>\n Victoria Litman, a professor and psychedelics law expert, gave an overview of state and local policy developments over recent years, emphasizing that \u201ccitizens and elected officials nationwide are seeing the promise of these medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re recognizing the mental health crisis that we\u2019re in, and they\u2019re eager to make these medicines safer and easier to access,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cStates are recognizing that the federal government has never led the way on smart drug reform, and states are not waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re seeing bills in states like Virginia and in Texas. We\u2019ve seen bills in Utah, right? This is not a blue or red issue,\u201d Litman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a public health\u2014and especially mental health, veterans\u2019 rights, first responders\u2014that kind of issue.\u201d<\/p>\n H.5186 would permit the possession of \u201cany compound, mixture, or preparation containing less than one ounce (1 oz.) of psilocybin\u201d so long as it was \u201csecurely cultivated\u201d within a person\u2019s residence or \u201cshared by one person to another.\u201d<\/p>\n The change would last only until July 1, 2027, at which point it would sunset. Before then, the state\u2019s attorney general would need to report to leaders of the House and Senate \u201cthe number of violations issued for possession, cultivation, or distribution of psilocybin,\u201d and the director of the state Department of Health would need to report on the federal scheduling status of the substance.<\/p>\n The bill also says that if the federal government reschedules psilocybin, the state Department of Health \u201cshall establish rules and regulations pertaining to the cultivation, distribution and medical prescription\u201d of the drug, including to make it available at locations within the state.<\/p>\n Notably, the measure refers to rescheduling by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Drug scheduling, however, is typically under the purview of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).<\/p>\n FDA has already granted breakthrough therapy status to psilocybin for the treatment of certain depressive disorders.<\/p>\n If approved, the bill<\/a>\u00a0would take effect on July 1 of this year.<\/p>\n \u2014 Last month in Rhode Island, meanwhile, the state\u2019s Cannabis Control Commission released nearly 200 pages of draft regulations for the state\u2019s budding adult-use marijuana market<\/a>.<\/p>\n As for other drug policy developments in the state, late last year organizers cut the ribbon on the first state-sanctioned safe consumption site for illegal drugs in the United States. The facility\u2014located in Providence\u2014stems from\u00a0a 2021 bill creating a pilot program for overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n While controversial, overdose prevention centers have been lauded by academics and harm reduction advocates as a promising way to reduce drug-related deaths and connect people with social services, including treatment for drug use disorders.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with substance abuse disorder are going to use,\u201d Providence Mayor Brett Smiley (D) said at the facility\u2019s ribbon-cutting ceremony. \u201cWhat\u2019s different here is that they will use in a supervised fashion with medical professionals on staff so that they do not die, and then there will be services wrapped around.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers at Brown University will be following the developments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to identify how OPCs operate in the United States,\u201d Brown epidemiology professor Brandon D.L. Marshall said in a university\u00a0post\u00a0about the project. \u201cIf they are working, what makes them particularly helpful for people? In what ways do they connect people to addiction treatment and care? How can they best be integrated into a community that\u2019s been hard hit by the nation\u2019s overdose crisis? Those are some of the things we\u2019d like to tease out.\u201d<\/p>\n New Mexico Senate Panel Unanimously Approves Bill To Legalize Psilocybin Therapy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Rhode Island Lawmakers Discuss Bill To Legalize Psilocybin<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Rhode Island lawmakers held a hearing on a newly reintroduced bill that would exempt psilocybin from the state\u2019s laws against controlled substances, legalizing possession and home cultivation for personal use. Members of the House Judiciary Committee discussed the proposal from Rep. Brandon Potter (D) on Tuesday, taking expert testimony onContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":80193,"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\/80192"}],"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=80192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80194,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80192\/revisions\/80194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Rhode Island Lawmakers Discuss Bill To Legalize Psilocybin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"