Politics
Veterans Group Pushes California Governor To Sign Bill Expediting Marijuana And Psychedelics Research
A leading veterans group is calling on California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to sign a bill that would streamline research on marijuana and psychedelics.
Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) sent an action alert this week asking its supporters to share their stories about psychedelics therapy in letters to the governor’s office.
“VETS is working tirelessly to expand access to psychedelic-assisted therapies for veterans across the country,” the group said. “This year, we proudly sponsored AB 1103, a bill that would cut through red tape and expedite approval for psychedelic research projects at California’s world-class institutions.”
“These studies will not only benefit veterans in California but will ripple across the nation, changing lives, advancing science, and offering hope where it’s desperately needed,” it said. “Now, the bill sits on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. That’s why your voice is critical.”
The alert encourages supporters to tell Newsom’s office, either with a pre-drafted letter or their own anecdotes, to “help ensure this groundbreaking legislation becomes law.”
The bill from Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D) would empower the Research Advisory Panel of California (RAPC) to expedite reviews of research proposals for cannabis on marijuana and psychedelics, through January 2028.
Under current state law, projects for such controlled substances must be cleared by the panel prior to their application for approval from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The new measure would also authorize RAPC’s chair to assign two or more members of the body to conduct expedited reviews of research proposals and approve them on behalf of the panel. It would also allow “individual panel members to communicate and consult asynchronously with other individual panel members with complementary core competencies outside of full panel meetings to conduct their individual reviews,” a summary of the legislation states.
The overall intent of the bill is to facilitate studies to determine whether marijuana, psychedelics or other Schedule I or Schedule II drugs can be utilized “to treat opioid use disorders, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health conditions fueling the disproportionate incidence of suicide among California veterans,” the summary says.
“Eliminating any and all unnecessary delays in commencing such clinical research in California will save lives,” it says.
The bill’s passage comes more than a year after the governor signed separate legislation into law that’s similarly meant to streamline the processing of applications to study psychedelics and marijuana.
That legislation from Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R) was meant to help clear a logjam of psychedelics study applications overseen by RAPC.
Members had previously decided to suspend their activities because they were prohibited under existing law from publicly disclosing applicants’ trade secrets and other confidential information. To resolve the issue, the bill reauthorized the panel to carry out their duties in closed-door meetings, freeing them up to process the backlog.
The new bill now on Newsom’s desk extends the panel’s exemptions from open meetings laws to January 1, 2028.
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Meanwhile, on Monday the governor signed a bill into law to put a pause on a recently enacted tax hike on marijuana products.
California officials are also inviting research proposals for a second round of grants under a program meant to better educate the public on the state’s marijuana law and help policymakers make informed decisions on the issue.
In June, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) announced the recipients of over $52 million in community reinvestment grants to nonprofits and local health departments, also funded by marijuana tax revenue.
That marked the seventh round of cannabis-funded California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) under the state program.
Legalization in California has created a number of new grant programs aimed at addressing the consequences of marijuana prohibition and attempting to nurture a strong, well-regulated legal industry.
California’s Supreme Court separately delivered a victory for the state’s marijuana program in June, rescinding a lower court ruling in a case that suggested federal prohibition could be used locally to undermine the cannabis market.
The state Supreme Court ruling also came just weeks after California officials unveiled a report on the current status and future of the state’s marijuana market—with independent analysts hired by regulators concluding that the federal prohibition on cannabis that prevents interstate commerce is meaningfully bolstering the illicit market.
The governor did sign a bill in 2022 that would have empowered him to enter into interstate cannabis commerce agreements with other legal states, but that power was incumbent upon federal guidance or an assessment from the state attorney general that sanctioned such activity.
Meanwhile, a California Senate committee recently declined to advance a bipartisan bill that would have created a psilocybin pilot program for military veterans and former first responders.
