Colorado activists have made a decision: of the four psychedelics reform ballot initiatives that they drafted and filed for the November ballot, they will proceed with a measure to legalize psilocybin, create licensed “healing centers” where people can use the psychedelic for therapeutic purposes and provide a pathway for record sealing for prior convictions.

The proposal would also eventually allow regulators to decide whether to legalize DMT, ibogaine and mescaline.

The New Approach PAC-backed campaign went into this election season with several options. Colorado officials have given tentative approval to the ballot language of four psychedelics reform measures that they submitted—all titled the Natural Medicine Health Act—but it was always the plan to pursue only one version. Now they’ve requested permission from the state to start signature gathering for Initiative 58.

The campaign conducted internal polls on the differing provisions between the proposals to help inform their decision, and evidently advocates are confident that the public will back the measure if it ultimately makes the ballot.

Kevin Matthews, the campaign manager behind Denver’s historic 2019 vote to locally decriminalize psilocybin, and Veronica Perez are the designated representatives of these measures.

Matthews told Marijuana Moment that the campaign “chose Initiative 58 because it is our most comprehensive policy and it ensures that all Coloradans will have the option to access natural medicines in the way that makes sense for them.”

“We’re thrilled to hit the ground running in the next few weeks to engage voters and begin collecting signatures to appear on the ballot in November,” he said.

Rick Ridder of RBI Strategies, a spokesperson for the campaign, said that the initiative, once enacted, will help address widespread mental health issues.

“Many of us are, or know someone who is, struggling with depression, trauma, addiction, anxiety or other mental health issues. And during the pandemic, mental health challenges have only gotten worse,” he said.

“The Natural Medicine Health Act would create a state-regulated system for safe and supported access to natural medicine like psilocybin mushrooms,” he said. “Under the Act, adults 21 and older could access natural medicines that show promise in improving mental wellness while under the guidance of a licensed and trained facilitator at licensed healing centers, in the comfort and safety of their own home or in approved health care locations like palliative care facilities.”

While four psychedelics reform initiatives from the campaign were in play, advocates have already pulled the first two and plan to withdraw the third, No. 59, which shared most of the provisions included in No. 58.

Both 58 and 59 call for a two-tiered regulatory model, where only psilocybin would be legalized and regulated for therapeutic use until June 2026, after which point regulators could expand the policy change to include other psychedelics that are listed in the proposal.

The decision to add additional psychedelics to the program would be made by the Department of Regulatory Agencies in consultation with a Natural Medicine Advisory Board that would be established. The board would be comprised of 15 members, including people who have experience with psychedelic medicine in a scientific and religious context.

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The key difference between the two is that one contains a component specifically authorizing people to petition courts for record sealing for past convictions that would be made legal under the proposal.

The group chose that initiative and is eager to begin signature gathering to try to qualify for the November ballot.

Under the proposal, the Department of Regulatory Agencies would be responsible for developing rules for a therapeutic psychedelics program where adults 21 and older could visit a licensed “healing center” to receive treatment under the guidance of a trained facilitator.

With respect to the initial two reform proposals that New Approach submitted before making the decision to pull them—Nos. 49 and 50—one would have legalized a wide range of entheogenic substances including DMT, ibogaine and mescaline, as well as establish a regulatory model for psychedelics therapy. The other would have initially enacted the reform for psilocybin and psilocin alone.

But recognizing that regulators would have been faced with an onerous task to set up rules for multiple psychedelics, they chose to revise them to create the two-tiered regulatory model with initial legalization of psilocybin alone while leaving it to regulators to potentially add more substances later.

There’s another complication in the push for statewide psychedelics reform in Colorado. A separate campaign headed by Decriminalize Nature Colorado, which has taken issue with the regulations prescribed in the New Approach-backed measures, filed a competing initiative in January that is also making its way through the process of being able to collect signatures.

Decriminalize Nature Colorado’s Nicole Foerster told Marijuana Moment that their group’s “initiative to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi in Colorado has made it through both the review/comment and title board hearings and is on track to begin petitioning this month.”

That one-page measure would allow adults 21 and older to possess, cultivate, gift and deliver psilocybin, psilocyn, ibogaine, mescaline and DMT.

Further, the measure says that it would be lawful to conduct psychedelics services for guidance, therapy and harm reduction and spiritual purposes with or without accepting payment. It would not be legal to sell any of the psychedelics, however.

Foerster said that the group believes “it is too soon to prioritize” setting up an infrastructure for regulated therapeutic access as in the New Approach reform proposal “without first ensuring full decriminalization has been achieved.”

“Decriminalization allows for communities to organize and for more research to occur that will direct how future policies look,” they said. “By proposing decriminalization and regulation at the same time, regulation is prioritized, and the crucial window of time between decriminalization and future policies is sealed shut.”

Asked to share their thoughts about apparent advocacy “infighting” over the proper route for psychedelics reform, Foerster argued that the term is misrepresentative “because it does not take into account the true power dynamics at play when out of state corporate interest seeks to dictate policy to local movements.”

In general, the Colorado ballot initiatives seek to accomplish something similar to what California activists are also actively pursuing with a proposed ballot initiative to legalize psilocybin mushrooms.

Meanwhile, legislative efforts to enact psychedelics reform are also underway in other states across the country.

For example, a Connecticut legislative committee on Monday discussed a bill that would set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment with substances like MDMA and psilocybin. Former top military officials, advocates and scientists testified in favor of the proposal.

The Washington State legislature last week sent a budget bill to the governor’s desk that includes a proposal to direct $200,000 in funding to support a new workgroup to study the possibility of legalizing psilocybin services in the state, including the idea of using current marijuana regulatory systems to track psychedelic mushrooms.

Last week, the Hawaii Senate approved a bill to set up a state working group to study the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin mushrooms and develop a “long-term” plan to ensure that the psychedelic is accessible for medical use for adults 21 and older.

Also last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill this week to decriminalize low-level possession of psilocybin and promote research into the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.

A bipartisan coalition of Georgia lawmakers recently filed a resolution that calls for the formation of a House study committee to investigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and make recommendations for reforms.

Rhode Island lawmakers introduced a pair of drug decriminalization bills this month—including one focused on psilocybin and buprenorphine that would authorize doctors to prescribe the psychedelic mushroom.

Also this month, a Missouri Republican lawmaker filed a bill that would legalize a wide range of psychedelics for therapeutic use at designated care facilities while further decriminalizing low-level possession in general.

Last month, Utah lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would create a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs and possible regulations for their lawful use.

An Oregon Senate committee also recently advanced a bill to ensure that equity is built into the state’s historic therapeutic psilocybin program that’s actively being implemented following voter approval in 2020.

A group of Maryland senators recently filed a bill that would create a state fund that could be used to provide free access to psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while also supporting research into their therapeutic potential.

A bill to decriminalize a wide array of psychedelics in Virginia was taken up by a House of Delegates panel in January, only to be pushed off until 2023. A separate Senate proposal to decriminalize psilocybin alone was later defeated in a key committee.

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that his bill to legalize psychedelics possession stands a 50/50 chance of reaching the governor’s desk this year. It already cleared the full Senate and two Assembly committees during the first half of the two-year session.

Washington State lawmakers also introduced legislation in January that would legalize what the bill calls “supported psilocybin experiences” by adults 21 and older.

New Hampshire lawmakers filed measures to decriminalize psilocybin and all drugs.

Legislation was also enacted by the Texas legislature last year requiring the state to study the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and a military-focused medical center.

Michigan activists filed a statewide ballot initiative last month that would legalize possessing, cultivating and sharing psychedelics and set up a system for their therapeutic and spiritual use.

A pair of Michigan senators also introduced a bill in September to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of an array of plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in January, urging that the agency allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.

Connecticut Lawmakers Discuss Bill To Fund Psilocybin And MDMA Therapy

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A key Pennsylvania Senate committee on Monday held the last of three scheduled hearings on marijuana legalization, taking testimony that’s designed to help inform a forthcoming reform bill that the panel’s chairman is actively drafting.

The Senate Law and Justice Committee meeting involved testimony from cannabis reform advocates, former regulators from other states and industry stakeholders.

Sen. Mike Regan (R), who chairs the panel, circulated a cosponsorship memo last year along with Rep. Amen Brown (D) to build support for the reform, and these meetings are designed to give lawmakers added context into the best approach to legalization for the state.

“Legalization of adult-use marijuana is a complex and obviously controversial issue,” Regan said at the end of Monday’s discussion. “We are grateful for the many perspectives, personal experiences and opinions we have received. To all my colleagues on the committee, thank you for your continued participation. I look forward to working together on this important issue for Pennsylvania.”

At an initial hearing last month, much of the discussion focused on whether creating a regulated market would be sufficient to eliminate illicit sales, how police would be affected and the impact on impaired driving.

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The second hearing held late last month centered on varying tax structures and other regulatory approaches that have been created in states like Illinois and California.

While reform bills have been introduced in past sessions and the policy change has the support of Gov. Tom Wolf (D), this latest hearing marks only the third time a legislative panel has debated recreational legalization in the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania General Assembly.

JM Pedini, development director of NORML and executive director of Virginia NORML, spoke about regulatory models and said that in their capacity as a member of the Virginia Governor’s Marijuana Task Force, “one of our principle tasks was recommending the form and function of the new regulatory structure.”

“I can tell you, having examined this issue in many jurisdictions, the best model is one that utilizes a single, cannabis dedicated regulator,” they said, responding to the idea that the existing medical marijuana program and a new adult-use one could instead be controlled by differing regulatory bodies. “This was the recommendation we made in Virginia based on an examination of best practices in several jurisdictions. And based on that experience, I can confirm that Pennsylvania’s program exhibits the challenges presented when a cannabis regulator is cast into an existing department.”

These Pennsylvania hearings have provided a broad overview of the experiences in out-of-state markets, rather than specific legislative proposals like a bipartisan measure introduced last year by Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Sharif Street (D).

Those senators also recently filed introduced a bill that would allow medical marijuana patients to cultivate their own plants for personal use. Street had attempted to get the reform enacted as an amendment to an omnibus bill this summer, but it did not advance.

Meanwhile, Street is behind another recent cannabis measure to provide state-level protections to banks and insurers that work with cannabis businesses.

In the interim, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is running for U.S. Senate this year, said one of his key goals in his final year in office is to ensure that as many eligible people as possible submit applications to have the courts remove their cannabis records and restore opportunities to things like housing, student financial aid and employment through an expedited petition program.

Pennsylvania lawmakers could also take up more modest marijuana reform proposals like a bill filed late last year to expand the number of medical marijuana cultivators in the state, prioritizing small farms to break up what she characterized as a monopoly or large corporations that’s created supply problems.

Additionally, another pair of state lawmakers—Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)—formally unveiled a legalization bill they’re proposing last year.

Philadelphia voters also approved a referendum on marijuana legalization in November that adds a section to the city charter saying that “the citizens of Philadelphia call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Governor to pass legislation that will decriminalize, regulate, and tax the use, and sale to adults aged 21 years or older, of cannabis for non-medical purposes.”

Wolf, the governor, said last year that marijuana legalization was a priority as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn’t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.

The governor, who signed a medical cannabis expansion bill in June, has repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform since coming out in favor of the policy in 2019. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to legalize marijuana through a state-run model.

A survey from Franklin & Marshall College released last year found that 60 percent of Pennsylvania voters back adult-use legalization. That’s the highest level of support for the issue since the firm started polling people about it in 2006.

An attempt to provide protections for Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients from being charged with driving under the influence was derailed in the legislature last year, apparently due to pushback by the state police association.

Connecticut Lawmakers Discuss Bill To Fund Psilocybin And MDMA Therapy

Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.

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A Connecticut legislative committee on Monday discussed a bill that would set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment with substances like MDMA and psilocybin. Former top military officials, advocates and scientists testified in favor of the proposal.

The joint Public Health Committee took oral and written testimony on HB 5396, which would create a psychedelic treatment centers in the state, pending approval of the substances by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under its expanded access program for investigational new drugs.

The bill would not legalize the psychedelics; rather, it would set up regulatory infrastructure to enable Connecticut to play a leading role in providing access to this alternative treatment option as federal agencies continue to fund and facilitate clinical trials.

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Psychedelic therapy would be specifically provided and funded for military veterans, retired first responders, health care workers and any person from a “historically underserved community, and who has a serious or life-threatening mental or behavioral health disorder and without access to effective mental or behavioral health medication.”

“I firmly believe that we have a duty, responsibility and, more than ever, an urgency to help…all those suffering from trauma to heal and move forward as productive members of our society,” retired Marine Lt. Gen Martin Steele said at the hearing. “I also believe we have failed to do so for a very long time. Reversing these trends require bold but thoughtful and strategic action.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed a bill last year that includes language requiring the state to carry out a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms. A workgroup has since been meeting to investigate the issue.

The new legislation would require the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to launch a “psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program to provide qualified patients with the funding” to receive MDMA- or psilocybin-assisted therapy as part of FDA’s expanded access program, the text of the bill states.

The pilot program would cease “when MDMA and psilocybin have been approved to have a medical use by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), or any successor agency.” At that point, state statute on the substances would be aligned with the federal government’s.

In the interim, the bill would further establish a Qualified Patients for Approved Treatment Sites Fund (PAT Fund) to provide “grants to qualified applicants to provide MDMA-assisted or psilocybin assisted therapy to qualified patients under the pilot program.”

“Approved treatment sites shall collect and submit data to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, including, but not limited to, its protocols for the provision of MDMA-assisted and psilocybin-assisted treatment, training on the facilitation of such treatment, implementation of facility standards, strategies for patient protection and mitigation of drug diversion.”

The bill would further create a Connecticut Psychedelic Treatment Advisory Board under the department. Legislative leaders and the governor would be empowered to appoint members of the board.

“The guiding rule here is: Let’s get the right treatment for the right patient at the right time,” Stephen Xenakis, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, said at the hearing. “We need to have a broad array of services available—and now we have the capability to do that with the developments that have come in understanding the benefits that comes from MDMA and psilocybin and other such agents.”

The board would be tasked with making recommendation on the “design and development of the regulations and infrastructure necessary to safely allow for therapeutic access to psychedelic-assisted therapy upon the legalization of MDMA, psilocybin and any other psychedelic compounds.”

There would be seven key areas that the board would be responsible for advising the department on:

1. Reviewing and considering the data from the psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program…to inform the development of such regulations
2. Advising the department on the necessary education, training, licensing and credentialing of therapists and facilitators, patient safety, harm reduction, the establishment of equity measures in both clinical and therapeutic settings, cost and insurance reimbursement considerations and standards of treatment facilities
3. Advising the department on the use of group therapy and other therapy options to reduce cost and maximize public health benefits from psychedelic treatments
4. Monitoring updated federal regulations and guidelines for referral and consideration by the state agencies of cognizance for implementation of such regulations and guidelines.
5. Developing a long-term strategic plan to improve mental health care through the use of psychedelic treatment.
6. Recommending equity measures for clinical subject recruitment and facilitator training recruitment
7. Assisting with the development of public awareness and education campaigns.

Former state Rep. Jesse MacLachlan (R), who now works at the advocacy group Reason For Hope, testified in favor of the legislation. He emphasized the need to “build a bridge of information, of infrastructure, and of more real world application of what this treatment looks like outside of the clinical trial.”

He said Connecticut needs “to be ready for when the FDA does approve MDMA in 2023 and psilocybin in 2024 because, when that happens and these therapies begin to enter the mainstream, there will be a there will be a deluge of patient intake.”

“Yes, we need more federal testing. Yes, we need a lot more information before it becomes something that is widely used,” Public Health Committee Co-chairman Jonathan Steinberg (D) said at the hearing. “But even then, we’re talking about a very narrow context. When I say ‘widely,’ it’s still a very small group of individuals for whom this would be an appropriate therapy, but only by our willingness to push the bounds are we going to find these kinds of options for people.”

Thomas Burr of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Connecticut said in written testimony that, “for too long Connecticut has seemingly been stuck with the standard treatment methods around mental health conditions, with correspondingly lackluster results.”

“We feel that it is far past time to study different, perhaps even unorthodox treatments, that show great promise,” Burr said.

Lynnette Averill of Baylor College of Medicine said in written testimony that the bill would allow Connecticut to “jump start their infrastructure building as MDMA and psilocybin both have a breakthrough therapy indication from the FDA and are expected to obtain approval within the next 2 years.”

It also “allows for [Connecticut] residents to perhaps receive urgently needed care who would otherwise be excluded. For example, many clinical trials exclude ‘complex’ patients as the psychiatric and medical co-morbidities, the medications, the chaotic lifestyles, etc. can ‘muddy’ the data some,” she said. “However, these people are in desperate need of effective interventions and this program would support these individuals in receiving care (of course, when screened and determined to be safe and appropriate to engage in the treatment).”

Also in Connecticut, regulators announced in January that they would start accepting certain marijuana business license applications at the beginning of February.

The news follows a meeting of the state’s Social Equity Council (SEC), where members approved a technical assistance plan for the cannabis industry that will involve outreach and providing resources to people interested in participating in the market. That plan’s finalization was a necessary condition to trigger the start of the licensing process under the legalization law signed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) last year.

SEC met for the first time in March, just weeks after Lamont signed a marijuana legalization bill into law.

Among other agenda items, the 15-person group approved a list of geographic areas disproportionately impacted by the drug war, which will be used to determine eligibility for social equity business licenses. Under the state’s new cannabis law, half of all licenses must go to equity applicants, who may also qualify for lower licensing fees, technical assistance, workforce training and funding to cover startup costs.

Over the summer, Lamont also announced the launch of a new website to provide residents with up-to-date information on the state’s new marijuana legalization law.

As it stands, adults 21 and older are already able to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis for personal use.

In the psychedelics space, reform is advancing in states across the country.

For example, the Washington State legislature last week sent a budget bill to the governor’s desk that includes a proposal to direct $200,000 in funding to support a new workgroup to study the possibility of legalizing psilocybin services in the state, including the idea of using current marijuana regulatory systems to track psychedelic mushrooms.

A bipartisan coalition of Georgia lawmakers recently filed a resolution that calls for the formation of a House study committee to investigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and make recommendations for reforms.

Last week, the Hawaii Senate approved a bill to set up a state working group to study the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin mushrooms and develop a “long-term” plan to ensure that the psychedelic is accessible for medical use for adults 21 and older.

Also last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill this week to decriminalize low-level possession of psilocybin and promote research into the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.

Rhode Island lawmakers introduced a pair of drug decriminalization bills this month—including one focused on psilocybin and buprenorphine that would authorize doctors to prescribe the psychedelic mushroom.

Also this month, a Missouri Republican lawmaker filed a bill that would legalize a wide range of psychedelics for therapeutic use at designated care facilities while further decriminalizing low-level possession in general.

Last month, Utah lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would create a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs and possible regulations for their lawful use.

An Oregon Senate committee also recently advanced a bill to ensure that equity is built into the state’s historic therapeutic psilocybin program that’s actively being implemented following voter approval in 2020.

A group of Maryland senators recently filed a bill that would create a state fund that could be used to provide free access to psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while also supporting research into their therapeutic potential.

A bill to decriminalize a wide array of psychedelics in Virginia was taken up by a House of Delegates panel in January, only to be pushed off until 2023. A separate Senate proposal to decriminalize psilocybin alone was later defeated in a key committee.

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that his bill to legalize psychedelics possession stands a 50/50 chance of reaching the governor’s desk this year. It already cleared the full Senate and two Assembly committees during the first half of the two-year session.

Washington State lawmakers also introduced legislation in January that would legalize what the bill calls “supported psilocybin experiences” by adults 21 and older.

New Hampshire lawmakers filed measures to decriminalize psilocybin and all drugs.

Legislation was also enacted by the Texas legislature last year requiring the state to study the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and a military-focused medical center.

Colorado officials last week approved the language of two more psychedelics reform initiatives from the same campaign that already passed that procedural step for two separate measures it submitted late last year. A competing campaign filed a different psychedelics legalization last month.

Michigan activists filed a statewide ballot initiative last month that would legalize possessing, cultivating and sharing psychedelics and set up a system for their therapeutic and spiritual use.

A pair of Michigan senators also introduced a bill in September to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of an array of plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last month, urging that the agency allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.

VA Won’t Provide Grants For Marijuana Treatment As Part Of Proposed Veteran Suicide Prevention Initiative

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman.

Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.