Marijuana Moment: Connecticut Lawmakers Approve Bill To Expand Psychedelics Pilot Program In Anticipation Of FDA Approval

[Tokeativity]

Connecticut lawmakers have approved a bill to expand a pilot program in the state that’s meant to explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA.

Members of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health on Tuesday favorably reported the psychedelics measure, which would build upon an existing psychedelic-assisted therapy program involving military veterans and first responders who elect to participate in clinical trials.

The new legislation would repeal and replace the current statute to make it so any adults 18 or older who meet clinical eligibility criteria established by the institutional review board of the medical school selected to administer the pilot program could be eligible to receive psychedelics treatment in a clinical setting, with researchers tasked with studying the efficacy of the novel therapeutics.

It would also remove existing language stipulating that the pilot program must end upon federal approval of psilocybin or MDMA by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or a successor agency.

Additionally, the bill—which has been transmitted to the non-partisan Legislative Commissioners’ Office for analysis—would strike dated language requiring the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to create and facilitate the program by January 2023.

Under the proposal, SB 191, the department is mandated to “establish, within available appropriations, a psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program, to be administered by a medical school in the state.” That program “shall provide qualified patients with MDMA-assisted or psilocybin-assisted therapy as part of a research program approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration,” or FDA.

“There’s a chance that psychedelic medications for this purpose will be approved by the FDA, which makes the research study stop if you don’t make a change in the language,” Sen. Saud Anwar (D), chair of the Public Health Committee, said. “So that’s the main purpose of this.”

The rationale behind the initial bill that created the pilot program “was that veterans were committing suicide on a very frequent basis, even in our state,” he said, “and initial data had shown that we could save their lives. That was the reason that we were able to put some resources to save as many lives as we could, because the FDA process is slow.”

“This has the FDA-based criteria for the study, but it’s not an FDA study, and we do not suggest—as a body, as a public health committee—that we wanted to go outside of the FDA guidelines,” Anwar aid. “It’s not FDA-approved at this time. But should that happen, we do not want to have anybody have a negative outcome.”

The senator added that the legislation’s criteria for inclusion in the psychedelics pilot program was expanded beyond veterans and first responders in response to a “request made by the clinicians and the researchers.”

—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Meanwhile, last year, the full House of Representatives approved a bill to decriminalize psilocybin for adults—despite questions about whether the state’s Democratic governor would support it after he rejected an earlier version of the reform measure.

That marked the third session in a row that Connecticut lawmakers worked to advance psilocybin decriminalization. In 2023, the reform measure cleared the House but did not move through the Senate. The Judiciary Committee also approved a version in 2024.

Gov. Ned Lamont (D) also signed a large-scale budget bill in 2022 that included provisions to set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment using substances like MDMA and psilocybin.

Separately, Connecticut lawmakers are also among the latest in the U.S. to take up legislation this session to allow medical marijuana use by certain qualifying patients at health facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.

Image courtesy of CostaPPR.

The post Connecticut Lawmakers Approve Bill To Expand Psychedelics Pilot Program In Anticipation Of FDA Approval appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net