Psychedelics Will Be Legal In Most U.S. States Within 15 Years, According To JAMA Analysis

A new analysis published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) holds that the majority of states will legalize psychedelics by 2034 to 2037. 

Led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, the study draws on a compilation and analysis of psychedelics legislation data introduced and enacted in cities and state legislatures as well as ballot initiatives held between 2019-2022.

In order to understand drivers and rates of legislative reform, researchers compared data with other state indices, including the 2020 presidential voting margins and marijuana legislative reform.

Extracted from various sources including BillTrack50, LexisNexis and Ballotpedia, the data revealed that 74 psychedelics-related bills had been considered throughout half of the US states.

More specifically, 69 legislative proposals and five ballot measures were considered between 2019-2022 across the country, out of which 10 bills were enacted while 32 remain active.

An interesting finding: most of the reform measures focused on psilocybin, while MDMA was the second most-mentioned psychedelic substance.

One point made by the study authors was that while psychedelics decriminalization is taking place in more liberal states, reform is advancing in a rapid “patchwork” manner across the U.S. and is becoming a bipartisan issue.

Further, they believe psychedelics reform in the US will also be impacted by key factors such as what the FDA decides in view of ongoing clinical trials and potential changes in the DEA’s scheduling.

The publication notes that state-level legislative reform has been “the primary driver” to cannabis legalization, as it became so in most states despite its Schedule I status and lack of FDA approval. 

And that is what current state legislative psychedelics reforms seem to be doing, by “shifting the prospects of psychedelics treatment and illicit drug enforcement.”

With these movements growing, researchers noted that consensus on treatment models, education and guidance for health care professionals, implementation and regulation planning will be soon needed.

In conclusion, the publication states: “Decriminalization is just one step in a complex process to transform psychedelic compounds into safe and effective therapies. This process will have important consequences for the medical and scientific community. Integrating psychedelic treatment into clinical practice will require peeling back many layers of legal prohibition and FDA approval, clarifying prescribing guidelines, and developing treatment models that work for drug makers, physicians, and patients.”

Photo courtesy of Brandon Bourdages and Cannabis_Pic on Shutterstock.