State-Level Psychedelics Bills: Hawaii And West Virginia, NY And NH Bolster And VA Advances

The psychedelics reform movement is spanning wide across the US, offering a real spectacle at the states’ 2023 legislative sessions.

After the first bills were filed in New York, Illinois, Virginia, Washington State, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arizona followed proposals in Missouri and Massachusetts plus a third NY bill. 

Now introductory bills are being filed in Hawaii and West Virginia, while New York and New Hampshire both have new proposals, and one of Virginia’s projects moves forward in the approval process, reported by Marijuana Moment.

Hawaii

• Six psychedelics proposals have been filed in the Hawaiian state. 

• Senate Bill 1454 would create a psilocybin task force to study psychedelic’s medicinal and therapeutic effects for anxiety, depression and PTSD as well long-term strategic plan for safe, affordable and available access to psilocybin or psilocybin-based products for adults over 21.

• House Bill 1337 is its corresponding companion legislation.

• Senate Concurrent Resolution 5 also calls for a “medicinal psilocybin and psilocin working group” to study laws, scientific evidence, and a potential protocol for administering psilocybin for the treatment of a variety of mental health conditions including addiction, depression, anxiety disorders and end-of-life distress in adults.

• Senate Resolution 3 is identical and was sponsored by the same legislators.

• House Bill 1340 “relating to mental health” would establish an advisory council to review, evaluate and recommend new medicinal treatments for mental health including psilocybin and MDMA.

• Senate Bill 1531 is its corresponding companion legislation.

West Virginia

• House Bill 2951 would remove psilocybin, marijuana and THC from Schedule I under the state’s controlled substances list. It has been referred to the house health and human resources committee.

New York

• Joining already filed bills is Senate Bill 3520 calls for the legalization of psilocybin’s medical use. Treatment would be provided by a certified facilitator either in a clinical setting or at home. Both patients and facilitators would be protected from state-level prosecution.

• It would establish a Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy (PAT) grant program for veterans, first responders, retired first responders, and low-income individuals to receive treatment with psilocybin or MDMA.

• New Hampshire

• Newly introduced House Bill 216 would remove DMT from the state’s controlled substances act.

• The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee held a hearing on the proposal but did not vote on advancement. It is still in committee.

Virginia

• A House bill called for psilocybin medical use for people with serious mental health conditions. 

• Senate Bill 932, which calls for psilocybin rescheduling and the creation of an advisory board, first approved by an education and health subcommittee and now again by the Senate Education and Health committee by a 14-1 vote, is next facing the full Senate for consideration.

• Under the new measure, psilocybin would move from Schedule I to Schedule III under state law. 

• Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Cburnett on Wikimedia Commons and Octavio Hoyos on Shutterstock.