The Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee heard public testimony on SB 5660, which would allow access to individuals 21 years of age and older, to psilocybin services. Psilocybin can be classified as LSD, psychedelic mushrooms, and other properties currently registered as illegal at both the state and federal levels.
SB 5660 – 2021-22
Status: Public hearing held in the Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care February 2nd at 8:00 AM
Brief Summary of Bill
Full Senate Bill Report
- Directs the Department of Health (DOH) to administer a regulatory system for supported adult use of psilocybin, beginning January 1, 2024.
- Directs DOH to create standards for manufacturing, testing, packaging,and labeling psilocybin products with the assistance of a Psilocybin Advisory Board and other government agencies.
- Allows a person over the age of 21 to purchase psilocybin products in a psilocybin service center and undergo a preparation session, administration session, and integration session under the supervision of a trained facilitator.
- Restricts employment in the psilocybin industry to licensed or permitted individuals over the age of 21.
Medical Uses of Psilocybin
Researchers in a 2020 Johns Hopkins Medicine study report the psychedelic substance psilocybin, when paired with supportive therapy, “as efficacious in producing large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder.”
“The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” says Alan Davis, Ph.D., one of the study’s authors. “Because most other depression treatments take weeks or months to work and may have undesirable effects, this could be a game-changer if these findings hold up in future ‘gold-standard’ placebo-controlled clinical trials.”
Full study report: Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder
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