Rhode Island lawmakers have reintroduced a proposal that would exempt psilocybin from the state’s laws against controlled substances, legalizing possession and home cultivation for personal use. Sharing psilocybin—the main psychoactive compound in psychedelic mushrooms—would also be permitted under the bill.
H.5186 would permit the possession of “any compound, mixture, or preparation containing less than one ounce (1 oz.) of psilocybin” so long as it was “securely cultivated” within a person’s residence or “shared by one person to another.”
The change would last only until July 1, 2027, at which point it would sunset. Before then, the state’s attorney general would need to report to leaders of the House and Senate “the number of violations issued for possession, cultivation, or distribution of psilocybin,” and the director of the state Department of Health would need to report on the federal scheduling status of the substance.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Brandon Potter (D) and nine co-sponsors, also says that if the federal government reschedules psilocybin, the state Department of Health “shall establish rules and regulations pertaining to the cultivation, distribution and medical prescription” of the drug, including to make it available at locations within the state.
Notably, the measure refers to rescheduling by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Drug scheduling, however, is typically under the purview of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
FDA has already granted breakthrough therapy status to psilocybin for the treatment of certain depressive disorders.
If approved, H.5186 would take effect on July 1 of this year.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have considered such a proposal. The measure is a revised version of last year’s H.7047, also from Potter, as well as a similar bill in 2023 that passed the House on a 56–11 vote, but did not move forward in the Senate before the end of the session.
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Earlier this month in Rhode Island, meanwhile, the state’s Cannabis Control Commission released nearly 200 pages of draft regulations for the state’s budding adult-use marijuana market.
As for other drug policy developments in the state, late last year organizers cut the ribbon on the first state-sanctioned safe consumption site for illegal drugs in the United States. The facility—located in Providence—stems from a 2021 bill creating a pilot program for overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the state.
While controversial, overdose prevention centers have been lauded by academics and harm reduction advocates as a promising way to reduce drug-related deaths and connect people with social services, including treatment for drug use disorders.
“People with substance abuse disorder are going to use,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley (D) said at the facility’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. “What’s different here is that they will use in a supervised fashion with medical professionals on staff so that they do not die, and then there will be services wrapped around.”
Researchers at Brown University will be following the developments.
“The goal is to identify how OPCs operate in the United States,” Brown epidemiology professor Brandon D.L. Marshall said in a university post about the project. “If they are working, what makes them particularly helpful for people? In what ways do they connect people to addiction treatment and care? How can they best be integrated into a community that’s been hard hit by the nation’s overdose crisis? Those are some of the things we’d like to tease out.”
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