A New Mexico House committee has approved a Senate-passed bill to establish a therapeutic psilocybin program in the state.
Days after the legislation Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D) advanced through the full Senate, members of the House Health & Human Services Committee voted 8-1 on Monday to advance it.
If enacted, the Medical Psilocybin Act would allow patients with certain qualifying conditions to access the psychedelic and use it under the guidance of a licensed healthcare provider.
“Some people confuse [psilocybin mushrooms] with just an entertainment drug, and it certainly was that back in the days of Woodstock,” Sen. Martin Hickey (D) said in opening remarks at the hearing. But research has since demonstrated the profound therapeutic potential of plant medicine, especially for processing trauma, he added.
“It has such a wide range,” he said. “This is a is profound discovery—although it’s always kind of been there.”
A representative of ACLU also testified at the hearing, stating that “psilocybin has demonstrated significant therapeutic potential for treating a range of mental health conditions, including depression, PTSD and substance use disorder, along with end-of-life grief.”
“Research from leading institutions has shown that psilocybin-assisted treatment can provide long-term relief for individuals who have not responded to conventional treatments, offering hope to many who struggled with severe treatment-resistant conditions by creating a structured, regulated program for psilocybin treatment,” she said. “This bill ensures that patients in New Mexico can safely and legally access the miraculous benefits under medical supervision.”
The measure says the purpose “is to allow the beneficial use of psilocybin in a regulated system for alleviating qualified medical conditions,” including major treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance use disorders and end-of-life care. The state Department of Health would be able to approve additional conditions.
Under the legislation, psilocybin therapy would consist of a preparation session, an administration session and a follow-up integration session.
The state health department would be responsible for establishing guidelines around training for clinicians and producers, including dosage, approved settings for administration, production and storage protocols and other best practices. State officials would also license producers to grow mushrooms and process psilocybin.
Synthetic psilocybin and synthetic analogs of the substance would not be allowed under the proposal.
A nine-member advisory board would recommend additional qualifying conditions as well as rules around preparation and dosage. The board would also review outside petitions for additional qualifying conditions.
SB 219 would also create two new state funds. A medical psilocybin treatment equity fund would help offset costs of treatment for qualified patients who meet income requirements that would be set by the health department. And a medical psilocybin research fund would issue grants to support research into “any facet of the medical use of psilocybin.”
In terms of costs, the bill initially would have appropriated $2 million from the state general fund to the Department of Health in order to administer the program, while an additional $1 million each would go to the new research and equity funds.
An amendment adopted in a Senate committee stripped the appropriation amount from the bill, however. Steinborn noted that a separate bill contains $2 million for the plan if it becomes law.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, approved an amendment intended to clarify that while psilocybin service providers would be shielded from criminal prosecution for their work related to psychedelics, they could still be subject to medical malpractice claims.
On the Senate floor last week, members adopted an amendment to clarify that the use of federally approved psilocybin would be allowed under the state law, but that such products would not be further regulated by the state.
The amendment also removed a requirement that the department develop “qualifying conditions” for producers and clinicians, add a health care provider to the advisory board that would be created by the bill and strike language the sponsor described as “redundant.”
In 2023, the House Health and Human Services Committee also passed a bill that called for the creation of a state body to study the possibility of launching a psilocybin therapy program for certain patients. That measure did not advance further in the 2023 session, however.
When announcing this latest legislation late January, the sponsor said that the proposal “creates a carefully designed framework for the Department of Health to establish a medical program for psilocybin use.”
“Ensuring New Mexicans have access to every available treatment for serious behavioral health challenges is critical, and this proven therapy offers new hope for those in need,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Republican sponsor Sen. Craig Brandt (R) said he’s “excited to be able to offer this breakthrough medical treatment to New Mexicans.”
“Medical psilocybin is proving to be effective in treating traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, depression, and other mental health conditions,” he said. “As a veteran I’m hopeful that this new medical option will provide help to my fellow veterans.”
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Last year, New Mexico lawmakers passed, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) endorsed, a resolution requesting that state officials research the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and explore the creation of a regulatory framework to provide access to the psychedelic.
Meanwhile in New Mexico, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are urging a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit from licensed marijuana businesses that claim the agencies have been unconstitutionally seizing state-regulated marijuana products and detaining industry workers at interior checkpoints.
Separately, late least year commissioners of New Mexico’s most populous county approved policy details of a plan to stop testing and punishing most government employees for off-hours marijuana use. Bernalillo County, where Albuquerque is located, appears to be the first public body in the state to implement such a reform following the state’s legalization of cannabis in 2021.
Meanwhile in New Mexico, a House committee recently passed a bill that would further protect medical marijuana patients in the state from being penalized at work for off-duty use of cannabis. And a Senate companion version of the legislation also moved through a panel in that chamber.
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