Louisiana Senate passed a Republican resolution that calls for the creation of a taskforce to investigate and provide recommendations regarding the therapeutic potential of psychedelics among military veterans.
The Senate unanimously passed the Bill on Wednesday after Sen. Patrick McMath filed it on Tuesday. The bill proposes the creation of an Alternative Therapies Task Force for Veterans.
This measure requires a nine member panel to examine whether certain psychoedelic therapies could be of benefit to Louisiana veterans. They will then make specific legislative proposals and recommendations in writing to the Louisiana legislature.
This task force will be composed of the following: the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare; the governor, or designees of that office, and the secretary of state Department of Health and Department of Veterans Affairs. Also included are the chancellors of Louisiana State University’s two colleges, or those designated by them, as well as the president of Louisiana Hospital Association and/or a designer, and finally a doctor and veteran.
The resolution states that “for our veterans, many deepest war wounds are invisible” and adds, “our vets deserve to have every chance of trying therapies which alleviate functional and neuropsychiatric symptom of traumatic head injury.”
It says that there are “some psychedelic therapies which may be beneficial to treating mental health,” citing psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine and ketamine as examples.
Task force members would have to review clinical trials of psychedelics to treat certain mental conditions. They will also need to examine the scientific literature, FDA actions related to the research, and treatment guidelines.
McMath stated on the Senate Floor on Wednesday, “We’re just creating a Task Force on Alternative Therapies for Veterans.”
The same thing has happened in several other states. Over the next year, we will be studying this.
According to the resolution “the taskforce shall end on the date that it submits its report, or by February 1, 2020.”
In order to become effective, a Senate-approved measure doesn’t need the approval of the House of Representatives and the Governor.
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A Louisiana bill, which was to establish a system of taxes in order to help prepare for eventual legalization adult use marijuana, had its first hearing by a committee last month. The plan was narrowly defeated.
HB 636 was intended to work in tandem with a separate bill from Rep. Candace Newell (D), HB 627, which would create a three-year pilot program that is “designed to test and evaluate parameters of the implementation of a permanent adult-use cannabis program,” according to a legislative analysis.
The bill filings come nearly a year after the Republican governor of Louisiana signed bills to decriminalize marijuana paraphernalia and enact restrictions on the hemp market.
This came the day after Gov. Jeff Landry (R) vetoed a measure that would have allowed him and future governors to issue pardons for people with past cannabis convictions, he gave final approval to the paraphernalia decriminalization proposal from Rep. Delisha Boyd (D).
As it stands in Louisiana, possession of up to 14 grams (or half an ounce) of marijuana is decriminalized, punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time.
Former Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) also signed into law a measure that was designed to streamline expungements for people with first-time marijuana possession convictions.
Texas Republican voters oppose the hemp ban bill that is pending on Governor’s desk, poll shows
Carlosemmaskype, Apollo and other photographers provided the images.
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