Colorado legislators have introduced a bill that allows a prescription of psilocybin if it is approved by the federal government.
On Wednesday, less than a fortnight after Reps. Anthony Hartsook and Kyle Brown filed the legislation along with Sen. Dafna Michelson Jenet (D), it passed on a second-reading voice vote.
The bipartisan bill that’s advancing is similar to the legislation that Gov. Jared Polis, (D), signed the law into effect in 2022 for the dispensing of MDMA and its use by medical professionals. The bipartisan bill now advancing will allow doctors to prescribe drugs that contain crystalline polymorph Psilocybin pending federal legislation.
Colorado has already made psilocybin, and other psychedelics legal for adults over 21 years old through an approved ballot initiative. The new reform proposal would allow drugs that contain an isolated crystalized form of psilocybin synthesized by a physician to be available on prescription.
Hartsook stated on Wednesday in the House that his bill has “nothing” to do with the separate law on psychedelics that was approved by voters, highlighting that the substance is “synthetic”.
He stated that “it is being tested and designed” by the Food and Drug Administration. “I know that many people have questions about how the FDA operates, but for now this is all we have.” And depending what the FDA does in their trials and—if they approve it, and then the DEA then reschedules it—then it can be used.”
“Colorado, as a state, the way our constitution goes, when you come in with a new medication like this for treatment, it requires the state to say ‘yay’ or ‘nay,'” the sponsor said. The majority of states approve medication automatically if it’s approved by federal authorities. “We don’t have that.”
He said, “I’m doing it now so that we won’t need to wait and the veterans and those who haven’t responded to any other treatment don’t need to wait until we come back and start moving things,” The sole reason for trying this is to help people.
Brown said that during the discussion that this bill was about “ensuring that the active component, psilocybin is subjected the same rigorous and evidence-based standards as every other drug in the FDA approval process.”
In the bill’s conclusions section, it is stated that “treatment-resistant depression” is a public health emergency and psilocybin in clinical studies has shown to reduce depression scores for treatment-resistant patients when compared with active placebos.
The general assembly declared that the treatment of patients with treatment resistant depression by behavioral health professionals who are licensed in Colorado would be in their best interest if they could provide the crystalline polymorph Psilocybin if federal regulations were to change. [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] It says that the FDA has approved it as a prescription drug.
Psilocybin would still be listed as a controlled substance under state statute—with the nuance that state law permits adults to cultivate and possess certain amounts of the raw mushroom. But this bill would create an additional carve out exempting crystalline polymorph psilocybin from the definition of the psychedelic.
As of this month, meanwhile, Colorado regulars are now authorized to approve licenses for psilocybin service centers where adults can access the psychedelic in controlled settings.
The governor signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal psychedelics in 2023.
The lawmakers are apparently interested in allowing a conventional distribution system for some psychedelics. In 2022, Polis also signed a bill to align state statute to legalize MDMA prescriptions if and when the federal government ultimately permits such use.
The FDA has not yet decided whether it will approve such a therapy. Last year, the FDA was criticized for rejecting a request to permit MDMA-assisted treatment in people suffering from PTSD.
Certain advocates and stakeholders hold out hope for a change in the Trump Administration, since the President has nominated several cabinet members who support psychedelics legislation, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that oversees FDA.
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Dick Culbert provided the photo.