Colorado House of Representatives passed a Senate bill that empowers the governor to pardon those convicted of offenses related to psychedelics. It also revised the data-tracking and implementation rules for 2022’s voter-approved legalization of psychedelics.
House members voted 43–22 in favor of SB25-297 during third reading on Tuesday, following Senate passage of the proposal on a 23–12 vote last week. The measure is now on its way to Gov. Polis. Jared Polis.
The bill, if passed, would allow Polis, or any future governors, to grant clemency for people who have been convicted of low-level possession for substances like psilocybin and DMT, which are now legal for adults.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment(CDPHE), Department of Revenue(DOR) and Department of Regulatory Agencies DORA would have to also “collect data and information related to the usage of natural medicines and natural medicine product.”
This would include information on the law enforcement activity, adverse health effects, consumer protection claims, and behavioral impact of psychedelics.
Sen. Matt Ball’s (D), the Senate’s sponsor for SB25-297 said, “This bill establishes a mechanism that collects health information. This should allow us to gather data on whether natural medicine as it is implemented has harmful health effects or benefits health,” during last week’s discussion.
Rep. Lisa Feret, the sponsor of the House measure, said that the program for tracking data “will be funded through grant money, and we won’t be taking more from this.”
A committee amendment, which was adopted by the Senate before it passed, removed government appropriations for data tracking and collection, substituting “appropriations, gifts, grants or contributions” in lieu of “ongoing budgets.” Ball said at the time that lawmakers have a letter of intent from the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative—a nonprofit that supports advancing psychedelic therapy—to fund the program for the entirety of its five-year duration.
The bill would earmark $208,240 in those funds for the governor’s office of information technology. In the text, it says that “to implement this act the office may utilize this appropriation in order to provide IT services to the department of health and the environment.”
It would also amend licensing rules and the ownership of centers that offer psychedelic therapies. The legislation, for example, removes the need for fingerprint-based background checks of owners and staff at licensed centers, allowing them to only undergo name-based criminal history checks.
The law also “allows state licensing authorities to make rules about the type of natural medicines that are allowed to be produced and requires them to develop rules for product labels.”
Overall, the proposal has received support from a wide variety of supporters. This includes groups that are in favor of psychedelic medicines as well as those more sceptical of legalization. Public commenters at a hearing last month seemed to agree that the bill’s data collection provisions would help observers both inside and outside Colorado better understand the outcomes around regulated psychedelics.
Meanwhile in Colorado, last month the governor signed into law a bill that would allow a form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal government authorizes its use.
Colorado has already made psilocybin, and other psychedelics legal for adults over 21 years old through a ballot initiative approved by voters. The newly implemented reform allows drugs that contain an isolated version of psilocybin synthesized using a crystalline form to be available on physician prescription.
As of January, meanwhile, Colorado regulars have been 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.
Legislators are clearly interested in setting up the state to be able to distribute certain psychedelics more conventionally. 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.
Meanwhile in Colorado, a bill that would have limited THC in marijuana and outlawed a variety of psilocybin products will no longer move forward this session following the lead sponsor’s move to withdraw the bill.
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