The Connecticut House of Representatives has approved a bill to decriminalize psilocybin for adults—despite lingering questions about whether the state’s Democratic governor would support it after he rejected an earlier version of the reform measure.
On Monday, one month after it was approved by the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Legislature, the bill passed the entire chamber with a vote of 74 to 65. Now it will be considered by the Senate.
This legislation could be passed into law and would penalize possession up to a half-ounce of psilocybin by $150 in fines, with no threat of prison time.
Rep. Steve Stafstrom said, “Psilocybin has shown to be a very effective product for treating various mental diseases, such as PTSD and addictions. It is also used in the treatment of depressions and anxiety disorder.” The state of California treats psilocybin as a Schedule I substance, which is equivalent to cocaine or heroin.
This bill is very simple. This bill does not legitimize psilocybin. “I want to make it clear that this bill doesn’t legalize psilocybin,” said he. “If you deal psilocybin and if you drive under the influences of psilocybin then the existing penalties still apply.” It’s still driving while under the influences of psilocybin. This bill is unchanged. The drug offense of dealing psilocybin remains the same. You can be prosecuted for drug dealing—that does not change.”
You can watch the House discuss the decriminalization of psilocybin starting at the 4:23:40 mark in the below video.
Connecticut legislators have been working to decriminalize psilocybin for the past three sessions. In 2023, the reform measure cleared the House but did not move through the Senate. The Judiciary Committee also approved a version last year.
A second or subsequent violation of possession would be subject to a minimum fine amounting to $200, but no more than $500. If a person pleads no contest or guilty on two occasions, they will be sent to a treatment program for substance abuse.
Rep. Craig Fishbein raised several concerns during the debate. He argued that the proposed limit on possession of psychedelics is arbitrarily set and could increase accidental use by young people.
Stafstrom emphasized that this measure doesn’t legalize or allow adults to buy psilocybin. The bill is more of a “recognition,” that psilocybin “is probably not as harmful as heroin or cocaine is, and should be classified differently than other hard drugs.”
While we do not recognize a legalization of this substance in our penal code, we treat certain crimes more harshly than others. Stafstrom stated that “we are saying possession of heroin differs from possession a small quantity of psilocybin.”
House members rejected amendements that sought to change the language of the bill to decriminalize psilocybin with provisions to create a “working group” to examine other jurisdictions’ laws on psilocybin and instruct the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection in order to research the effect of decriminalizing this psychedelic.
A failed amendment increased the penalty for the first time possession of psychedelics from $150 up to $2,500. The fine for subsequent offences would also have been increased from $200 minimum to $5,000 minimum.
The lawmakers also rejected proposals that would have directed the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) to examine the feasibility of testing blood levels of THC and Psilocybin for drivers and allocate $1 million to recruit, train and retain drug-recognition experts.
Police would be require to seize and destroy any amount of the psychedelic they find under the current measure, HB 7065. Possession exceeding a half-ounce would constitute a Class A misdemeanor.
When the proposal came up last year—which involved an informational forum with lawmakers and activists to discuss the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin and potential pathways to allow for regulated access—the office of Gov. Ned Lamont indicated it could face an obstacle to implementation.
At the time, a spokesperson stated that the governor was concerned with the broad decriminalization. The bill at that time had yet to be filed.
Lamont reportedly also threatened to veto the version of 2023 that would decriminalize possession psilocybin, even though he had championed legislation in 2021 to legalize marijuana and had signed it into law.
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Lamont signed a large-scale budget bill in 2022 that includes provisions to set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment using substances like MDMA and psilocybin.
Prior to that, he also signed separate legislation in 2021 that required the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to create a task force to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.
Separately, a Connecticut lawmaker also introduced different legislation in 2023 that would have appropriated an unspecified amount of state funds to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services for the current fiscal year to establish a “psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program.”
Connecticut has recently established a new division in the Department of Consumer Protection to regulate its adult and medical marijuana programs.
Utah’s medical marijuana program has reached a new milestone, with more than 100,000 registered patients
Dick Culbert provided the photo.
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