Iowa House committee unanimously approves Republican-led proposal of creating a state-regulated therapeutic psilocybin for adults who suffer from PTSD.
The bill, HF 620, from Rep. John Wills (R), passed the House Ways and Means Committee on a 23–0 vote at a hearing Thursday.
If passed into law, up to 5,000 people in the state could legally obtain psilocybin that is produced by licensed companies in their own states. Administration sessions would need to be supervised by registered facilitators—mostly medical professionals—who would need to complete state-specified psilocybin education.
Providers of psilocybin would be required to complete continuing education in psilocybin and must register with the State.
The administration sessions would have to take place at clinical sites registered and video-recorded. State officials would be able to inspect these records upon request.
State-licensed facilities would produce the psilocybin. Local governments couldn’t ban or refuse licenses for these establishments because psilocybin is illegal under federal law.
Notably, a licensed psilocybin production facility could be co-located with one of the state’s few licensed medical cannabis producers—known in Iowa as medical cannabidiol producers—and the bill says regulators may grant psilocybin licensing preferences to those existing cannabis producers. The facilities could not be within 500 or 1,000 feet from a residence, a local community center or a school.
Licensees would have to undergo background checks and only people over the age of 21 who do not possess “any misdemeanor or felony for drug trafficking” were allowed to work in psilocybin manufacturers.
The bill allows for up to four independent labs and also the establishment of a state-owned lab.
Starting July 1, 2020, license applications will be available.
A state Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board would be created under the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
The director will appoint a board that includes a public member knowledgeable about psilocybin; a person with expertise in nutraceutical or pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, as well as a police officer, an experienced university researcher or chemist, and a person with a background of mushroom or fungus cultivation.
In the case of a tie, the HHS director would cast a vote.
A Ways and Means Subcommittee, which is composed of veterans who have served for 25 years, unanimously approved the Wills legislation earlier this week.
At the time of voting in the subcommittee, the legislator told the Cedar Rapids Gazette: “I have a few guys I know who are still struggling.” What happens to PTSD victims is that they are put on mind altering drugs for the rest of their lives by (the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs).
Wills also told the Gazette that although other psychedelic substances and qualifying conditions aren’t listed in the bill‘s text, the intent is that state regulators could eventually expand the program to include other conditions or substances that research supports.
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The Lawmaker didn’t immediately reply to MEDCAN24 when asked for comment about Thursday’s full-committee vote.
Brooke Boden, R, member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said this week that she had “many conversations” about the treatment issue.
She said that this was urgently required for veterans, and cited the fact that 22 veterans die by suicide every day.
Rep. Jeff Shipley, a former proponent of removing psilocybin from Iowa’s Schedule I law in previous sessions, told the Gazette that the matter was “a pressing issue” and should have been dealt with years earlier. According to Shipley, the fact that legislators were talking about psilocybin and its medical benefits was “an indication” it wasn’t suitable for schedule I.
HF 383 is a separate bill that will be considered in this session. It would permit a synthetic form psilocybin in the State to be prescribed if it were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Colorado legislators sent the Governor a similar measure earlier this month.
A second measure, introduced in Iowa earlier this year, would allow up to 5 more medical cannabis dispensaries across the entire state.
In a report from 2023, the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board suggested that the state lift the cap on licenses and issue more “to provide Iowans greater geographic access to medical marijuana products.”
The state has a relatively limited medical cannabis program that initially only allowed low-THC product. Despite the potential revenue, legislators have refused to end the prohibition of marijuana for adults.
Nevada Lawmakers talk about a plan to establish a psychedelic treatment pilot program
The photo is courtesy Wikimedia/Workman.
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