Nevada’s legislative committee passed a bill for a pilot psychedelic program that allows certain patients to access substances like psilocybin and DMT.
On Friday, members of the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services approved the measure AB 378 by Assemblymember Max Carter. If enacted, the program would allow the medically supervised use of psychedelics among military veterans and first responders with certain mental health conditions.
In the bill’s conclusions section, it is stated that, “providing the public with access to treatment that involves the administration of psychoactive substances under appropriate medical supervision may enhance the outcome of the treatments.”
The panel approved the bill after adopting an amendment by the sponsor Carter and state Department of Health and Human Services. This amended the program in a variety of ways.
The amendment is notable for broadening veteran eligibility, by replacing “honorably dismissed” with “general discharge.” The amendment also allows DHHS to create an advisory committee that will make recommendations, and submit quarterly reports.
Ken Gray (R), Assemblymember, said before the vote that he would support the modified bill but that he also wanted to “work with the sponsor” to make sure that the eligible veterans are not “put out of service due to conduct related their PTSD.”
“Some of our worst PTSD victims have got…less-than-honorable, other-than-honorable and bad-conduct discharges,” he said. He said that “a lot of them were discharged because of their conduct in relation to PTSD. They are among the men who most need treatment.”
Gray added, “But I’ll work with sponsors of the legislation to make sure that it is people who have been diagnosed with PTSD and are discharged from military service.”
According to a staff statement, the amendment inserts language that shields DHHS from any liability. It states, “We do not guarantee or warrant the safety, success or outcome of the alternative therapies provided through the program.”
In the amended bill, the Division of Public and Behavioral Health will be responsible for administering the program and creating continuing care plans. It authorizes DPBH for reimbursement of inspection and certification costs related to the pilot program.
The panel took public testimony on the bill late last month, hearing from reform advocates, veterans and their families and members of a state Psychedelic Medicines Working Group, which late last year called on lawmakers to establish a system for regulated access.
Carter, the bill’s sponsor, also shared at the earlier hearing about how psychedelic therapy—involving ketamine, which is not part of the current proposal—helped him overcome “profound, deep grief, treatment-resistant depression” and complex post-traumatic stress disorder after the traumatic death of his wife.
He explained that the pilot program would focus on first responders and military veterans because “those are demographics that everybody can identify with, but more importantly, they’re ones with accelerated—or exacerbated—suicide rates.”
Carter said to colleagues that he believes this therapy will become mainstream in the next two years.
There were no neutral or negative comments made by anyone.
According to the plan, the State would create an Alternative Therapy Pilot Program at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Division of Public and Behavioral Health under HHS would be tasked with licensing at least one person to “cultivate, manufacture or otherwise produce psychedelic substances for use in the Program,” the bill text says.
Asked at last month’s hearing whether that meant HHS would be expected to actually cultivate mushrooms, Kate Cotter—a member of the state psychedelics working group and the executive director of the Nevada Coalition for Psychedelic Medicines—said that while state cultivation is written into the bill “in theory,” that route “would probably not be very viable.”
Cotter said that it was more likely to be a private sponsor, or an institution with a DEA-licensed person. The law is written in such a way that the drug can either be cultivated, or it could be manufactured. It would most likely be manufactured.
Another member of the state Psychedelic Medicines Working Group, retired police Lt. Diane Goldstein—who is now executive director of the advocacy group Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)—told the committee at the earlier hearing that the working group “reached one unassailable conclusion: We must act urgently to begin utilizing these innovative therapeutic approaches.”
The research showed that more than 25 percent Nevada adults suffered from mental illness over the past 12 months, which is significantly higher than the average for the country,” said the woman. Our state has the ninth-highest suicide rate in America.
Goldstein also noted, as did other speakers that military veterans and communities of first responders are particularly affected by the measures. They would be eligible to participate in the pilot program.
For too long we allowed the stigma of mental illness and psychedelics compound this crisis in all its forms. “In light of our report by the working groups, we now know with certainty that it’s a false choice,” said she. By establishing a tightly regulated pilot to provide military veterans and first-responders with controlled access to psychedelics under AB 378, the bill would encourage safe use of these promising treatments and continue research.
The psychedelic drugs are prohibited by state and federal laws. However, anyone who is authorized to take part in this program will be “insulated from any civil, criminal, and administrative liabilities arising out of that conduct, and such conduct cannot constitute the basis for an investigation, arrest, search, seizure or any other legal penalties against the individual.”
Carter, the measure’s sponsor, was among several Nevada legislators who participated in a recent psychedelic policy summit and expressed optimism that the state could make progress toward legalizing therapeutic use of the substances in the coming year.
Carter and Sen. Rochelle nguyen, a Democrat from Nevada, appeared on the panel hosted by Nevada Coalition for Psychedelic Medicines. Both lawmakers were members of the state Psychedelic Medicines Working Group that in December issued a report calling on the legislature to create a program for regulated access to psychedelic-assisted therapy.
The Nevada Senate took up last month a resolution by Nguyen, which urged Congress to redistribute some psychedelics and streamline the research, as well as provide protections to individuals who use these substances according state law.
The Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee reviewed the resolution and heard testimony from field experts.
It is a very grassroots issue, and it’s bipartisan. Nguyen stated in his opening remarks that it is Nevada’s issue. It’s a very important topic. This may appear to be a harmless issue. [resolution] where we’re sending a letter, but it is super important that we as a state send a message to the federal government—send a message to Washington, D.C.—that we need to start helping our community.”
The resolution details research showing the therapeutic potential of psychoactives to treat serious mental disorders. It calls on federal officials to “reschedule” psilocybin and other psychedelic compounds, including DMT, Ibogaine, Mescaline, MDMA and DMT to better reflect the compound’s therapeutic value and low abuse potential, as well as its safety when taken under medical supervision.
The article also mentions that federal initiatives have taken place on this issue. These include the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) classification of some psychedelics to be “breakthrough treatments” and the research being conducted by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs in the United States.
Nguyen explained that SJR10 is intended to “encourage Congress and every state to get on board to provide people with these lifesaving therapeutics,” Nguyen added.
In 2023, Nguyen sponsored legislation that would have legalized psilocybin and promoted further research into the drug, as well as encouraged studies of MDMA—but the was significantly scaled back in a Senate committee to examine the use of entheogens “in medicinal, therapeutic, and improved wellness” and develop a future plan for regulated access. It ultimately became the vehicle that created the state psychedelics working group.
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Images courtesy carlosemmaskype & Apollo.