The first committee hearing for a Nevada law that creates a psychedelic treatment pilot program for first responders and veterans was held on Wednesday. The lawmakers heard from veterans, their families, and reform activists. They also heard from members of the state Psychedelic Medicines Working Group who, late last year, called for a regulated system.
Assemblymember Max Carter and other sponsors filed AB378 on 10 March. According to the proposal, the State would set up an Alternative Therapy Pilot Program at the Department of Health and Human Services.
This program allows the use of certain psychedelics, such as psilocybin and DMT under medical supervision, and ibogaine, mescaline and ibogaine, among veterans, first responders and those with mental illnesses.
The Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services did not act on legislation during the hearing on Wednesday, but they did take testimony and ask questions to some speakers.
Carter, speaking to the panel, said that psychedelic therapy—involving ketamine, which is not part of the current bill—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, Carter’s colleague: “I believe that this treatment will be part of mainstream medicine when we return here in two more years.”
No one at the Wednesday hearing expressed opposition or neutrality to the proposed changes.
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 the 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 responded, “It is more likely we will be working with a sponsor who has a DEA licence. This could be a university or a private institution.” 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)—said the working group “reached one unassailable conclusion: We must act urgently to begin utilizing these innovative therapeutic approaches.”
She said that the research presented showed that 25 percent of Nevada adults had experienced mental illness within the last year. This is well above average. “Our state has the ninth-highest suicide rate in the United States.”
Goldstein, like other speakers, noted that the harms were especially severe among veterans of war and those who are first responders, both of whom would qualify for this measure’s pilot.
We have been allowing stigma around mental health, as well as psychedelics, to create a crisis at all levels for too long. “In light of our report by the working groups, we now know with certainty that it’s a false choice,” said she. “AB 378 will promote safe treatment and research by establishing a pilot program that is strictly regulated to allow military veterans, first responders and other controlled users to access psychedelics.
In the bill’s conclusions section, it is stated that, “access to treatment that involves the administration of psychoactive substances under appropriate medical supervision may enhance the outcome of treatments and contribute to public welfare.”
The psychedelic drugs are prohibited by state and federal laws. However, anyone who is authorized to take part in this program will be “immune” from any civil, criminal, and administrative liabilities arising out of that behavior.
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 was on a panel with Sen. Rochelle (D), hosted by Nevada Coalition for Psychedelic Medicines. The two lawmakers are members of Nevada’s Psychedelic Medicines Working Group, which in December released a report urging the legislature to establish a regulated program to access psychedelic assisted therapy.
In a separate vote this month, Nevada Senators took up Nguyen’s joint resolution urging Congress in a rescheduling of certain psychedelics and to streamline the research. They also urged that individuals who use these substances according to state law be protected.
The Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee reviewed the resolution and heard testimony from field experts.
The issue is bipartisan and grassroots. Nguyen, in her opening remarks, said that the issue is Nevada-specific. 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 presents research that shows the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics for treating serious mental illnesses. It also calls for the federal government “to reschedule DMT, MDMA, mescaline, and ibogaine to reflect their therapeutic value, the low risk of abuse, and the safety of use when used 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 stated that the purpose of SJR 10, is “to encourage Congress to perform their duties and to put all states on track so people can access these life-saving therapies.”
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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Carlosemmaskype, Apollo and other photographers provided the images.