A Missouri House committee has unanimously approved a bill to legalize the medical use of psilocybin by military veterans and fund studies exploring the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.
The House Veterans Committee passed the legislation from Rep. Aaron McMullen (R) on Tuesday, with amendments to align it with a Senate companion version that moved through a panel in that chamber last week.
The revised bill text of the House measure—which received an initial committee hearing last month—hasn’t been published yet, but the Senate version as recently amended would allow military veterans who are at least 21 and are diagnosed with a qualifying condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or substance use disorders to legally access laboratory-tested psilocybin.
In order to receive legal protections under the legislation, participants would need to be enrolled, or have sought enrollment, in a study involving the psychedelic.
There are also numerous requirements for patients to provide the state Department of Mental Health (DMH) with information about their diagnosis, the person who would be administering psilocybin and other details on the place and time of the treatment sessions.
Psilocybin could only be administered over a maximum of a one-year period, with the amount of the psychedelic used in that treatment capped at 150 milligrams, though qualifying patients could be also approved to continue for subsequent one-year periods.
Regulators, physicians and state agency officials would all be protected from legal consequences related to activity made lawful under the legislation.
Also, the legislation calls for DMH to provide funding to support research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin.
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