A Nevada bill that would create a psychedelic therapy pilot program for military veterans and first responders had its first committee hearing on Wednesday. Lawmakers heard testimony 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.
The legislation, AB 378, was filed March 10 by Assemblymember Max Carter (D) and 18 other cosponsors. Under the proposal, the state would establish an Alternative Therapy Pilot Program under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The program would allow the medically supervised use of psychedelics including psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline, specifically among military veterans and first responders with certain mental health conditions.
While the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services didn’t act on the legislation at Wednesday’s hearing, they took testimony and asked questions of 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.”
“When we come back here in two years,” Carter told colleagues, “my belief is this will be mainstream therapy.”
Notably, no members of the public at Wednesday’s hearing spoke in opposition to the proposal, nor did any offer neutral comments.
Hellbound and Down 