Tag: psilocybin

Colorado Governor Grants Mass Psilocybin Pardon Following Voters’ Approval Of Psychedelics Legalization At The Ballot

The governor of Colorado has announced a first-ever round of mass pardons for people with psilocybin-related convictions.

Just about two weeks after Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill into law empowering him and future governors to issue clemency for people who’ve committed psychedelics offenses, he announced during a speech at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference on Wednesday that he’s exercising that authority.

The pardons he’s granting through executive order will provide relief to anyone with a state-level conviction for psilocybin and psilocyn possession.

Shortly after signing the legislation that now allows him to grant the pardons, Polis said the reform represents another step “towards a fairer future.” He’s advocated for the policy change since the state legalized certain entheogenic substances in 2022.

“Governor Polis is showing exactly the kind of courage and compassion that we hope to see from all governors across the country by using his executive authority to right the wrongs of prohibition and calling on Colorado municipalities to do the same,” Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project (LPP) told Marijuana Moment.

“I look forward to working with his office to support and empower local municipalities to carry the torch of freedom forward until there is no one burdened by a criminal history for actions that are now generating tax revenue across the state of Colorado,” he said.

The psychedelics clemency move comes several years after Polis issued mass pardons for people with prior marijuana convictions.

The recently enacted psychedelics legislation from Sen. Matt Ball (D) and Rep. Lisa Feret (D) authorizes governors to grant clemency to people with convictions for low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT that have since been legalized.

It will also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”

That must include data on law enforcement activities, adverse health events, consumer protection claims and behavioral impacts related to psychedelics.

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Colorado Healing Center Facilitates First Psilocybin Session Under Voter-Approved Psychedelics Legalization Law

For the first time, a Colorado patient has taken a legal supervised dose of psilocybin under the state’s natural medicine program. That’s according to the The Center Origin, which in April became the state’s first licensed healing center as part of a buildout of the voter-approved system that was completed last month.

“Big news,” the facility’s CEO and founder, Elizabeth Cooke, said on social media on Sunday. “Last week, we held our very first psilocybin session for psychedelic-assisted healing.”

“A milestone moment is here and a new chapter in healing has begun!” she wrote. “This marks the beginning of our work offering safe, intentional, and transformative psychedelic-assisted healing experiences to those seeking deeper growth and restoration.”

Colorado regulators last month certified the first testing laboratory for the natural medicine program, putting the final piece of the state’s psychedelic infrastructure in place.

Following that step, Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced that the second-in-the-nation state psychedelics program was “fully launched for operations.”

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Iowa Governor Vetoes Bill To Let Doctors Prescribe Psilocybin After Federal Approval Of The Psychedelic

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) has vetoed a bill that would have allowed doctors in the state to immediately prescribe a form of psilocybin in the event of federal approval of the psychedelic substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Reynolds, who announced her veto of a number of bills on Wednesday, said the lawmaker-approved legislation “surrenders state authority to make an informed determination about classification to federal officials at the FDA.”

The measure, HF 383, passed the Senate in April on a 47–0 vote after clearing the House 92–0 in February. If enacted, it would have reclassified the a form of psilocybin known as “crystalline polymorph psilocybin”—also known as COMP 360—in the event of FDA approval, allowing doctors and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense it in the state.

Similar measures were considered by other states this year, including Colorado—where Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed it into law—and Virginia, where it was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).

“I recognize and respect the growing body of research into the potential therapeutic benefits of psilocybin for mental health conditions such as depression and PTSD,” Reynolds’s veto statement of the Iowa measure said. “However, this bill, in its current form, moves ahead of where our public health systems, regulatory frameworks, and law enforcement infrastructure are prepared to go at this time.”

“Psilocybin should first be FDA approved and rescheduled by the DEA before the State of Iowa considers rescheduling,” the governor added. “The pathway provided by this bill for legalization of psilocybin at the state level before we have a chance to review federal action and prepare robust, federally aligned guidelines and safeguards creates legal uncertainty, poses risks for misuse, and could undermine broader efforts to ensure safe and effective therapeutic use in the future.”

Reynolds framed the veto action as “not a dismissal of the emerging science or the sincere advocacy behind this legislation” but instead as “a call for a more deliberate and Iowa-centric approach—one that engages state and federal partners, provides time to review any clinical studies and federal changes, and builds a framework for any future therapeutic access that is clear, safe, equitable, and medically sound.”

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A Rabbi, a Minister, a Monk, and a Priest Took Magic Mushrooms. Here’s What Happened

After scientists asked “psychedelic-naïve” professional religious leaders to take psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, most found the experience “religiously significant, meaningful, and generally beneficial.”

Historically, several world religions incorporate psychedelic compounds in their practices. However, this is the first study to examine what impact these experiences would have on the professional work of leaders from Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism, four of the world’s major religions.

Magic Mushrooms and Mystical Experiences

In their published study, the late Roland Griffiths, of Johns Hopkins University, and Stephen Ross and Anthony Bossis, from New York University Grossman School of Medicine, discuss the role of psychedelic compounds like LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and peyote in religious ceremonies. While uses of these substances vary among cultures and religions, the researchers note that they can induce experiences that share similarities to “non-pharmacologically triggered” experiences often described as “religious, spiritual, or mystical.”

“Mystical experiences are characterized by a range of subjective features including a sense of unity, “noetic” quality (e.g., an authoritative sense of truth), transcendence of time and space, a sense of awe or sacredness, intense positive mood, transiency that nevertheless feels timeless, presence in awareness of mutually exclusive states or concepts, and ineffability,” they explain.

The researchers note that such experiences are also sometimes observed in states of consciousness “associated with near-death experiences, meditation, prayer, fasting, breathwork, and music.” Although psychedelics continue to be used in some Indigenous religious contexts, the researchers note “they are generally not used within major world religions (e.g., Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam).”

Curious if these religious leaders would have similar experiences and how these experiences might affect their job performance, the team recruited volunteers from all four major religions. According to the results, the study participants experienced several impacts on their personal and professional lives, including “enduring increases in well-being and spirituality,” that lasted up to 16 months after taking magic mushrooms.

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Federal Judge Allows Lawsuit Seeking Home Psilocybin Care To Proceed, Rejecting Oregon Officials’ Motion To Dismiss

More people in Oregon could eventually access legal psilocybin following a new federal court ruling in favor of plaintiffs who argued that the state’s first-in-the nation psilocybin law wrongfully prevents homebound patients from seeking care.

Four care providers—three licensed psilocybin facilitators and a physician specializing in advanced and terminal illnesses—sued the state about year ago, alleging that the state Psilocybin Services Act (PSA) discriminates against disabled individuals who can’t travel to designated service centers where the substance is administered.

The providers said they were told by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) that there was no way to accommodate homebound patients under the state’s psilocybin law.

In an 12-page ruling issued late last month, District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai denied the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, opining that the plaintiffs have standing to bring the challenge and that a modification of the state’s psilocybin law to provide a reasonable accommodation to homebound patients under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) would not violate principles of federalism.

“The Court agrees with Plaintiffs and finds that their requested remedy rests on physical access rather than use or distribution of a controlled substance in violation of state and federal laws,” the ruling says. “Plaintiffs do not ask the Court to order the provision of a controlled substance, as Defendants contend. Instead…Plaintiffs seek compliance with the ADA so that their disabled clients will have the same physical access to a service that is available to nondisabled individuals.”

Reached by email on Tuesday, plaintiffs’ attorney Kathryn Tucker, said she was pleased the court ruled in favor of the providers seeking to offer home psilocybin services.

“We are eager to ensure that homebound disabled and dying Oregonians can access psilocybin services, as they are among those most likely to benefit,” she wrote. “Opening access for these Oregonians will increase demand for psilocybin produced pursuant to the PSA as well as demand for services of facilitators, particularly those with expertise in providing care to disabled persons and those with advanced illness.”

“We hope to move this forward quickly now that the court has rejected the State’s effort to dismiss, recognizing that the ADA does apply to Oregon’s psilocybin program,” she added. “Because people with advancing illness may have little time left, delay in enabling access can mean that patients who might have obtained relief from debilitating anxiety and depression will die in unrelieved suffering.”

Notably, the new opinion, noted earlier by Psychedelic Week, does not order a specific remedy. It simply allows the underlying suit, Cusker v. Oregon Health Authority, to proceed toward a final decision.

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Connecticut House Passes Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill To Remove Threat Of Jail For Possessing The Psychedelic

The Connecticut House of Representatives has approved a bill to decriminalize psilocybin for adults—despite lingering questions about whether the state’s Democratic governor would support it after he rejected an earlier version of the reform measure.

One month after the measure cleared the legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee, it cleared the full chamber in a 74-65 vote on Monday. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.

If enacted into law, the legislation would make possession of up to one-half an ounce of psilocybin punishable by a $150 fine, without the threat of jail time.

“Psilocybin is a product which has been shown to be an effective therapeutic for various mental illnesses, including treating PTSD, addictions, depressions and anxiety disorders,” Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D), co-chair of the Judiciary Committee, said on the floor. “It is a substance that our state currently treats as the equivalent of cocaine, heroin or any other sort of serious Schedule I drug that, if folks are caught with possession of even a tiny little bit, Mr. Speaker, even even personal use of psilocybin, they’d be essentially subject to a class A misdemeanor and up to a year in jail.”

“What this bill seeks to do is pretty simple. It doesn’t legalize the substance. I want to be really clear: This bill does not legalize psilocybin,” he said. “If you’re dealing psilocybin, if you’re driving under the influence of psilocybin, those penalties remain the same as they are under existing law. Driving under the influence of psilocybin, it’s driving under the influence. No change in this bill. Dealing psilocybin continues to be drug dealer offense. You can be prosecuted for drug dealing—that does not change.”

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Trump’s VA Secretary Touts Being ‘One Of The First’ In His Role To Support Psychedelic Medicine For Veterans

The head of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is touting the fact that he’s “one of the first” secretaries of the agency with a commitment to exploring psychedelics as a potential therapy option for veterans.

During a pair of hearings before the House Veterans’ Affairs and Appropriations Committees on Thursday, VA Secretary Doug Collins was asked about psychedelics issues by multiple GOP lawmakers, fielding questions about his intent to facilitate research in hopes of securing access for the veteran community.

At the Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI)—co-chair of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—asked whether Collins had “any visibility” about the status of VA-supported psychedelics studies.

“We’re getting there,” Collins said. “I’m also probably one of the first of the [VA] secretaries who’ve actually decided that we will take a look at it. We’re not simply putting it off, and we’re going to do everything we possibly can, under the rules given to us by Congress, to actually continue that look. What we’re seeing so far is positive.”

“What we’re seeing so far in some of the studies that are related to VA, and also outside of VA as well,” he said, “is that there has been—especially when it comes to [post-traumatic stress disorder], and also traumatic brain injury and others—we’re seeing some actual positive outcomes there, especially when it is coupled with intense counseling. And I think that’s the one of the keys that we look forward to.”

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New Hampshire Senators Approve Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill

A New Hampshire Senate panel has advanced a House-passed bill to decriminalize the use and possession of psilocybin by adults.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Verville (R), cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 vote on Tuesday. It previously passed the full House of Representatives in March.

Before approving the legislation, members of the Senate panel attached an amendment that would enact mandatory minimum sentences for certain fentanyl-related offenses and for distribution of drugs that result in a user’s death.

Sen. Tara Reardon (D) asked colleagues if the idea is that “we’re trading” the House-favored move to reduce psilocybin penalties in exchange “for enhanced penalties” on fentanyl that were contained in a separate bill that passed the Senate in January and has since remained pending before the House Judiciary Committee for months.

“One might say that, yes,” replied Chairman Bill Gannon (R).

Under the psychedelic-focused provisions of HB 528, a first psilocybin offense would be a violation, subject to a fine of $100 or less.

Second and third psilocybin offenses, meanwhile, would be class B misdemeanors, carrying fines of up to $500 and $1,000, respectively, but with no risk of jail time. Fourth and subsequent offenses would remain classified as felonies.

Sales and distribution of the substance would still be illegal, as the reform would apply only to “a person 18 years of age or older who obtains, purchases, transports, possesses, or uses psilocybin.”

As originally introduced, the legislation would have completely removed penalties around obtaining, purchasing, transporting, possessing or using psilocybin, effectively legalizing it on a noncommercial basis. However a House committee amended the bill before unanimously advancing it in March.

Verville previously told Marijuana Moment that the House’s passage of his psilocybin bill was “an historic, albeit small first step on our journey to correct 60 years of demonstrably failed policy on psychedelics.”

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Psilocybin use has surged in the United States since 2019

The use of psilocybin—the active compound in so-called “magic mushrooms”—has increased significantly in the United States since 2019, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Drawing on data from five national sources, researchers found sharp increases in both lifetime and recent use, especially among adults with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring hallucinogen found in certain species of mushrooms. It has attracted growing scientific and public attention due to promising early studies suggesting it may help treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. Although not currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, psilocybin has entered clinical trials and has been decriminalized or legalized in parts of Oregon, Colorado, and several municipalities. This shifting legal landscape has raised questions about whether broader public use is increasing—and what the public health consequences might be.

“With efforts to legalize psilocybin mushrooms in Colorado, Oregon, and elsewhere ongoing, we wanted to determine whether there were more people using psilocybin mushrooms now than when legalization first passed here in Denver in 2019,” said Joshua Black, the co-lead author and senior scientist at Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety, a division of Denver Health.

To investigate these trends, the researchers analyzed five major U.S. data sources to examine psilocybin use from 2014 to 2023: the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the Survey of Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs, Monitoring the Future, the National Poison Data System, and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. By comparing responses across these sources, the team aimed to track changes in who is using psilocybin, how often, and whether they’re showing up in healthcare settings as a result.

The researchers chose 2019 as a key benchmark, since that year marked the first legal policy changes regarding psilocybin in the United States. Until then, use patterns were relatively stable. But after 2019, things began to shift. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, lifetime use of psilocybin among adults rose from 10 percent (around 25 million people) in 2019 to 12.1 percent (over 31 million people) in 2023. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, lifetime use rose more modestly, from 1.1 percent to 1.3 percent.

The increases were even more dramatic when looking at recent use. Among adults aged 18 to 29, past-year use rose 44 percent from 2019 to 2023. Among adults 30 and older, it jumped 188 percent. By 2023, 2.1 percent of adults reported using psilocybin in the past year—more than the number who reported using cocaine, LSD, methamphetamine, or illegal opioids.

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Texas House Approves Bill To Study Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy And Make Recommendations For Legal Access

The Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill that would establish a state-backed study into the use of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine to treat conditions such as PTSD and depression.

Lawmakers voted 98–41 to pass HB 4014, from Rep. John Bucy III (D), on second reading. A third reading vote on final passage, expected soon, would send the measure to the Senate.

The proposal is designed to help prepare the state for what supporters see as the eventual federal approval of psychedelic-assisted therapy. In its current form, it would create a study program under the state Health and Human Services Commission, which would assess clinical trials and published literature into the efficacy of psychedelics—specifically MDMA, psilocybin and ketamine—as a treatment PTSD, depression and other mental health disorders.

Officials would also review U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actions around the therapies, evaluate treatment guidelines and make recommendations to eventually ensure legal access for Texas patients.

“This bill will prepare Texas for the safe and efficient integration of psychedelic therapies into its healthcare system,” Bucy said on the House floor, “ensuring that Texans struggling with PTSD, depression and other mental health conditions have safe, affordable access to innovative treatment upon FDA approval.”

By December 1, 2026, the commission would need to provide a report to state lawmakers with results of the study as well as “any recommendations for legislative or other action necessary to ensure patient access to psychedelic therapies for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other co-occurring conditions after those therapies are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.”

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