Tag: psilocybin

Indiana Lawmakers File Bills To Legalize Marijuana And Fund Psilocybin Research In 2025

Indiana lawmakers are already making moves to enact drug policy reform in the 2025 session—with newly filed bills to legalize marijuana, allow medical cannabis and fund psilocybin research.

While the prospects of the cannabis measures are unclear given the Republican-controlled legislature’s historic resistance to reform, the psychedelics legislation would simply provide the necessary funding for an already-enacted law promoting psilocybin research.

Senate Bill 113

Sen. Rodney Pol (D) has introduced legislation that would legalize marijuana for recreational and medical purposes in the state.

The bill would establish a regulatory framework and excise tax for cannabis, while creating an Indiana Cannabis Commission (ICC) and Advisory Committee to oversee the program.

It would also facilitate research into marijuana and provide for the expungement of criminal records for offenses made legal under the reform.

According to a fiscal note from the Legislative Services Agency (LSA), enacting the bill would generate “between $46.6 million and $92.6 million in FY 2026 and $50.8 million and $101.7 million in FY 2027 from Sales and Excise Taxes and permit fees.”

Despite the GOP-controlled legislature’s history on marijuana policy reform, some suspect the tides might change in 2025. Part of that enthusiasm comes from the fact that Gov.-elect Mike Braun (R) recently said that “it’s probably time” to allow access to therapeutic cannabis.

However—despite a recent survey showing nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults support legalizing medical marijuana—Republican leaders in the legislature are pushing back on the idea.

“It’s no secret that I am not for this,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said last month. “I don’t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases as to why it’s so beneficial. And any state that I’ve seen pass medical marijuana is essentially passing recreational marijuana.”

House Speaker Todd Huston (R), meanwhile, doubted any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance “a deterrent to mental health.” He and others suggested that lawmakers supportive of the reform merely want to boost state revenue.

Meanwhile in Indiana, an organization led by the former head of the state’s Republican Party is pushing lawmakers to adopt what it’s calling “safe and regulated” policies on marijuana.

An interim study group had heard testimony around the possibility of decriminalizing simple cannabis possession last November, but the group did not make any specific recommendations.

House Bill 1332

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Blake Johnson (D), would also establish a regulatory framework for adult-use marijuana, with a Cannabis Commission charged with overseeing the program.

Marijuana would be subject to a 10 percent excise tax, in addition to the state’s 7 percent sales tax.

“Revenue to the state General Fund is estimated to increase between $41.9 M and $82.1 M per year from Sales Taxes” on marijuana, according to a fiscal note. “Also, the bill establishes the nonreverting Cannabis Regulation Fund which could receive between $60.4 M and $118.5 M per year from the Cannabis Excise Tax and permit fee revenue.”

It would also impose new penalties for mislabeling hemp products and selling or transporting cannabis to minors.

House Bill 1145

Under a newly filed bill from Rep. Heath VanNatter (R), it would no longer be a crime to possess up to two ounces of cannabis or grow plants with more than two ounces.

The proposal would also increase the felony threshold for possession, raising it from 30 grams to four ounces.

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New York Bill Would Legalize Psychedelics Like Psilocybin, Mescaline And Ibogaine

Another psychedelics bill has been prefiled in New York for the 2025 session—this one calling for the legalization of certain entheogenic substances such as psilocybin and ibogaine for adults 21 and older.

Sponsored by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D), along with eight cosponsors, the legislation would amend state statute to make legal the “possession, use, cultivation, production, creation, analysis, gifting, exchange, or sharing by or between natural persons of twenty-one years of age or older of a natural plant or fungus-based hallucinogen.”

DMT, ibogaine, mescaline, psilocybin and psilocyn would fall under the definition of “natural plant or fungus-based hallucinogens” that would be legalized by the bill.

Further, the legislation would authorize people to engage in psychedelic services “with or without remuneration,” as well as use the entheogens in religious ceremonies.

State and local law enforcement would be prohibited from cooperating or providing assistance to the federal government for the purpose of enforcing controlled substances laws against activities made legal under the state law.

The measure goes on to outline a series of protections: People couldn’t lose professional licenses, public assistance or be denied mental health or behavioral health services simply for using psychedelics. And their lawful use also couldn’t be the sole basis for a child welfare investigation.

New York localities wouldn’t be allowed to enact laws criminalizing psychedelics, but they could “adopt and implement legislation and policies which bear directly on or are related to natural plant or fungus-based hallucinogens in furtherance” of the bill.

Finally, the proposal would remove psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine from the state’s banned substances list.

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Psilocybin therapy offers relief from multiple psychiatric symptoms in cancer patients

New research published in Nature Mental Health indicates that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may offer comprehensive mental health benefits for individuals experiencing cancer-related distress. The study found that this treatment not only reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression but also reduced interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, obsession-compulsion, and somatization. These findings suggest that psilocybin could provide an innovative approach to addressing the profound psychological challenges associated with cancer.

Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is a relatively new approach that combines the administration of psilocybin, a psychedelic compound derived from certain mushrooms, with guided psychotherapy. Unlike traditional psychiatric medications, which are often taken daily and may take weeks to show effects, research suggests that psilocybin can produce rapid and lasting relief after just one or two carefully supervised sessions.

These sessions typically include preparation with a trained therapist, the psilocybin experience itself in a safe and supportive setting, and follow-up therapy to help process and integrate the experience. This method has shown promise in treating mood and anxiety disorders, particularly for patients facing existential challenges such as life-threatening illnesses.

For cancer patients, the psychological toll can be overwhelming, often manifesting as depression, anxiety, and emotional distress that significantly affect quality of life and clinical outcomes. Standard treatments, including therapy and antidepressant medications, frequently fall short in effectiveness and may be accompanied by delayed onset or undesirable side effects. Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy offers a potential alternative, with rapid and sustained benefits.

While prior research has demonstrated psilocybin’s ability to reduce anxiety and depression in cancer patients, many individuals with cancer experience additional mental health symptoms, such as interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, somatization, and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. These symptoms exacerbate the emotional burden of cancer, yet their response to psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy had not been systematically investigated.

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Millions Of Americans With Depression Could Be Eligible For Psilocybin Therapy If Approved By FDA, Study Shows

As many as 6 in 10 people currently receiving treatment for depression in the U.S. could qualify for psilocybin-assisted therapy if the treatment were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That’s according to a recent study in the journal Psychedelics that highlights the broad impact that could result from wider clinical availability of the entheogen.

“Our findings suggest that if the FDA gives the green light, psilocybin-assisted therapy has the potential to help millions of Americans who suffer from depression,” Syed Fayzan Rab, an MD candidate at Emory University, and the study’s lead author, said in statement about the report. “This underscores the importance of understanding the practical realities of rolling out this novel treatment on a large scale.”

The study, authored by a three-person team from Emory, the University of Wisconsin and UC Berkeley and published last month, sought to estimate the upper, midrange and lower boundaries of current depression patients—including both major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD)—who would likely be eligible for the psychedelic treatment. Its low-end figure is 24 percent, the midrange estimate is 56 percent and the upper boundary is 62 percent of current patients.

Overall, the report gives a range of estimates on the number of depression patients who’d qualify for psilocybin therapy, with between 4.7 million and 6.6 million MDD patients and between 1.4 million and 1.9 million TRD patients potentially eligible.

“These ranges highlight the potential variability in our estimates based on changes in the assumptions underlying comorbidity prevalence, emphasizing both the robustness and the uncertainty inherent in our projections,” the paper says.

Behind the wide range of estimates are open questions about who would be eligible for psilocybin-assisted therapy (PSIL-AT). For example, authors said the variance was “largely influenced by the removal of alcohol and substance use disorders as exclusion criteria” as well as analysis of other comorbidities that may or may not affect patient eligibility.

Other issues involve the degree to which healthcare providers would dispense psilocybin for off-label use (meaning for conditions other than depression), whether treatment is covered by insurance and whether other psychedelics—for example LSD—become available as alternatives to psilocybin.

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Psilocybin May Curb Mental Illness That Leads to Eating Disorders

Psilocybin could help people suffering from a mental health problem that can lead to eating disorders, a new study suggests.

Psilocybin, the active chemical in “magic” mushrooms, significantly reduced symptoms in people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), researchers reported Sept. 24 in the journal Psychedelics.

BDD causes an obsessive preoccupation with perceived flaws in one’s physical appearance, and is frequently tied to eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors, researchers said.

For this pilot trial, eight people with hard-to-treat BDD received a single 25-milligram dose of psilocybin.

Brain scans showed that the psilocybin treatment increased levels in connectivity between different brain regions related to emotional processing, cognitive activity and feelings and thoughts about oneself.

People who had the greatest strengthening in these connections experienced the most improvement in their BDD symptoms within a week, results show.

The findings “align with a growing body of evidence indicating that psychedelic compounds like psilocybin can promote mental health by enhancing the brain’s capacity for flexibility and integration,” concluded the research team led by Chen Zhang, a research assistant with the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

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Psychedelic mushrooms may have played a role in development of human consciousness, study finds

Psychedelic fungi containing psilocybin may have played a role in the development of human consciousness a scientific review has suggested.

The study, published in the journal LILLOA, analysed multiple studies involving psilocybin, psilocin and human consciousness. Taking a multidisciplinary approach spanning studies from the fields of biology, ethnobotany, and neuroscience researchers found that psychedelic mushrooms, specifically the Psilocybe genus of the Hymenogastraceae family, had the “potential to trigger significant neurological and psychological effects” in humans.

The findings support the Stoned Ape Theory, a hypothesis proposed by ethnobotanist Terence McKenna in his 1992 book Food of the Gods. McKenna suggested that psychedelic mushrooms were the major evolutionary catalyst behind the rapid expansion of human consciousness.

“At the cerebral level, psilocybin affects various areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the anterior cingulate cortex,” the study authors wrote. “The hypothesis that psilocybin mushrooms may have intervened as a factor in the evolution of human consciousness, either as catalysts for mystical experiences or as drivers of cognitive processes, raises profound reflections on the ancestral interaction between humans and their environment.”

The paper highlights how numerous ancient cultures across the world discovered and studied psilocybin-containing mushrooms, citing a prehistoric cave drawing of a shaman figure clutching mushrooms found in the Tassili caves in the Altas Mountains. This suggests, the authors said, that psychedelic mushrooms have played an important part in the evolutionary process of humans.

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Your brain on shrooms — how psilocybin resets neural networks

Taking psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms, temporarily resets entire networks of neurons in the brain that are responsible for controlling a person’s sense of time and self, finds a study that repeatedly imaged the brains of seven volunteers before, during and after they took a massive dose of the drug.

The findings, published in Nature on 17 July1, could offer insights into why the compound might have a therapeutic effect on some neurological conditions.

Researchers “saw such massive changes induced by psilocybin” that some study participants’ brain-network patterns resembled those of a different person entirely, says Shan Siddiqi, a psychiatric neuroscientist at Harvard School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. “I’ve never seen an effect this strong.”

Most of these changes lasted for a few hours, but one key link between different parts of the brain remained disrupted for weeks.

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Psychedelic Mushrooms May Have Contributed To Early Development Of Human Consciousness, Study Concludes

A new paper exploring the role of psilocybin mushrooms in the evolution of human consciousness says the psychedelic has the “potential to trigger significant neurological and psychological effects” that could have influenced the development of our species over time.

The literature review, which authors said draws on “a multidisciplinary approach spanning biology, ethnobotany and neuroscience,” examined studies involving psilocybin and human consciousness published in multiple journals in different fields. Their 12-page report highlights views that mushrooms played a crucial role in getting humans to where we are today.

“The hypothesis that psilocybin mushrooms may have intervened as a factor in the evolution of human consciousness, either as catalysts of mystical experiences or as drivers of cognitive processes, raises profound reflections on the ancestral interaction between human beings and their environment,” the authors wrote, according to a translation from the original Spanish. “The origin of human consciousness is one of the great questions facing man, and the material collected indicates that psilocybin may have contributed to its early development.”

As humans’ ancestors moved from forested environments into grasslands, they encountered more hoofed animals—and their excrement. In that excrement, they likely found mushrooms, including psilocybin mushrooms, says the study, citing researchers such as Terrence McKenna, who explored the so-called “stoned ape” theory that psychedelics helped spur human development.

Consuming mushrooms may have subsequently influenced pre-human hominids’ brains in all sorts of ways, authors wrote, such as improving hunting and food-gathering as well as increasing sexual stimulation and mating opportunities.

Changes like those, combined with the effects of psilocybin on human consciousness and brain function, could have expanded the human mind, “allowing us to transcend our basic perception and embrace creativity, introspection and abstract thinking” and potentially influencing language development, the study, published last month by the Miguel Lillo Foundation, a research organization in Argentina, says.

“Considering the importance of psilocybin mushrooms in the interaction with human consciousness, it is crucial to explore both their brain and evolutionary implications,” the authors—Jehoshua Macedo-Bedoya of the University Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, in Lima, Peru, and Fatima Calvo-Bellido of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru—concluded.

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