Virginia & Hawaii Move Psychedelic Decrim Bills Forward

The article Virginia & Hawaii Move Psychedelic Decrim Bills Forward was originally published on Microdose.

For more decrim and legalization news, check out 2023 Starts With Psychedelic Decrim Measures In Several States and Australia Legalizes Psychedelics: Are the US and Canada Next?

Virginia psychedelic bill passes the Senate 

The Virginia state senate has passed a bill that would reclassify psilocybin from a Schedule I to Schedule III. The bill would also create a “Virginia Psilocybin Advisory Board”, tasked with studying and preparing strategy to develop psilocybin as a therapeutic option. The law also passed the Education and Health Committee last week with overwhelming majority support.

The bill must now move on to the House for a vote. Note, the Virginia House has already rejected a measure to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use for people with serious conditions. So this bill is an attempt to narrow the focus and perhaps gain House support. 

Hawaii Senate Health Committee Approves Psilocybin Bill 

A new bill to create a working group to study the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin has passed the Senate Health Committee. 

SB 1454 was introduced by Sen. Ron Kouchi (D), and unanimously passed the Senate Health Committee this week. 

The legislation would order the creation of a therapeutic psilocybin working group to study the “medicinal and therapeutic effects of psilocybin to treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and end-of-life psychological distress.”

It would also review the implementation and effectiveness of therapies in Colorado and Oregon, and provide recommendations to “ensure the safe availability and accessibility of affordable, therapeutic psilocybin and psilocybin-based products for adults twenty-one years of age or older.”

Watch the hearing and testimonials here.

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