Federal agencies settle with ayahuasca church; U.S. reps urge VA to prepare for MDMA approval; CO bill could hamper psychedelics discussion on social media
Plus: Draft rules released for Colorado psilocybin program, and California and Missouri bills advance
Happy Friday and welcome back to The Microdose, an independent journalism newsletter brought to you by the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Federal agencies settle with ayahuasca church
On Monday, the Phoenix-based Church of the Eagle and the Condor (CEC) announced it had reached a settlement in a lawsuit it brought against multiple federal agencies. The settlement will allow the church to continue using ayahuasca as its sacrament. In 2022, the church sued the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for seizing and destroying its ayahuasca. Over the last few months, the parties in the suit have negotiated a seventeen-page final settlement which lays out the conditions under which the church is permitted “to import, receive, manufacture, distribute, transport, securely store, and dispose of ayahuasca solely for CEC’s religious purposes.”
In its press release, the church writes that they are “the first non-Christian church to receive protection for its spiritual practices regarding ayahuasca,” and that the settlement “has positive implications and paves the way for other Indigenous-based and syncretic religions.”
Members of Congress urge Department of Veterans Affairs to prepare for MDMA approval
On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of nine U.S. representatives sent an open letter to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, asking the agency to release a report by July 1 detailing its plan for providing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to veterans should the drug receive approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of PTSD later this year, as many predict it will.
“We’re concerned that if VA is not prepared to implement emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies when they become available, veterans will be left to navigate providers outside VA who may not have the specialized expertise in addressing their unique needs and the relevant military context of their trauma,” the legislators wrote. In addition, they requested the VA be specific in their implementation plan by including the geographic locations where MDMA-assisted therapy would be available, plans and timelines for training staff, and how the agency would track outcomes and costs.
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Colorado bill could hamper psychedelics discussion on social media
Last week, Colorado senators voted 30-1 to pass Senate Bill 24-158, which would require social media platforms to update their policies and practices regarding personal data, parental tools, and content related to illicit substances, sex trafficking, and firearm sales. While the bill is intended to protect juveniles using these social media platforms, psychedelics advocates have raised concerns that the bill could impede people’s ability to discuss psychedelics on social media.
On LinkedIn, policy consultant Kevin Matthews wrote that the bill, if passed, would require social media platforms “to ban users who post any content related to psychedelics and Schedule I-V compounds, including educational and harm reduction information, unless they are licensed by Colorado regulators.” Matthews has drafted an open letter to the Colorado senators who sponsored the bill, asking them to remove any requirements that social media platforms monitor or remove mention of “illicit substances.”
Draft rules released for Colorado psilocybin program
Last Friday, Colorado regulators released draft rules on care and practice standards for the state’s Natural Medicine Services, which will oversee Colorado’s psilocybin program. The 19 page document outlines a broad range of requirements for facilitators, including obtaining informed consent, screening participants before a psilocybin session, and best practices for integration sessions and terminating services with a client. The draft rules delve into hot-button issues for facilitators, such as whether or not facilitators should be allowed to touch clients. If the rules are adopted, participants would need to consent to receiving “supportive touch” before a session, which is specifically defined as “placing of hands on a participant’s hands, feet, or shoulders.” Other types of touch are prohibited under the draft rules.
The Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit that supports state-regulated access to psychedelics, submitted a document with written feedback on the draft rules to Colorado regulators. Several of the comments in the document requested that regulators consider allowing virtual preparation and integration sessions to allow out-of-state clients to have more flexibility, and some advocated for removing a clause that prohibits facilitators from providing services to a participant with whom they have a close relationship, calling it an equity issue for people from BIPOC or LGBTQ+ communities for whom familarity and trust might foster a more positive session.
The State of Psychedelics: California and Missouri bills advance
California’s psychedelics service center bill, Senate Bill 1012, is moving quickly through the State Senate. Last week, we reported that the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee advanced the bill to the Senate Public Safety Committee, which voted 3-2 on Tuesday to advance the bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee. If that committee votes to approve the bill, it will likely head back to the senate floor for a second reading and vote. If passed, SB 1012 would create a state-regulated program to oversee therapeutic uses of psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and mescaline (excluding peyote).
Last week, legislators in Missouri’s House Regulatory Oversight Committee voted 6-3 to advance House Bill 1830, which would allow facilitators to provide psilocybin to veterans over 21 to treat PTSD, substance use disorder, and major depressive disorder. State legislators are also considering HB 2010, an appropriations bill that includes a proposal to use $10 million of the state’s opioid settlement funds to study the use of psilocybin in treating opioid use disorder.
So far, states’ psychedelics legislation has mostly focused on creating regulated access programs, or removing or decreasing penalties for possession or use. In an essay for the University of Pennsylvania’s The Regulatory Review, attorney Victoria Litman argues that states should also consider introducing regulated psychedelic dispensaries as a way for consumers to access a safe supply of psychedelics and to reduce the threat of abusive facilitators.
On MAPS’s website, psychopharmacologist Kelan Thomas published a guide to creating a psilocybin session playlist.
The Wall Street Journal reports on the companies that are paying for their employees to take psychedelics as a health benefit and whether that practice might become more widespread in coming years.
“The rise of ketamine bro culture not only trivializes the incredible therapeutic potential of psychedelics, it also could lead to a public backlash that jeopardizes the medical community’s freedom to further explore the lifesaving potential of these drugs,” writes Beckley Retreats board member Sylvia Benito in a USA Today op-ed.
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