New bills in CT and VT, bills advance in AZ and MO, and a NV resolution; Oregon psilocybin center wins permit appeal; and A bad trip case study
Plus: Psychedelics advocates mount response to proposed amendments to Sentence Reform Act, and Hallucinogen hospitalizations and ER visits associated with higher mortality rates in Canada
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.
New bills in CT and VT, bills advance in AZ and MO, and a NV resolution
Last Friday, Vermont Representative Brian Cina (D) introduced H.452, a bill that would “decriminalize the possession, cultivation, and noncommercial personal use of psilocybin-containing mushrooms” and create a Psilocybin Therapeutic Consultation Program, which would develop a regulated psilocybin access program in the state.
Meanwhile in Connecticut legislators introduced House Bill 7065, which would change the penalties for possession of “small amounts” (less than half an ounce) of psilocybin from a class A misdemeanor to a fine between $150 and $500, without threat of jail time. (This “small amount” is still equivalent to several moderate psilocybin doses.) A similar bill was introduced in the Connecticut legislature last year and in 2023, but ultimately floundered. Additionally, even if HB 7065 passes, Governor Ned Lamont could move to veto it; during last year’s legislative session, a spokesperson for the governor told the Hartford Courant that “the governor has concerns about broad decriminalization of mushrooms.” The judiciary committee plans to hold a public hearing about the bill today.
On Tuesday, the Arizona Senate voted 23 to 4 to pass Senate Bill 1555, which would create an advisory board to publish a public report before July 2026 detailing the current research and legal landscape around psilocybin-assisted therapy. The bill now goes to the State House for a vote. Meanwhile, the Arizona House voted 36 to 22 to advance House Bill 2871, which would designate $10 million in state funds for ibogaine research. This week, Missouri’s House Veterans and Armed Forces Committee voted 20-0 to advance House Bill 829, which would allow veterans with PTSD or substance use disorders access to psilocybin.
The Nevada legislature introduced Senate Joint Resolution 10, urging the U.S. Congress to take action on a variety of psychedelics-related issues, including increasing federal funding and streamlining the process for approving and conducting psychedelics research; rescheduling psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine, mescaline, and MDMA, giving priority to the rescheduling of compounds that have received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA; and allowing patients to access psychedelics through Right to Try laws.
Oregon psilocybin center wins permit appeal
An Oregon appeals board has ruled in favor of a psilocybin service center whose land use permit was denied by Deschutes County. The center, Juniper Preserve Resort, applied for a permit in 2023, but the county’s Board of Commissioners rejected it in early 2024, saying that transporting psilocybin to the resort would require travel on federally managed Bureau of Land Management roads. Because psilocybin is federally illegal, the board argued, there was no way to legally transport the substance. Juniper appealed the decision at a public county hearing in July 2024, but the Board of Commissioners upheld its denial.
Juniper took its case to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, arguing that federal illegality is not a basis for denial of county code. “If it did constitute a denial basis then no one could locate a psilocybin service center anywhere in the county because possession of psilocybin on any land in the county is just as federally illegal as possession on federal land,” Juniper wrote. “The entire state-legal psilocybin services industry constitutes federally illegal activity.” The appeals board recently ruled in its favor, and ordered Deschutes County to approve the permit. The ruling sets a precedent for other cases, should city or county officials seek to prevent psilocybin businesses through similar arguments.
Since Oregon began its psilocybin services program in 2023, some counties and municipalities have voted to opt out of participation. In Deschutes County, the question of psilocybin services has been hotly debated; in summer 2022, months before Oregon Psilocybin Services began, county commissioners held public hearings about what additional rules to enact and whether the county should opt out entirely. Ultimately, the county did not vote to opt out, though the city of Redmond did vote in the November 2024 election to ban psilocybin services for another two years.
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A bad trip case study
Last Friday, researchers at Emory University published a case study in BMC Psychiatry about a clinical psychologist they refer to as Dr. A., who experienced prolonged adverse effects after taking psilocybin-containing mushrooms as part of a psychedelic therapy training program. The program is not named, but the report says it is run by a “very charismatic” husband-wife team at a retreat center in Costa Rica. After traveling there for a retreat in 2022, Dr. A decided to enroll in their training program, which consisted of six weekend sessions over six months.
Dr. A began feeling reluctant about taking psilocybin before her fourth session, but “described feeling pressured by both peer trainees and the leaders to proceed,” according to the report, and then had a disturbing trip. She was told by the retreat leaders that the negative experience was partly her fault but was part of the “healing process”; after that session, she experienced difficulty sleeping, problems concentrating, and anxiety. Her condition worsened after the 5th and 6th visits, but the leaders “advised her specifically to not seek psychiatric intervention or medication as it could impair the process of ‘rebirth’ following her ‘ego death’ and would prolong her symptoms.” She also unintentionally lost 25 pounds, and was told, “that’s part of the medicine perfecting you.”
Three months later, her sleep issues were worsening, and she was experiencing suicidal thoughts, so she finally sought inpatient care, and her symptoms ultimately subsided after a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The researchers say Dr. A’s case shows how prolonged adverse events can occur in well-resourced people with no history of psychiatric issues, and that set and setting — i.e., Dr. A’s growing anxiety — as well as the retreat leaders’ dismissiveness can contribute to negative experiences and compound harm. The authors conclude that ECT could be a useful treatment for these prolonged adverse effects, but they give Dr. A the last word: “Dr. A., upon reflecting on her experience, felt strongly that the current discourse on psychedelics so far had underemphasized the possibility of significant harms, which contributed to her decision-making and risk appraisal during her involvement with the Institute and its psychedelic training program.”
Psychedelics advocates mount response to proposed amendments to Sentence Reform Act
The U.S. Sentencing Commission was created in 1984 by the Sentencing Reform Act to unify federal sentencing guidelines. Currently, the agency is considering amendments to its drug sentencing guidelines, including changes to its Drug Quantity Table, which outlines recommending sentencing “offense levels” based on the amount of controlled substances involved in a conviction. (For instance, current policy classifies 900 or more grams of LSD as a level 38 offense, which could result in decades of incarceration, while 1-4 grams of LSD — still enough for thousands of doses — would be a level 24, or at least 4 years in prison for those with no criminal record.)
In public comment on the proposed changes, Sia Henry of The Hood Exchange, a non-profit that plans international travel for groups of formerly incarcerated Black people, recommends lowering base offense levels for psychedelics and marijuana. Henry is also MAPS’ Senior Policy Associate, and cites recent research from Lykos that demonstrates that MDMA shows promise in treating PTSD and from Johns Hopkins indicating that psilocybin can help treat major depressive disorder. The public comment period closed March 3. In a press release, MAPS circulated a template letter nearly identical to Henry’s and encouraged supporters to submit additional public comment, explaining that MAPS and a dozen other organizations petitioned the USSC last year to review the Drug Quantity Table.
Hallucinogen hospitalizations and ER visits associated with higher mortality rates
A study of 11 million Canadians finds that people who seek emergency care or hospital admission involving hallucinogens were more likely to die within the next five years compared to people who did not. (By the researchers’ definition, hallucinogens included psychedelics like MDMA, LSD, DMT, and psilocybin, as well as ketamine and PCP.) The new analysis, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, was prompted by rising hallucinogen use in North America, write the authors, all physicians affiliated with Canadian universities.
For their analysis, the researchers used data from people eligible for public health insurance in Ontario between 2006 and 2021, representing about 97% of the Canadian population. In that time frame, they found that around 8000 people had received “acute care” related to hallucinogenic drug use — either an emergency visit or hospital admission. Within five years of that acute care, around 6% of those people died, compared with just 0.6% of people in the general population, representing a 9.7-fold increase in risk of death. People who had received acute care for hallucinogens were also at higher risk of death compared to people receiving acute care for alcohol, stimulants, or opioids.
This data can’t tell us why people receiving acute care for hallucinogens have a higher risk of death, and the researchers write that there are many possible explanations. Among them are that unsupervised hallucinogen use could be associated with suicide risk or severe mental illness, or that there are other variables that just happen to correlate with both hallucinogen use and mortality. “These findings should be considered in clinical and policy decision-making, given the increasing use of hallucinogens and associated problematic use,” the authors write.
If you’re in Austin this weekend for SXSW, come say hello. I’ll be on a panel on Monday at 2:30p CT called “Behind the Scenes of the “Psychedelic Renaissance” with Psychedelic Alpha’s Josh Hardman, attorney Graham Pechenik, and The Atlantic’s Shayla Love. I’ll be writing about psychedelics at SXSW in an issue next week.
Michael Pollan chats with the one and only Oprah about the potential for psychedelic drugs to treat mental health disorders.
Texas Public Radio’s Psychedelics and the Texas Trip explores the rise of psychedelics in the longhorn state. In episode one, host Bonnie Petrie and reporter Robin Berghaus talk with the “unlikely” psychedelics allies in the state, from former Republican governor Rick Perry to military veterans like Marcus Capone. (Berghaus is a 2024 UC Berkeley-Ferriss fellow.)
Police in Manitou Springs, Colorado are warning the public about a magic mushroom company that claims to be located in Manitou Springs but appears to actually be based in Nairobi, Kenya, reports Colorado Public Radio.
A short documentary published by the LA Times follows two first responders seeking psychedelic therapy in Mexico. The film was directed by Misha Schwarz and Maarya Zafar and made at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Elon Musk has been enthusiastically vocal about his use of ketamine, but frequent, long-term dosing can result in “profound” impairments, Shayla Love writes in The Atlantic. In another link between Musk and ketamine, the Washington Post reported last month that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency staffer Alexandra Beynon was formerly the head of engineering of the at-home ketamine company Mindbloom. (Beynon’s husband, Dylan Beynon, founded the company.)
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