Missouri Lawmakers Advance Bill to Conduct Medical Psilocybin Trials

The Missouri House Committee on Veterans and Armed Forces voted 20-0 to advance a bill to establish clinical trials testing the effectiveness of medical psilocybin for PTSD and other conditions, Marijuana Moment reports.

It’s the third year in a row that lawmakers are considering the medical psilocybin program, which supporters say would benefit veterans in particular. However, while the House approved one of the previous proposals, the Senate has never considered the reforms.

State Rep. Michael Johnson (D) — a veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm — spoke in favor of the reforms during a hearing last week.

“I wish this was available then or we knew more about it then because I’ve seen the ill effects that the war has caused on a lot of my fellow comrades. And some have even taken their lives because they didn’t have an opportunity to have something like this.” — Johnson, during a hearing on Monday, via the Missouri Independent

Participants in the psilocybin program would need to be at least 21 and have a diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, or substance use disorder, or require end-of-life care, according to the report. Only patients participating in the trial would be protected from potential drug possession charges. Patient approvals would last for one year, and participants would be allotted a maximum of 150 milligrams of psilocybin per year.

The bill also calls for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to spend $2 million researching the “use and efficacy of psilocybin,” the report said.