You are currently viewing Psychedelic Bulletin #129: New Year, New Psychedelic Bills; WHO Dubs 5-MeO-DMT ‘Mebufotenin’

Psychedelic Bulletin #129: New Year, New Psychedelic Bills; WHO Dubs 5-MeO-DMT ‘Mebufotenin’

This Week:

Our Year in Review series begins publishing next week, so we have our heads down. In the meantime, our Bulletins will be a little shorter than usual.

  • 🎇 New Year, New Psychedelic Policy Reform Bills
  • 🐸 WHO Dubs 5-MeO-DMT ‘Mebufotenin’

and more…

Psychedelic Sector News

New Year, New Psychedelic Policy Reform Bills

The new year has already brought a number of psychedelic drug policy reform bills, from Washington on the west coast and Illinois in the midwest to Virginia and Connecticut on the east coast.

Washington (SB 5263): The Washington Psilocybin Services Wellness and Opportunity Act. TL;DR: would create legal psilocybin services similar to those seen in Oregon, Colorado.

Illinois (HB 1): The Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens Act. TL;DR: would create legal psilocybin services, similar to those seen in Oregon, Colorado.

Further details via our Psychedelics Legalization and Decriminalization Tracker:

On January 12, 2023, Reps. La Shawn Ford (D) and Jehan Gordon-Booth (D) introduced HB0001, the Illinois CURE (Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens) Act. The Act would establish the Illinois Psilocybin Advisory Board within the Department of Public Health for the purpose of advising and making recommendations to the Department regarding the provision of psilocybin and psilocybin services. The Department would begin receiving applications for the licensing of persons to manufacture or test psilocybin products, operate service centers, or facilitate psilocybin services. The Act also provides for the expungement of records concerning the possession of psilocybin and psilocin, and amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act to remove psilocybin and psilocin from the list of Schedule I controlled substances. It was referred to the Rules Committee.

Virginia (HB 1513): TL;DR: would permit health care practitioners to prescribe psilocybin to treat refractory depression or PTSD or to ameliorate end-of-life anxiety.

Virginia (SB 932): TL;DR: would reclassify psilocybin to Schedule III, and establish a state psilocybin advisory board to develop a long-term strategic plan for establishing therapeutic access.

Further details via our Psychedelics Legalization and Decriminalization Tracker:

On January 11, 2023, Rep. Adams (D) introduced HB 1513, which would allow possession of psilocybin pursuant to a valid prescription by a health care practitioner in the course of professional practice for treatment of refractory depression or PTSD or to ameliorate end-of-life anxiety. The bill would prohibit prosecution of health care practitioners or pharmacists for dispensing or distributing psilocybin for such purposes. The bill would also make possession of psilocybin without a valid prescription a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by no longer than 30 days in jail and no more than a $500 fine. It was referred to the Committee for Courts of Justice.

Also on January 11, 2023, SB 932 was introduced by Sens. Hashmi and Boysko, and would establish a Virginia Psilocybin Advisory Board to “develop a long-term strategic plan for establishing therapeutic access to psilocybin services and monitor and study federal laws, regulations, and policies regarding psilocybin.” The Advisory Board would be constituted of 12 nonlegislative citizen members to be appointed by the Governor and would report annually to the Governor and General Assembly. The bill would also reclassify psilocybin under the state Drug Control Act from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance. It was referred to the Committee on Education and Health.

Connecticut (HB 5102): TL;DR: would allow the use of psilocybin for therapeutic/medicinal purposes.

Further details via our Psychedelics Legalization and Decriminalization Tracker:

On January 9, 2023, Rep. David Michel (D) and Sen. Gary Winfield (D) introduced HB 5102, which would “allow the use of psilocybin for medicinal and therapeutic purposes, including, but not limited to, the provision of physical, mental or behavioral health care.” The proposed bill merely provides that “the general statutes be amended to allow” such use. It was referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health.

WHO Dubs 5-MeO-DMT ‘Mebufotenin’

According to its International Nonproprietary Names for Pharmaceutical Substances (INN) list, the World Health Organisation has given 5-MeO-DMT the nonproprietary name “mebufoteninum”.

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Weekend Reading

Miscellany

A look at 2 of UWisc’s innovative psychedelic trials – UW’s Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances has a number of intriguing areas of study underway, with two psilocybin trials of particular interest.

ARK Invest offloads chunk of atai stock – Despite management’s efforts to assuage investors’ concerns (see CEO Florian Brand speak to Insider), even Cathie Wood’s ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG) has begun selling chunks of the stock. Since the 9th of January, the ETF has disposed of over one million shares in atai. Wood’s ETF bought into atai at an average price just shy of $5.

Prince Harry’s psychedelic trips – Mainstream coverage of psychedelics has been dominated by Prince Harry admitting his use of psychedelics. See coverage in The Times and NYT, for example.

Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute looks at The rebirth of psychedelic researchThis article speaks to a number of Stanford researchers, including Carolyn Rodriguez, Boris Heifets and Robert Malenka.

Psychedelic Research Bulletin: December 2022

Read the Latest Research Review. Last December, one large trial on psilocybin for depression was published. Unlike other trials, the dose was relatively modest, given once, and the results were impressive. Plus, we cover 29 more papers including one on ‘paradoxical wakefulness’ in rats given 5-MeO-DMT (well, mebufotenin…).

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