A Washington State bill to promote research into psilocybin and create a pilot program to provide therapeutic access to the psychedelic for mental health treatment is heading to the governor’s desk following final approval in the Senate.
The chamber first passed the legislation from Sens. Jesse Salomon (D) and Liz Lovelett (D) last month, and the House advanced it with an amendment to form the pilot program last week. The Senate concurred with that change on Friday in a 40-4 vote.
Now the bill is on its way to Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who has previously expressed some openness to psychedelics reform.
“The amendments before us improve the bill,” Salomon told Senate colleagues prior to the vote on concurrence.
As introduced earlier this session, the measure would have more broadly legalized psilocybin, allowing people 21 and older to access the psychedelic under the care of licensed facilitators. But it was significantly watered down at the Senate committee stage to only provide for a task force and advisory group to study the reform. Those changes reportedly came after pushback from the governor’s office about the broad scope of the original bill.
Later, on the House side, Rep. Nicole Macri (D) modestly
Read full article on Marijuana Moment