The Nevada Senate approved a bill to create a working group that will study psychedelics, and to develop a plan for regulated access to therapeutic purposes. It has been sent to the Assembly to be considered.
As originally introduced, the legislation would have legalized MDMA and encouraged research into the psychedelic , but it was drastically scaled down in the committee, before being passed on Monday by a vote of 16-4.
The revised measure of Sen. Rochelle (D) Nguyen focuses now on forming a Psychedelics Medicines Working group to examine the use entheogens in “medicinal, therapeutic and improved wellbeing.”
The sponsor acknowledged that the law was likely to be amended at an initial hearing of the committee in March. She stated that she would accept changes and that her primary goal was to start a discussion in the legislature on psychedelics.
Nguyen, who spoke on Monday in the Senate, said that “this working group will help us to gather information and knowledge to ensure we do what is best for Nevadans.”
She said, “This type of treatment has been successful for many people, including our veterans, first responders and people who have tried traditional medicine without success.”
The bill, as it is currently drafted would establish a 15 member working group under the Department of Health and Human Services of the state. This group will be tasked to study the science of psychedelics, “including but without limitation” psilocybin and psilocin, in the treatment of mental disorders such as PTSD and substance use disorder and for end-of-life care.
The group will also need to examine federal, state, and local laws that govern the therapeutic use of psychoactives, before developing an “actionable strategy on how to provide access to therapeutic compounds and entheogens…that are affordable, safe, and accessible.”
The report would have to be submitted to the legislator by December 31, 2024.
The members of the working group will include the Attorney General, Director of HHS, Director of Veterans Services, and President of the Nevada Board of Pharmacology or their designees. The majority and minority leader of each chamber would appoint four additional members. The governor will appoint seven more members that meet certain criteria.
The Governor would have to choose a veteran who has personal experience using psychedelics for treating post-traumatic disorder, as well as a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist with a background of substance abuse treatment, and a researcher registered with the federal government to study psychedelics.
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Nevada has joined a growing number of states that are reforming psychedelics this session, as the interest in entheogenic drugs’ therapeutic potential grows.
The governor of Minnesota , for example, recently signed a bill with provisions that create a task force to study psychedelics and prepare the state to legalize them.
The Senate passed a bill last week that would legalize possession of certain psychedelics as well as facilitate the use of these substances.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, signed last week a bill to create an administrative framework for legal psychedelics in accordance with a voter-approved measure.
A North Carolina House Committee approved a bill this month to create a grant program of $5 million to support research on the potential therapeutic benefits of psilocybin, MDMA. The board will oversee the project.
The governor of Washington State signed a bill to encourage research into psilocybin, and to create a pilot program to provide therapeutic access for mental health treatments to the psychedelic.
The Nevada legislature has also passed a resolution calling on Congress to legalize marijuana at the federal level.
The lawmakers also discussed a plan to raise the limit on cannabis possession in the state and to remove employment barriers for the marijuana industry.
Recently, Nevada’s law enforcement regulators also proposed that the state’s employment policies be revised so that prior convictions of marijuana possession for amounts now legal will no longer disqualify police recruits.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission voted separately to submit a proposed regulatory amendement to the Governor which would protect athletes against being penalized for using or possessing cannabis in compliance with state laws.
NSAC, the body that regulates unarmed combat in the state, voted to end penalizing professional fighters who test positive for marijuana by 2021. However, the policy is not yet incorporated into the code. The new amendment will change that.
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Photo by Dick Culbert.
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