By The Missouri House of Representatives first approved a bill this week directing the state to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms. The measures are House Bill 1154 The bill, from Republican Rep. Dan Howe, received overwhelming support in the House on Wednesday after gaining approval from two House committees since it was introduced last month. It needs one more vote in the House before it can be taken and considered.
While speaking in support of the bill during Wednesday’s debate in the House of Representatives, State Representative Aaron McMullen, a veteran who served in the Afghan Combat Unit, said the veterans’ suicide rate was higher than the state’s suicide rate. He pointed out that it was almost double. Top class in the country.
“Substance abuse and suicide are escalating in the veterans community.” McAllen said, I am reading a letter from the Grunt Style Foundation, a non-profit organization that serves veterans. “Psilocybin is not a panacea for all problems, but it represents the first scientifically validated hope that this crisis must be addressed.”
$2 million research grant
If passed by Congress and signed into law, the bill would provide the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) with up to two million dollars to conduct psilocybin research by the end of the year, subject to a budget allocation by Congress. We request that you provide a dollar grant. As life care and as treatment for depression, substance abuse disorders, and other serious mental health conditions. State agencies collaborate with research conducted by Missouri universities or medical centers operated by the state’s U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
This study focuses on the medical use of psilocybin as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse disorders, or as a treatment for patients in end-of-life care. Earlier versions of the bill also included the psychedelic MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and ketamine, but those drugs were exempt from the commission’s action.
The bill received unanimous support from the House Veterans Affairs Committee at hearings held earlier this month. The chairman of the committee, Rep. Dave Griffiths, told his colleagues that the bill is out of his “comfort zone.” Missouri Independence, Nonetheless, it has won his favor.
“Five years ago, if I had chaired a committee and told you I was listening to a bill to talk about psychedelics for veterans, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy,'” Griffiths said. . He said at a committee hearing.
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote in the House of Representatives, Griffiths urges psychedelic policy reform skeptics to consider “extensive” research on the drug’s therapeutic potential from the Johns Hopkins Psychedelics and Consciousness Research Center. I encouraged you to
“I’ve been doing hours and hours of research from Johns Hopkins University,” he said. “The data from these studies that they have done is amazing.”
Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and others show that psilocybin can be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance abuse disorders. It shows that there is a possibility. Studies published in 2020 The peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was a fast-acting and effective treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorder.and another study Psilocybin treatment, published in 2016, was determined to significantly and sustainably reduce depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.
Federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, are now considering hallucinogens as a potential treatment for serious mental health conditions. FDA approval of psilocybin to treat depression is likely to occur within the next two years, said Madeleine Dean, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
As the country faces rising drug use rates and mental health challenges, “the potential for psychedelic supportive therapy needs to be explored to address this crisis,” said Deputy Undersecretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. Miriam E. Delphine-Littmon wrote to Dean.
Another Legalization Bill Pending in Missouri
a Extra charge A bill introduced in January by Republican Rep. Tony Lovasco would legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin for people with serious mental health conditions. Under the bill, patients will be able to use psilocybin to treat the mental health effects of severe depression, PTSD, or a terminally ill diagnosis. Psilocybin-assisted therapy, with regulatory approval, will be available to patients with other conditions for which conventional therapies have not been effective.
The bill does not legalize psilocybin, but it does provide an aggressive defense against criminal prosecution for patients possessing up to 4 grams of the drug for therapeutic purposes. This measure would provide similar protection to mental health professionals who are taking psilocybin for therapeutic purposes.
More than 1,000 people die by suicide in Missouri each year, a rate 25% higher than the national average. Suicide rates among veterans are also on the rise nationwide.
“Many of the people who have returned from war and are in dire need of care will not be alive in three years,” Rovasco said. missouri independence Earlier this year. “Around 20 veterans committing suicide per day? That’s a tremendous amount of loss while waiting for the government to do the paperwork.”
