Student presentation examines psychedelics reform and of psilocybin as a treatment for PTSD

One of many themes in my Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform class concerns how marijuana is (or is not) like other substances and how marijuana reform is (or is not) like other legal reforms.  Against that backdrop, it is especially exciting that the second student presentation slated for this week is focused on psychedelics.  Here is how my student describes her topics (along with background readings):

In 1970, President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) into law.  The CSA lists psilocybin (the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms) as a schedule 1 substance.  That is, according to the CSA, psilocybin is a drug with a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use. 

During a press conference in 1971, President Nixon declared drug abuse as “America’s public enemy number one.”  In this famous speech, President Nixon stated that although this so-called enemy had existed prior the war in Vietnam, it had been exacerbated by the fact that “a number of young Americans were becoming addicts as they served abroad” — effectively denoting drug abuse among veterans as an area of top concern for his administration. 

Today, veterans of the War on Terror are successfully advocating for the use of psilocybin as a treatment for PTSD.  Due in large part to the advocacy efforts of these veterans, California could become the next success story in the fight to decriminalize psilocybin.  On March 21, 2023, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed Senate Bill 58. The bill will now be sent to the Appropriations Committee.  If signed into law, Senate Bill 58 would decriminalize the possession and use of psilocybin (as well as other plant-based psychedelics) in California. 

Background Links: 

Lucid News, “California Bill to Decriminalize Some Psychedelics Advances Through the Legislature” (April 2023) 

California Legislative Information,“SB-58 Controlled substances: decriminalization of certain hallucinogenic substances” (Introduced December 2022, Amended March 2023) 

The New York Times, The Daily (podcast episode), “The Veterans Fighting to Legalize Psychedelics” (February 2023) 

Johns Hopkins Medicine, Newsroom, “Psychedelic Treatment with Psilocybin Relieves Major Depression, Study Shows” (November 2020)