Louisiana Senate Votes To Create Psychedelics Task Force Focused On Benefits For Military Veterans

The Louisiana Senate has passed a Republican-led resolution calling for the
establishment of a task force to study and make recommendations on the
potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics for military veterans.

Sen. Patrick McMath (R) filed the legislation on Tuesday, proposing the
creation of the Task Force on Alternative Therapies for Veterans, and the
Senate unanimously adopted it on Wednesday.

The measure calls for a nine-member panel to “study whether certain
psychedelic therapies may be beneficial to Louisiana veterans, and to
propose recommendations, together with specific proposals for legislation,
by written report to the legislature.”

The task force would be comprised of the chair of the Senate Committee on
Health and Welfare, the governor or designee, the secretaries of the state
Department of Health and Department of Veterans Affairs or designees, the
chancellors of two schools within Louisiana State University or designees,
the president of the Louisiana Hospital Association or a designee, a
physician and veteran.

“For our military veterans, many of the deepest wounds of war are
invisible,” the whereas section of the resolution says, and “our veterans
deserve every opportunity to try therapies that alleviate the functional
and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury.”

It says that there are “some psychedelic therapies which may be beneficial
to treating mental health,” citing psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine and ketamine
as examples.

The task force would be required to study clinical trials on psychedelics
for certain mental health conditions, current scientific literature on the
issue, actions by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related to
this research, treatment guidelines for psychedelic therapy and patient
access considerations, including “availability, affordability,
accessibility, training and licensure, and other regulatory requirements”

McMath said on the Senate floor on Wednesday that “all we’re doing here is
we’re creating a task force on alternative therapies for veterans.”

“This is something that’s been taking place in a number of other states,
and we’re going to study this over the next 12 months,” he said.

The resolution says “the task force shall terminate on the date of the
submission of its report or February 1, 2026.”

As a Senate resolution, the measure does not need to be approved by the
House of Representatives or the governor to be enacted.


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Meanwhile, a Louisiana bill that would have established a tax system to prepare
the eventual legalization of adult-use marijuana had an initial committee
hearing last month where members narrowly rejected the plan.

HB 636 was intended to work in tandem with a separate bill from Rep.
Candace Newell (D), HB 627, which would create a three-year pilot program
that is “designed to test and evaluate parameters of the implementation of
a permanent adult-use cannabis program,” according to a legislative
analysis.

The bill filings come nearly a year after the Republican governor of
Louisiana signed bills to decriminalize marijuana paraphernalia and enact
restrictions on the hemp market.

That came on the same day that Gov. Jeff Landry (R) vetoed a measure that
would have allowed him and future governors to issue pardons for people
with past cannabis convictions, he gave final approval to the paraphernalia
decriminalization proposal from Rep. Delisha Boyd (D).

As it stands in Louisiana, possession of up to 14 grams (or half an ounce)
of marijuana is decriminalized, punishable by a $100 fine without the
threat of jail time.

In 2022, former Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) also signed into law a measure
that was designed to streamline expungements for people with first-time
marijuana possession convictions.

Texas Republican Voters Oppose Hemp Ban Bill That’s Pending On Governor’s
Desk, Poll Shows

*Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.*

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On Benefits For Military Veterans appeared first on Marijuana Moment.