Maryland Task Force Recommends Legalizing Natural Psychedelics

The Maryland Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic
Substances last week delivered a 373-page report to lawmakers that advises
a multi-phase approach to legalizing natural psychedelics, Maryland Matters
reports.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed the law creating the task force last year. The
19-person task force was charged with investigating a “safe, equitable, and
evidence-informed, statewide approach to natural psychedelic substances
such as psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and mescaline excluding
peyote.”

The report suggests that lawmakers first enact reforms for psilocybin — the
substance in psychedelic mushrooms — by having law enforcement deprioritize
personal possession and cultivation and by establishing an advisory board
to pursue therapeutic psilocybin protocols. The report also included
expungement policies among the task force’s initial recommendations.

The task force recommended that the state follow the establishing of
clinical access to psilocybin with the “full operation and expansion” of
the industry, including commercial sales. The report also suggested that
lawmakers weigh their experience with the psilocybin reforms described
above when considering reforms for other natural psychedelics.

Currently, only Oregon and Colorado have established therapeutic psilocybin
programs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave psilocybin a breakthrough
therapy designation in 2018 to expedite research on the drug after studies
found it had great potential against treatment-resistant depression.