New Jersey Legislature Passes Bill To Create Psilocybin Therapy Pilot Program, Sending It To Governor

New Jersey lawmakers have passed a bill to create a psilocybin therapy
pilot program and allocate $6 million in funding to support the effort.

Following its advancement through several House and Senate committees, both
full chambers of the legislature approved the psychedelic measure on
Monday, sending it to Gov. Phil Murphy (D).

“Studies conducted by nationally and internationally recognized medical
institutions indicate that psilocybin has shown efficacy, tolerability, and
safety in the treatment of a variety of behavioral health conditions,” the
bill’s findings sections says, “including, but not limited to, substance
use disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, and end-of-life psychological
distress.”

The legislation, sponsored by Senate President Nick Scutari (D) and Sen.
Joseph Vitale (D), along with Assemblymembers Clinton Calabrese (D) and
Anthony S. Verrelli (D), would create an 11-member Psychedelic Therapy and
Research Advisory Board to oversee the new Psilocybin Behavioral Health
Services Pilot Program.

“I think it’s a real opportunity for New Jersey to lead an area of medicine
that is groundbreaking,” Scutari said, according to NorthJersey.com.

Within 180 days of enactment, the Department of Health would be required to
issue a request for proposals from hospitals that want to participate. One
hospital from each of three geographic regions of the state would then be
selected to receive $2 million to support psilocybin trials.

“Under no circumstance shall the department establish, implement, or
enforce a requirement, specification, or guideline under the pilot program
that conflicts with protocols and guidelines from the United States Food
and Drug Administration related to clinical trials for psychedelic
substances,” the bill, whose passage was noted earlier by Heady NJ, says.

After the two-year pilot program is completed, officials would submit
reports to the governor and legislature including “recommendations
concerning the continuation or expansion of the pilot program” as well as
“recommendations as to the development and implementation of a
comprehensive plan for State and local regulation of psilocybin to provide
access in New Jersey for individuals who could benefit and that considers
efficacy, safety, and affordability.”

While the legislation as introduced would have more broadly legalized
psilocybin for adult use, making it legal for adults to “possess, store,
use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver without consideration, or
distribute without consideration, four grams or less of” the psychedelic,
but it was scaled back during its advancement through the process.

The amended measure would nevertheless significantly expand on legislation
introduced in late 2020 to reduce penalties for possession of up to one
ounce of psilocybin. That reform was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in
2021.

Assemblywoman Lisa Swain (D), who chairs the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, described the current amended bill last month as a “first step.”

“I mean, you’ve heard the testimony here,” she said, referring to witnesses
who argued that broader reform is needed. “This bill creates an advisory
board that will be able to make determinations—for instance, whether it
should be natural mushrooms or synthetic mushrooms. So that option is still
on the table. It’s a pilot program and we want to get started to make sure
that, as you heard, people who really need to be treated” can get access.

A survey of New Jersey residents in 2024 indicated that a majority of state
residents agree with making psilocybin available for therapeutic use.

The poll, from Stockton University’s William J. Hughes Center for Public
Policy, found that 55 percent of respondents supported legalizing
psilocybin for medical use under a doctor’s supervision. Just 20 percent of
respondents were opposed, while 24 percent said they weren’t sure. One
percent of respondents refused to answer the question.


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In other New Jersey drug policy news, voters in November elected U.S. Rep.
Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) to serve as the state’s next governor, and there’s
now a decidedly clearer path to advancing a marijuana reform long awaited
by consumers and advocates in the Garden State: A home grow option.

Meanwhile, as New Jersey’s first marijuana consumption lounges opened up
over the summer, regulators shared information about where to find the
sites and offering tips about how to responsibly use cannabis at the
licensed businesses—including classic stoner cultural customs like “puff,
puff, pass.”

New Jersey officials have also completed the curriculum of a no-cost
marijuana training academy that’s meant to support entrepreneurs interested
in entering the cannabis industry.

Separately, last May Scutari filed a bill that would re-criminalize
purchasing marijuana from unlicensed sources—one of the latest attempts to
crack down on the illicit market and steer adults toward licensed retailers.

Seemingly contradicting that claim, dozens of New Jersey small marijuana
businesses and advocacy groups recently called on the legislature to allow
adults to cultivate their own cannabis.

The post New Jersey Legislature Passes Bill To Create Psilocybin Therapy
Pilot Program, Sending It To Governor appeared first on Marijuana Moment.