Lawmakers in Hawaii are continuing to advance a bill that would provide some legal protections to patients engaging in psilocybin-assisted therapy with a medical professional’s approval.
The measure, HB 2630 from Rep. Della Au Belatti (D), would not legalize psilocybin itself. Instead, it would create an affirmative legal defense for psilocybin use and possession in the case of doctor-approved use under the guidance of a trained facilitator.
Hawaii’s House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee on Wednesday voted 7–0 to advance the proposal, with one member who voted yes expressing reservations on the bill and five other members absent.
Two other House panels have previously signed off on the bill, which next proceeds to the House Finance Committee.
Amendments adopted before the latest committee vote made a handful of changes to the underlying measure. Among them, lawmakers added a definition for “primary caregiver” and specified that therapeutic psilocybin use must be recommended by a licensed medical professional rather than a licensed mental health professional, as an earlier version of the bill provided.
A primary caregiver would be defined as a person 18 or older other than the patient or their licensed medical professional “who has agreed to undertake responsibility for managing the well-being of
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