A bill to create a state working group to study the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin is advancing in the Hawaii Senate with the support of the governor’s office.
SB 1454, which was introduced at the end of January by Sen. Ron Kouchi (D), unanimously passed the Senate Health Committee on Monday.
If enacted, the legislation would direct a new therapeutic psilocybin working group to examine the “medicinal and therapeutic effects of psilocybin to treat conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and end-of-life psychological distress.”
Its members would also examine the effectiveness of such therapies in Oregon and Colorado, where medicinal psilocybin has been recently legalized, and develop a long-term plan to “ensure the safe availability and accessibility of affordable, therapeutic psilocybin and psilocybin-based products for adults twenty-one years of age or older.”
For Monday’s hearing, the committee received more that 100 pages of written testimony and heard from several speakers, including representatives of state agencies, veterans and drug policy advocacy groups and mental healthcare practitioners. People living with mental health disorders also shared their experiences with psychedelic-assisted therapies.
The overwhelming majority of those who testified expressed strong support for the creation of the working group and acknowledged
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