Hawaii senators have taken another step to advance a bill that would create a psychedelics task force responsible for studying and making policy recommendations on providing access to breakthrough therapies such as psilocybin and MDMA.
About a week after the Senate Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approved the legislation from Sen. Chris Lee (D), members of the Ways & Means Committee followed suit on Tuesday, voting 12-0 to send the measure to the floor.
The measure would create a Mental Health Emerging Therapies Task Force that’d be tasked with spending two years reviewing the current scientific literature, supporting additional clinical research and “developing policy recommendations for safe, ethical, and culturally-informed implementation” of a psychedelics therapy program.
“The legislature finds that addressing the mental health crisis affecting the residents of the State, particularly among veterans, first responders, and trauma survivors, is urgent,” the bill, SB 3199, states. “Suicide continues to be a leading cause of preventable death, and the State must explore all safe and effective treatment options supported by scientific evidence.”
Noting that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already designated psilocybin and MDMA as breakthrough therapies in the treatment of serious mental health conditions, which could
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