Another California Senate committee has approved a bipartisan bill to create a psilocybin pilot program for military veterans and first responders.
About a week after the measure unanimously cleared its first Senate panel, the Education Committee passed the measure from Sens. Josh Becker (D) and Brian Jones (R) in a 6-0 vote on Wednesday. The bill next heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“A few years ago, if you had told me I’d be involved in advocating for the use of psilocybin, you would have thought I was crazy—and I would have thought you were crazy for me thinking I was going to do it,” Jones said before the vote.
“But that’s because, like so many others, I was unaware of the untapped potential that these compounds hold to help our veterans and first responders struggling with trauma related mental health issues,” he said.
“Our veterans and first responders are asking for this treatment to be made available to them, and we owe it to them to at least give it a try in a controlled, limited way, utilizing qualified medical professionals and researchers at the world’s leading institutions of higher learning. California happens to be home to both, and we ought to take advantage of that fact by passing this bill.”
The proposal as amended last week by the Senate Health Committee would establish a pilot program that would be overseen by the University of California (UC) system, which would be requested to study and develop “psilocybin services” for eligible patients in up to five counties across the state in partnership with licensed clinics.
The universities would be responsible for “protocol design, institutional review board approvals, training of psilocybin facilitators, data collection, and reporting” of the pilot program.
Under the legislation, the state would also establish a “Veterans and First Responders Research Pilot Special Fund,” with continuous appropriations to fund the work.
“Emerging research suggests that psilocybin and psilocyn, when used in a controlled setting, may offer significant benefits in treating mental health disorders, particularly those related to trauma and stress,” the bill’s findings section says.
“Psilocybin should be available to veterans and former first responders in a manner that ensures safety, efficacy, and ethical standards, including use only under appropriate supervision,” it says.
The bill, SB 751, states that UC would be requested to “compile and submit the pilot program outcomes, data analysis, and recommendations from the university partners” into a report that would need to be submitted to the legislature by January 15, 2030.
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Moving psychedelics reform legislation through the California legislature has proved complex over recent years, with a mix of achievements and setbacks for advocates and stakeholders.
Last year, for example, a Senate committee effectively killed a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators.
The “Regulated Therapeutic Access to Psychedelics Act” was drafted in a way that was meant to be responsive to concerns voiced by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2023 when he vetoed a broader proposal that included provisions to legalize low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin.
Meanwhile, Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R), the lead on the Assembly side, sponsored a separate psychedelics bill last session focused on promoting research and creating a framework for the possibility of regulated therapeutic access that has moved through the Assembly last year with unanimous support.
Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert.
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