Connecticut’s governor has signed a bill to expand a pilot program that’s meant to explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA.
The legislation sponsored by the Joint Committee on Public Health cleared the House of Representatives in 122-27 vote last month after passing the Senate by a unanimous 35-0 vote in April.
Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed it into law on Thursday.
The new law builds upon an existing psychedelic-assisted therapy program involving military veterans and first responders who elect to participate in clinical trials.
It also repeals and replaces the current statute to make it so any adults 18 or older who meet clinical eligibility criteria established by the institutional review board of the medical school selected to administer the pilot program could be eligible to receive psychedelics treatment in a clinical setting, with researchers tasked with studying the efficacy of the novel therapeutics.
It additionally removes existing language stipulating that the pilot program must end upon federal approval of psilocybin or MDMA by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or a successor agency.
Finally, it strikes outdated language requiring the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to create and facilitate the program by January 2023.
Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey (D) said ahead of the House vote that the legislation is “critically important,” citing recent moves by federal officials to expedite research on and therapeutic access to psychedelics after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the issue in April.
“If the fast track is successful and these drugs are approved, our study will end, making us effectively unable both to continue the study and losing the benefit of the investment we’ve already made as a state—but in addition making us ineligible for those federal matching funds,” she said on the floor ahead of the most recent vote.
Under the Connecticut bill, SB 191, the officials would be mandated to “establish, within available appropriations, a psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program, to be administered by a medical school in the state.” That program “shall provide qualified patients with MDMA-assisted or psilocybin-assisted therapy as part of a research program approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration,” or FDA, it says.
Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria (R) also spoke in support of the legislation, saying “this expanded access is for innovative research. It’s evidence-based research. Mental health and the treatment is critical for the state of Connecticut.”
“Expanding it to anybody 18 and older is truly going to help us continue with this pilot program,” she said.
To that point, McCarthy Vahey said that under the current structure’s restrictions there has been difficulty recruiting enough participants.
“The current pilot is narrowly focused and tailored. And in fact, it will remain the priority to have veterans, first responders and our direct health care workers be the focus of the study,” she said. “But we are being told that some of the folks are having a little difficulty with recruiting. The goal is to get to a cohort of 50, and so this will give them a little bit of leeway to do so.”
Rep. Dave Yaccarino (R) noted that he voted against the original psychedelics program legislation a few years ago but said he has since learned about studies showing benefits for “men and women that come in from combat, our firefighters, our police that see tragic events.”
“If this helps, and it’s controlled, I think you have to support it,” he said.
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Meanwhile, last year, the Connecticut House of Representatives approved a bill to decriminalize psilocybin for adults—despite questions about whether the governor would support it after he rejected an earlier version of the reform measure.
That marked the third session in a row that Connecticut lawmakers worked to advance psilocybin decriminalization. In 2023, the reform measure cleared the House but did not move through the Senate. The Judiciary Committee also approved a version in 2024.
Lamont also signed a large-scale budget bill in 2022 that included provisions to set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment using substances like MDMA and psilocybin.
Lawmakers also sent the governor legislation this session to address cannabis product THC potency limits.
Separately, legislation to allow medical marijuana use by certain qualifying patients at health facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and hospices received a committee hearing but did not advance.
Photo courtesy of Mark Groeneveld.
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