Oregon Psilocybin Panel Teams Up With Harvard To Research Psychedelic History And Impacts Of Reform – Marijuana Moment

An Oregon state panel charged with advising on the implementation of a legal psilocybin therapy program has cleared a team of researchers to produce a comprehensive report on the science, history and culture of the psychedelic as regulators prepare to license facilities to administer it.

Members of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board released an initial report in July that reviewed hundreds of studies into psilocybin, as required under the states historic, voter-approved 2020 medical legalization initiative. But they were pressed for time and will now be working with a recently established psychedelic research center at Harvard Law School to more thoroughly cover the subject.

Part of the intent of the new expanded research project is to help inform legislative efforts outside of Oregon where psychedelics reform is being considered.

Given increasing interest in psychedelics legislation, Oregon will likely be the first of several states to contemplate regulating psilocybin services, Mason Marks, who serves on theOregon advisory board for psilocybin, told Marijuana Moment.

To the extent that the [Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications]Report can help inform their decision making, it should be made available for that purpose, Marks, who is also the director of Harvardsfirst-of-its-kind psychedelics policy center, said. Hopefully, it can provide a bit of a roadmap for fruitful collaboration between states and the federal government.

The initial report that Oregons review panel submitted did conclude that psilocybin holds significant medical value for a number of mental health conditions. The substance is shown to be efficacious in reducing depression and anxiety, including in life-threatening conditions, members found.

But this forthcoming second reviewwhich the board approved late last month and will take up to six months to completewill cover much more ground. For example, experts will look at how psilocybin prohibition has affected marginalized communities and how Oregons reform law could impact those individuals.

Any recommendations included in the report will still need approval by the full board before being submitted to regulators at the Oregon Health Authority for consideration.

Potential sources of data include historical information on the Indigenous use of psilocybin, anthropology literature, religious scholarship, bioethics literature, medical and psychological literature from the mid-twentieth century, narrative descriptions of psilocybin use, public health data, legislative materials, and legal scholarship, a research proposal states. The project will review and analyze existing research only.

Marks told Marijuana Moment that its important to include the views and practices of Indigenous communities because their technologies are the foundation of the psychedelics industry.

Some cultures have used psychedelics including psilocybin for hundreds or thousands of years. In many respects, they are the authorities in this space, and we should acknowledge and respect their expertise, he said. There is often a tendency to take from marginalized communities or adopt policies without concern for how they are affected.

Marginalized communities should also be included because the U.S. war on drugs has had a devastating impact on them. Decades of punitive drug enforcement policies have disproportionately impacted communities of color, torn families apart, and destroyed many lives through violence and incarceration. Meanwhile, prohibition has deprived people with mental health conditions, another marginalized community, of the potential benefits of psilocybin. Its status as a Schedule I controlled substances inhibited research for half a century.

Other topics that the report will cover include how psilocybin affects communities, how cultural attitudes toward the psychedelic have changed over time, what community-based rituals have been established around psilocybin, how the entheogen could impact addiction and overdose rates and how other jurisdictions have reformed laws governing psilocybin.

The ELSI Report picks up where the Rapid Evidence Review left off. Without the time constraints of the first report, it can take a broader, more inclusive approach, Marks said. Some sources of particular importance may include academic literature from the fields of anthropology, law, public health, psychology, religion, and sociology.

Oregon Gov. Kate Browns (D) office announced the appointment of17 members of the psilocybin advisory boardin March. The panel is meant to help facilitate the implementation of the historic reform initiative.

The developments in Oregon come as lawmakers and advocates across the U.S. continue to pursue psychedelics reform.

Michigan senators on Thursday introduced a bill to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of an array of plant- and fungus-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan City Councilapproved entheogenic decriminalization last yearand in July, local lawmakers passed a resolution to officially designate September asEntheogenic Plants and Fungi Awareness Month.

Efforts are also underway in Grand Rapids to enact a policy change for the psychedelic substances.

A California senator advanced a bill to legalize the possession of psychedelics through the Senate and two Assembly committees, buthe recently put the effort on pauseuntil next year to generate additional buy-in.

Activists in California are also hoping to place an initiative before voters in 2022 tolegalize the possession and sale of psilocybin. Anda legislative analysis of the proposal that was released last week found that it would reduce costs associated with enforcing laws against the substance.

OaklandandSanta Cruzhave already enacted psychedelics decriminalization.

Meanwhile, Denver activists who successfully led a 2019 campaign to make the citythe first in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin possessionhave their eyes set on broader reform, with plans in the works to end the criminalization of noncommercial gifting and communal use of the psychedelic.

Massachusetts cities that have enacted the policy change are:Northampton,SomervilleandCambridge. In July, state lawmakers heard testimony about a bill to create a task force charged withstudying the implications of legalizing psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca.

The governor of Connecticut recently signed legislation recently that includes language requiring the state to carry outa study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.

Texas also recently enacted a bill to require the statestudy the medical benefits of psychedelics for military veterans.

A New York lawmaker introduced a bill in June that would require the state to establish an institute to similarlyresearch the medical value of psychedelics.

In Oakland, the first city where a city council voted to broadly deprioritize criminalization of entheogenic substances, lawmakersapproved a follow-up resolutionin December that calls for the policy change to be adopted statewide and for local jurisdictions to be allowed to permit healing ceremonies where people could use psychedelics.

After Ann Arbor legislators passed a decriminalization resolution last year, a county prosecutor announcedthat his office will not be pursuing chargesover possessing entheogenic plants and fungiregardless of the amount at issue.

The Aspen, Colorado City Councildiscussed the therapeutic potential of psychedelicslike psilocybin and proposals to decriminalize such substances at a meeting in May. But members said, as it stands, enacting a reform would be more better handled at the state level while entheogens remain strictly federally controlled.

Seattle lawmakers also recently sent a letter to members of a local task force focused on the opioid overdose epidemic, imploring the group toinvestigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like ayahuasca and ibogaine in curbing addiction. In response, the task force issued a recommendation forthe widespread decriminalization of all drugs. The group said psychedelics in particular could represent a promising treatment to address substance abuse disorders and mental health issues.

Meanwhile, Portland, Oregon activists are mountinga push to have local lawmakers pass a resolutiondecriminalizing the cultivation, gifting and ceremonial use of a wide range of psychedelics.

In a setback for advocates, the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted against a proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) thatwould have removed a spending bill riderthat advocates say has restricted federal funds for research into Schedule I drugs, including psychedelics such as psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine. However, it picked up considerably more votes this round thanwhen the congresswoman first introduced itin 2019.

Report provisions of separate, House-passed spending legislation also touch on the need toexpand cannabis and psychedelics research. The panel urged the National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA) to support expanded marijuana studies, for example. It further says that federal health agencies shouldpursue research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelicsfor military veterans suffering from a host of mental health conditions.

When it comes to broader drug policy reform, Oregon voters also approved an initiative in November todecriminalize possession of all drugs. This year, the Maine House of Representativespassed a drug decriminalization bill, but it laterdied in the Senate.

In May, lawmakers in Congress filed thefirst-ever legislation to federally decriminalize possessionof illicit substances.

Read the advisory boards proposal on the broader psilocybin report below:

Psilocybin research proposa by Marijuana Moment

Bidens Drug Czar Wants To Make It Easier To Research Marijuana, Psychedelics And Other Schedule I Substances

Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.

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Oregon Psilocybin Panel Teams Up With Harvard To Research Psychedelic History And Impacts Of Reform - Marijuana Moment