State-run psilocybin program could be on the horizon, under bill approved by Senate

SANTA FE — New Mexico could become the second state to enact a state-run psilocybin program for medical purposes, under a bill approved Wednesday by the state Senate.

The bipartisan legislation, Senate Bill 219, passed on a 33-4 vote after a lengthy debate that featured emotional testimony about the benefit of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, for military veterans.

Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, said some veterans have found psilocybin to be effective at treating post-traumatic stress disorder after getting little relief from traditional counseling and other treatments.

“This is kind of the next-step therapy,” Brandt said.

Another Republican senator, Jay Block of Rio Rancho, said he was previously staunchly opposed to a state-sanctioned psilocybin program.

But he said he changed his mind after visiting with veterans who’ve struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after military deployments abroad.

“I look at this as a right to try,” said Block, who grew emotional while talking about his own struggles with mental health issues and alcohol abuse after a combat tour in Afghanistan.

One U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Chris Peskuski of Albuquerque, sat with Block on the Senate floor during Wednesday’s debate and said in a subsequent interview that psilocybin use overseas helped turn his life around.

“It completely changed my life,” Peskuski told the Journal. “I was able to let go of a lot of guilt and pain.”

The bill advancing at the Roundhouse would create an advisory board under the New Mexico Department of Health to oversee supervised use of psilocybin for patients whose physicians believe they could benefit from its use. The program would have to be in place by the end of 2027.

It would also decriminalize the production, prescription and possession of medical psilocybin.

Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession and legalize use of psilocybin in 2022, though such use must be supervised.

Colorado voters passed a ballot measure that same year allowing adults 21 and older to possess psilocybin and give it to other adults, but it remains illegal to sell the substance or use it in public.

Several other states have stopped short of decriminalizing psilocybin but have enacted legislation allowing research to be conducted for clinical trials.

Psilocybin, which can be made synthetically in addition to being found naturally in certain mushrooms, can cause hallucinations after being consumed. It works for medical purposes by enhancing neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to change its structure.

“It really is one of the true wonder drugs, just like penicillin,” said Sen. Martin Hickey, D-Albuquerque, the only physician in the Legislature and one of the bill’s sponsors.

Among other studies, research done at the University of New Mexico has shown psilocybin combined with psychotherapy can sharply reduce alcohol use.

But health officials have also said it should be used only infrequently and under supervision, unlike cannabis, which can be used daily for medical purposes by individuals in their own homes.

“This is not medical marijuana 2.0,” Brandt said Wednesday. “This is done in a controlled setting in a clinic.”

After being approved in the Senate, the bill now advances to the House of Representatives with just over a week left in this year’s 60-day legislative session.