‘Magic mushrooms’ task force to study mental health passes Utah Senate

A bill to study the use of psychedelic drugs, sometimes called “magic mushrooms,” to treat mental illness, has now passed both houses of the Legislature and awaits action by Governor Spencer Cox.

Lawmakers also advanced a bill to change elimination rates and a resolution signaling the state’s willingness to host future Olympic Games.

Drug psychotherapy working group

Utah has been dealing with a mental health crisis for years, and the state could soon have another tool at its disposal to combat it: psychedelics. This is thanks to HB167, which would establish a working group on psychotherapy drugs for mental illness to study and recommend certain psychedelics to treat patients suffering from mental health problems.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Highland, noted promising results from Johns Hopkins University studies on the use of psilocybin to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, addiction and existential anxiety, an acute form of depression. which can result after receiving news of a terminal illness.

Brammer said the bill would not legalize psilocybin or other psychedelics, which are designated as Annex I drugs by the Drug Control Agency, along with cannabis and LSD, but would authorize a group of work to weigh the potential benefits with the potential dangers of legalization or legalization. decriminalization.

“If this is a tool that can help, we need it in our toolbox, but it has to be safe and we have to do it the right way,” Brammer told the House Health and Human Services Committee. on February 2nd.

While the science of psychedelics is still in its early stages, there is “tremendous potential” in treatment, said Dr. Ben Lewis, an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Huntsman Institute of Mental Health. Lewis joined Brammer’s presentation of the bill to the committee.

Lewis added that a working group would offer more opportunities to participate in research on psychedelics and add important findings to the work already being done by Johns Hopkins and other institutes. Unlike most traditional mental health therapies, psychedelics often do not require repeated daily doses to observe results, Lewis said, and some patients report improvement shortly after first treatment.

Brammer urged his colleagues to vote in favor of the bill to ensure the state is not caught “flat-footed,” as they did with the legalization of medical marijuana. HB167 passed the Senate 23-1 on Friday, after passing the House 68-1 earlier this month.

Mengshin Lin, Deseret News

Other legislation

• The Senate also passed a resolution “emphasizing the desire and willingness to host future Olympic and Paralympic Games.” Senator Derek Kitchen, a Salt Lake City Democrat who sponsors SJR10, told senators Thursday that the 2002 Winter Olympics “have continued to bless the state of Utah” and said the resolution is a way to “watching the future.” It encourages Utah to continue investing in infrastructure to be “Games Ready” in 2027, with the goal of hosting the Games in 2030 or 2034. SJR10 passed the Senate 23-0 on Friday.
• At a House session on Thursday evening, lawmakers passed HB392, which would waive certain fees for those seeking the expiration of previous convictions. Although the state recently enacted a “Clean Slate” law to automatically remove some convictions, sponsoring Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, told his House colleagues that some people with multiple charges for a single incident they can face high fines that prevent them from getting a job. or state services.

“I think people should be responsible for what they do and their actions, I also think they should be able to show that they have changed and get a second chance,” Dunnigan said.

HB392 passed House 61-11 Thursday night.