2022/6/30
© Advance Local Media LLC.
Senate President Nicholas Scutari unveiled a new bill on June 23 that would legalize the use of psilocybin, aka "Magic Mushrooms," to treat mental health disorders.
Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com
A year and a half ago, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law authored by state Sen. Nicholas Scutari that reduced the penalties for possession of psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms, in New Jersey.
Now Scutari, who has since become Senate president, wants to legalize the psychedelic drug for adults to treat depression, anxiety, and other disorders in the state.
As the state Legislature was wrapping up details of a new $50.6 billion state budget last week, Scutari, D-Union, introduced a new bill that would set up a legal, regulatory, and therapeutic framework for using psilocybin to treat mental health in the state.
The bill, S2934, called the Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Act, would make it legal for New Jersey adults 21 and older to “possess, store, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver without consideration, or distribute without consideration, four grams or less of psilocybin.”
Adults would also be allowed to grow, cultivate and process plants or fungi capable of producing psilocybin for personal use as long as they keep it away from minors.
“This bill is a recognition of evolving science related to psilocybin and its medical uses related to mental health, and if science can provide relief in any fashion with this natural substance under a controlled environment then we should encourage this science,” Scutari told NJ Advance Media.
Some psychedelic drug experts said this is a progressive proposal that takes psilocybin policy reform to the next level.
An insert in the New Jersey bill that allows home grow of psilocybin mushrooms is drawing comparisons to cannabis.
Only licensed operators can grow cannabis in New Jersey — even for medical use — which puts the psilocybin bill ahead on that front.
“I think it’s a very good idea that you can cultivate mushrooms at home, and I support cultivation of cannabis at home,” Noah Potter, principle at Legal Market Strategies, a New York psychedelic sector consulting firm. “It doesn’t make any sense to include criminal prohibitions when cultivating a naturally occurring substance.”
Potter said there was a contradiction in permitting psilocybin cultivation from home and not cannabis.
“The question is, `What’s the rationale — other than trying to protect the for-profit commercial sector?” said Potter.
It’s a question others say could surface as the mushrooms bill advances through Trenton — much like the massive cannabis bill that Gov. Phil Murphy signed in February 2021 after a five year journey. New Jersey launched legal weed on April 21. So far 16 locations are selling adult weed with at least three more dispensaries pending: Verano in Neptune, Ascend in Montclair and TerrAscend in Lodi.
“This is an extremely progressive bill,” said Potter. “It reflects the evolution of state level psilocybin bills since 2019.”
Dan McKillop, a partner at Scarinci Hollenbeck who co-chairs the Psychedelics Law Subcommittee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, noted the connection between legalizing marijuana and legalizing magic mushrooms.
“Psychedelic law is where cannabis was a half dozen years ago, following an inevitable trend into the mainstream legal use,” said McKillop. “It is interesting the way it’s (Scutari’s bill) set up. There are a lot of similarities to the way the adult use cannabis market is being constructed and is now being implemented.”
McKillop also noted the eye-catching home grow provision.
“This bill not only decriminalizes and expunges past offenses involving psilocybin, but it also actually at least opens the door towards a home grow aspect,” said McKillop. “It goes beyond the cannabis bill and the cannabis program.”
Scutari, the chief architect of both the state’s medical marijuana and adult recreational adult cannabis laws, inserted an amendment to reduce penalties on mushrooms to the marijuana decriminalization measure in late 2020. But backers decided to sever the psilocybin legislation from the marijuana legalization measure and make them two separate bills. The bills passed in both chambers by huge majorities.
Murphy signed the mushroom bill into law on Feb. 4, 2021, that reclassified possession of psilocybin as a disorderly-persons offense from a third-degree crime in New Jersey. With that law, possession of a small amount subjects individuals to a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in prison.
Psilocybin policy reform started in state legislatures in 2019 and gained steam as the psychedelic earned some credibility.
The federal Food and Drug Administration designated the psychedelic as a “breakthrough therapy” for treating major depressive disorder based on preliminary clinical trials.
Oregon voters approved a historic ballot initiative in 2020 to make psilocybin legal for adults. A bill in the California State Legislature would legalize psilocybin possession and distribution in specified amounts.
Scutari’s new psilocybin measure calls for the development of an 18-member Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Advisory Board within the New Jersey Department of Health. The board would “provide advice and recommendations to the (Department of Health), upon request or upon the board’s own initiative, concerning the implementation of the bill,” according to the legislation.
“It’s a bold and needed step in the right direction; albeit somewhat confusing considering we still have not addressed cannabis home grow and re-sentencing for the associated drug manufacturing charge,” said attorney Beau Huch, former senior aide to Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, who worked on both medical and recreational cannabis bills.
But McKillop is predicting the bill could start a new round of dialogue.
“If the home grow provision of the psilocybin bill survives the legislative process and is actually enacted into law, folks who are arguing for home grown cannabis would have a stronger argument,” said McKillop.
The 50-page bill was referred to the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, which will likely take it up in the fall.
It would need to be passed by the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly and signed by Murphy, a Democrat, to become law.
Suzette Parmley may be reached at sparmley@njadvancemedia.com or follow her on Twitter: @SuzParmley
A year and a half ago, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law authored by state Sen. Nicholas Scutari that reduced the penalties for possession of psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms, in New Jersey.
Now Scutari, who has since become Senate president, wants to legalize the psychedelic drug for adults to treat depression, anxiety, and other disorders in the state.
As the state Legislature was wrapping up details of a new $50.6 billion state budget last week, Scutari, D-Union, introduced a new bill that would set up a legal, regulatory, and therapeutic framework for using psilocybin to treat mental health in the state.
The bill, S2934, called the Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Act, would make it legal for New Jersey adults 21 and older to “possess, store, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver without consideration, or distribute without consideration, four grams or less of psilocybin.”
Adults would also be allowed to grow, cultivate and process plants or fungi capable of producing psilocybin for personal use as long as they keep it away from minors.
“This bill is a recognition of evolving science related to psilocybin and its medical uses related to mental health, and if science can provide relief in any fashion with this natural substance under a controlled environment then we should encourage this science,” Scutari told NJ Advance Media.
Some psychedelic drug experts said this is a progressive proposal that takes psilocybin policy reform to the next level.
An insert in the New Jersey bill that allows home grow of psilocybin mushrooms is drawing comparisons to cannabis.
Only licensed operators can grow cannabis in New Jersey — even for medical use — which puts the psilocybin bill ahead on that front.
“I think it’s a very good idea that you can cultivate mushrooms at home, and I support cultivation of cannabis at home,” Noah Potter, principle at Legal Market Strategies, a New York psychedelic sector consulting firm. “It doesn’t make any sense to include criminal prohibitions when cultivating a naturally occurring substance.”
Potter said there was a contradiction in permitting psilocybin cultivation from home and not cannabis.
“The question is, `What’s the rationale — other than trying to protect the for-profit commercial sector?” said Potter.
It’s a question others say could surface as the mushrooms bill advances through Trenton — much like the massive cannabis bill that Gov. Phil Murphy signed in February 2021 after a five year journey. New Jersey launched legal weed on April 21. So far 16 locations are selling adult weed with at least three more dispensaries pending: Verano in Neptune, Ascend in Montclair and TerrAscend in Lodi.
“This is an extremely progressive bill,” said Potter. “It reflects the evolution of state level psilocybin bills since 2019.”
Dan McKillop, a partner at Scarinci Hollenbeck who co-chairs the Psychedelics Law Subcommittee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, noted the connection between legalizing marijuana and legalizing magic mushrooms.
“Psychedelic law is where cannabis was a half dozen years ago, following an inevitable trend into the mainstream legal use,” said McKillop. “It is interesting the way it’s (Scutari’s bill) set up. There are a lot of similarities to the way the adult use cannabis market is being constructed and is now being implemented.”
McKillop also noted the eye-catching home grow provision.
“This bill not only decriminalizes and expunges past offenses involving psilocybin, but it also actually at least opens the door towards a home grow aspect,” said McKillop. “It goes beyond the cannabis bill and the cannabis program.”
Scutari, the chief architect of both the state’s medical marijuana and adult recreational adult cannabis laws, inserted an amendment to reduce penalties on mushrooms to the marijuana decriminalization measure in late 2020. But backers decided to sever the psilocybin legislation from the marijuana legalization measure and make them two separate bills. The bills passed in both chambers by huge majorities.
Murphy signed the mushroom bill into law on Feb. 4, 2021, that reclassified possession of psilocybin as a disorderly-persons offense from a third-degree crime in New Jersey. With that law, possession of a small amount subjects individuals to a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in prison.
Psilocybin policy reform started in state legislatures in 2019 and gained steam as the psychedelic earned some credibility.
The federal Food and Drug Administration designated the psychedelic as a “breakthrough therapy” for treating major depressive disorder based on preliminary clinical trials.
Oregon voters approved a historic ballot initiative in 2020 to make psilocybin legal for adults. A bill in the California State Legislature would legalize psilocybin possession and distribution in specified amounts.
Scutari’s new psilocybin measure calls for the development of an 18-member Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Advisory Board within the New Jersey Department of Health. The board would “provide advice and recommendations to the (Department of Health), upon request or upon the board’s own initiative, concerning the implementation of the bill,” according to the legislation.
“It’s a bold and needed step in the right direction; albeit somewhat confusing considering we still have not addressed cannabis home grow and re-sentencing for the associated drug manufacturing charge,” said attorney Beau Huch, former senior aide to Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, who worked on both medical and recreational cannabis bills.
But McKillop is predicting the bill could start a new round of dialogue.
“If the home grow provision of the psilocybin bill survives the legislative process and is actually enacted into law, folks who are arguing for home grown cannabis would have a stronger argument,” said McKillop.
The 50-page bill was referred to the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, which will likely take it up in the fall.
It would need to be passed by the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly and signed by Murphy, a Democrat, to become law.
Suzette Parmley may be reached at sparmley@njadvancemedia.com or follow her on Twitter: @SuzParmley
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