Democratic Senator Calls State-Led Psychedelics Reform ‘Timely And Appropriate,’ Touting Therapeutic Benefits For PTSD Patients

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) is touting the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, calling it “timely and appropriate” that states like Colorado are taking the lead on reforming laws around the substances after making history with marijuana legalization.

In an interview with Marijuana Moment last week, Hickenlooper was asked about his views on cannabis and psychedelics policy developments. He said that there are “really compelling success stories” in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with entheogenic substances such as psilocybin.

“The country’s got to move forward,” the senator said. “It’s funny. We make progress in fits and starts. Not every place is moving forward at the same time. But our attitude toward marijuana and hallucinogens, it’s gotta continue to evolve. It can’t get stuck.”

“States tend to be the laboratories of democracy, and it’s appropriate and timely that so many states are doing it. And we’ll see,” the senator said.

For about a decade, Colorado has served as that laboratory for marijuana policy, becoming one of the first states in the U.S. to enact adult-use legalization. Hickenlooper acknowledged that he initially opposed the cannabis reform ballot initiative that ushered in legalization, saying the lack of data led him to be “against it in the very beginning.”

As the state’s governor at the time, however, he said he accepted that “voters had spoken” and he committed to “do the best I can to follow their will.”

That experience seems to have shaped his understanding of Colorado’s latest democratic experiment: the legalization of certain psychedelics for adults.

Colorado’s current top cannabis regulator also recently discussed the history of the state’s first-in-the-nation adult-use marijuana market, noting that she expects the lessons learned over the years will inform how her office approaches setting up Colorado’s new legal psychedelics program.

As with cannabis, psychedelics regulation is “going to be an iterative process,” said Dominique Mendiola, who holds split roles as the senior director of both Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) and the state’s Natural Medicine Division. Both are under the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Mendiola, who was also elected president of the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) last year, was speaking on an episode of the Weed Wonks podcast with host Jordan Wellington, a partner at the cannabis policy and public affairs firm Strategies 64.

Unlike with cannabis, psilocybin businesses won’t sell psychedelics directly to consumers to take home with them under Colorado’s psychedelics law. And because people use cannabis and psychedelics for different purposes, officials are expecting the psilocybin program will be considerably smaller than the state’s sizable marijuana market.

A series of listening sessions launched last year has been helpful “to understand what is on the minds of the community,” Mendiola explained. “We have needed to be very deliberate about that when we engage in that work.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), for his part, has been supportive of the state’s new psychedelics law since voters approved it, saying in his State of the State speech in January that Colorado is “leading the nation on natural medicine.”

“Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational use of cannabis, setting a standard for innovation and safety and economic mobility that’s been replicated by states across the nation and countries across the world, who come here to learn what Colorado did right,” the governor said. “Now, thanks to our voters, we’re once again leading the nation on natural medicine.”

Ahead of the measure’s passage, Polis has said he was undecided on how he would vote on the proposal.

In May of last year, Polis signed a psychedelics regulation bill into law following the 2022 voter initiative, making Colorado the first state to allow adults to legally produce, possess and use substances like psilocybin, ibogaine, mescaline and DMT.

Meanwhile, in his interview with Marijuana Moment last week, Hickenlooper also weighed in on key cannabis policy issues, including a bipartisan marijuana banking reform bill. While he said he hadn’t been appraised on the recent remarks from former President Donald Trump, who embraced the policy on Sunday, he’s skeptical about how serious the 2024 GOP nominee is in the position, commenting that “it might change by tomorrow” given his proclivity for rapidly taking on opposite sides of various issues.

He added that the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act is “going through this process,” but he also said the Biden administration’s push to federally reschedule cannabis represents “a major step forward” that could help grease the wheels on marijuana banking reform.

“I think rescheduling is going to get SAFE Banking through the Senate,” the senator said. “Donald Trump can say whatever he wants, but unless you bring us some Republican senators, we’re not going to get SAFE Banking.”

The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.