Bipartisan Colorado lawmakers have filed a bill that would allow a form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal government authorizes its use.
Similar to legislation that Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed into law in 2022 regarding the medical dispensing and use of MDMA, the newly introduced bill from Reps. Anthony Hartsook (R) and Kyle Brown (D), as well as Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D), would allow doctors to prescribe drugs containing crystalline polymorph psilocybin, pending federal reform.
Colorado already legalized psilocybin and several other psychedelics for adults 21 and older through a voter-approved ballot initiative, but the new proposed reform would make it so drugs containing an isolated crystalized version synthesized from psilocybin could become available under physician prescription.
The bill’s findings section states that treatment-resistant depression is a major public health crisis, and psilocybin has been shown in clinical trials to “reduce depression scores significantly for patients with treatment-resistant depression when compared to active placebos.”
“Therefore, the general assembly declares that it is in the best interests of the people of Colorado that behavioral health professionals in Colorado have the ability to provide crystalline polymorph psilocybin to treat patients with treatment-resistant depression if the federal [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] ultimately approves it for prescription use,” it says.
Psilocybin would still be listed as a controlled substance under state statute—with the nuance that state law permits adults to cultivate and possess certain amounts of the raw mushroom. But this bill would create an additional carve out exempting crystalline polymorph psilocybin from the definition of the psychedelic.
As of this month, meanwhile, Colorado regulars are now authorized to approve licenses for psilocybin service centers where adults can access the psychedelic in controlled settings.
The governor signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal psychedelics in 2023.
But lawmakers evidently are interested in setting the state up to allow for a more conventional system of distribution for certain psychedelics. In 2022, Polis also signed a bill to align state statute to legalize MDMA prescriptions if and when the federal government ultimately permits such use.
Whether FDA moves forward with any such approvals in uncertain, and the agency faced criticism last year after rejecting an application to allow MDMA-assisted therapy for people with PTSD.
However, some advocates and stakeholders are holding out hope that the tides could shift under the incoming Trump administration, as the president-elect has voiced his intent to nominate cabinet officials who back psychedelics reform.
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Rick Perry—a former governor of Texas who also served in the first Trump administration—said recently that President-elect Donald Trump’s new choices for key health policy positions are a “great gift” for the psychedelics reform movement, particularly as it concerns access to ibogaine as a treatment option for serious mental health conditions.
With Trump having announced his intent to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—as well as other picks for health roles in the new administration who’ve expressed support for plant medicines—the stage is set for substantive policy changes around psychedelics, Perry said.
Kennedy has championed key policies such as promoting access to psychedelics therapy and reshaping federal marijuana laws.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy will be in a unique position of influence to follow up on those goals, commanding control of the nation’s health apparatus that oversees FDA and other critical agencies.
The psychedelics reform movement went through a series of ups and downs in 2024, with a mix of victories and setbacks on the federal and state levels, including the disappointment around FDA’s decision on MDMA.
Kennedy also shares a pro-reform perspective with other prospective nominees such as his pics for director of national intelligence, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D/R-HI), and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) recently urged FDA to finalize guidance on conducting clinical trials into psychedelics to facilitate research, including investigations focusing on the potential benefits of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin for military veterans.
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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mushroom Observer.
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