Lawmakers in New Hampshire voted against a bill Wednesday that that would have established a state-regulated therapeutic psychedelic program to treat specific mental health conditions, saying the measure was “far too broad.”
House Bill 1693 would have established “alternative treatment centers” where patients could consume psilocybin, mescaline or LSD to treat disorders such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance use disorders. But the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee rejected the bill 14-1, saying the state isn’t ready to legalize entheogens that remain federally illegal.
“New Hampshire state law currently prevents research and/or treatments which use Schedule I psychedelic drugs despite the expanding research into this area,” the committee’s statement says.
Republican Rep. Erica Layon stressed the difficulty of getting around such legal conflicts.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard something about a [Journal of the American Medical Association] article comparing psychedelics to existing antidepressants,” she said, according to Marijuana Moment. “But right now, New Hampshire law prohibits a clinical trial from happening in the state with psychedelics because of its status as a controlled substance.”
The panel also recommended that the state continue psychedelic research programs.
“The Veterans Administration and Massachusetts General Hospital are currently conducting research for a number of disorders using these drugs, and the FDA has granted breakthrough therapy designation for some psychedelics,” lawmakers said. “We recommend future legislation to permit patients access to clinical trials and other therapy without the need to cross state lines for care.”
The committee also objected to the vague language in the bill, which borrowed terms from the state’s medical marijuana law. For example, it would allow adult possession of up to two ounces of psychedelics, which for LSD, is a considerably large amount.
“The concerns we had with the bill as presented was it was far too broad,” Rep. Lucy Weber (D) said.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts voters will decide in three weeks whether to legalize psychedelics and create a regulated access model for treating mental health conditions. It would also decriminalize these substances statewide for personal use.
If voters approve Question 4, five psychedelics — psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine, and mescaline — would be legalized for adults 21 and over by 2028, starting with one substance by 2026. (The measure leaves open which substance will be legalized first.)
