Connecticut Governor Signs Bill Creating Psychedelic Treatment Program

The governor of Connecticut has signed a large-scale budget bill that includes provisions to set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment using substances like MDMA and psilocybin.

Gov. Ned Lamont (D) announced on Monday that he’d signed the measure into law, without specifically commenting on the psychedelics components.

The language in the now-enacted budget legislation largely mirrors a standalone bill that moved through committee earlier this session. However, the budget measure is more limited with respect to who would be eligible for the treatment option compared to the standalone proposal.

“This bipartisan budget gives taxpayers their largest tax cut in history, while paying down approximately $3.3 billion in unfunded liabilities, making groundbreaking investments in childcare, crime prevention, environmental protection, and caring for our most vulnerable residents,” Lamont said in a press release about the overall budget. “We are transforming Connecticut, making it a place where people and businesses want to grow and set down roots.”

Under the bill, psychedelic treatment centers will be established in the state where people can receive psilocybin-assisted or MDMA-assisted therapy as part of an expanded access program for investigational new drugs through the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

While the legislation won’t legalize the psychedelics, it will set up a regulatory infrastructure to enable Connecticut to play a leading role in providing access to this alternative treatment option as federal agencies continue to fund and facilitate clinical trials.

Psychedelic therapy will be specifically provided and funded for military veterans, retired first responders and health care workers under the budget measure.

The separate standalone bill, meanwhile, was more expansive by also including any person from a “historically underserved community, and who has a serious or life-threatening mental or behavioral health disorder and without access to effective mental or behavioral health medication.”

Lamont signed a different bill last year that includes language requiring the state to carry out a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms. A workgroup has since been meeting to investigate the issue.

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The budget measure now signed by the governor requires the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to launch a “psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program to provide qualified patients with the…