Maine Senate Approves Medical Psilocybin Bill, But House Refusal Kills Measure For

The Maine Senate this week approved a bill to to create a medical psilocybin program in the state, but the House of Representatives refused to go along.

The legislation from Sen. Donna Bailey (D), which was introduced around this time last year, would have allowed adults 21 and older to access the psychedelic if they received a doctor’s recommendation. It did not list specific qualifying conditions.

While the Senate passed the measure with amendments on Tuesday in a 20-13 vote, the House refused to go along, killing the proposed reform for the session. Still, the sponsor says she intends to bring the idea back up next year—or work to put the issue before voters on the ballot.

“I am thankful to my colleagues in the Senate for recognizing the urgent need for psilocybin therapy to be legally available to our veterans and others suffering from PTSD, those struggling with substance use disorder, and those in need of end of life palliative care,” Bailey told Marijuana Moment. “I am disappointed the House voted against helping folks who may benefit from the ‘reset’ value shown in numerous studies over many years.”

“The bill will certainly be back next session, or, if the legislature continues to refuse to act, perhaps in a peoples’ referendum,” the senator said. “People who are suffering need help now.”

As amended, here’s what the Psilocybin Patient Care Act would have accomplished: 

Patients 21 and older would have been able to receive a doctor’s recommendation for psilocybin for therapeutic purposes.

Doctors would have needed to dictate the “amount of psilocybin a patient may need to treat or alleviate the patient’s medical condition.”

Regulators would have been required to create a “psilocybin service facilitator license” to provide treatment to eligible patients.

A Maine Psilocybin Advisory Board would have been established, comprised of 16 members, including the director of the state’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, director of the Office of Behavioral Health under the Department of Health and Human Services, the Maine attorney general and “various representatives of public health interests, among other related interests.”

The board would have had annual reporting requirements, and it would have further been tasked with making recommendations on additional rulemaking.

Regulators would have been required to adopt rules for the medical psilocybin program by January 15, 2025.

“We owe it to survivors to keep an open mind and explore all the possible means of easing their pain and helping them live full, satisfying lives in the wake of their traumatic experiences,” Bailey said on the Senate floor before the body’s vote. “From a medicinal point of view there are many benefits psilocybin therapy works rapidly and robustly within hours or days, that’s immediate quick relief.”

Rep. Michele Meyer (D), who chairs the legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee where the bill…