As the decriminalization movement spreads in more local municipalities and states, the conversation around psychedelics reform continues to gain footing. On a federal level, one congressman is trying to gain more legislators’ to support therapeutic access to psychedelic substances, which he believes may be a game changer.
Rep. Jared Huffman is one of the House members who voted to pass an amendment that would lift research barriers imposed on psychedelics. The amendment, which was proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2019, was ultimately rejected. In 2021, the amendment was again reintroduced but failed to be approved.
Despite this, the House did approve a pair of psychedelics-related amendments attached to a defense bill in July of this year. One of the amendments, which was introduced by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, would allow the secretary of defense to offer grants for research into a range of psychedelics for active-duty service members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The other, from Ocasio-Cortex, would permit research into the use of MDMA and psilocybin as alternatives to opioids for members of the military.
While these developments may signal that Congress is paying attention to psychedelics, Huffman stated in a recent interview that most of his colleagues continued holding outdated views about psychedelics that prevented them from pursuing more impactful psychedelic reform. In the interview, Huffman explained that he was in favor of allowing medical professionals and healthcare providers to use these substances in beneficial ways, noting that he’d read enough to know that if used properly, the drugs had numerous benefits.
The congressman added that it was embarrassing how slow other legislators had been to evolve on the psychedelic issue.
Despite this, psychedelic policy reform on Capitol Hill has attracted some bipartisan legislators, including progressive Democrats such as Sens. Brian Schatz and Cory Booker and Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Ocasio-Cortez. GOP members such as Reps. Nancy Mace and Matt Gaetz, as well as Sens. Rand Paul and Crenshaw, have also worked to advance psychedelic reform across the aisle.
Congress not keeping up with the times is not stopping reform. Local legislators in San Francisco recently passed a measure calling for the decriminalization of substances such as ayahuasca and psilocybin, both federally and statewide as well as on a local level.
In recent years, local psychedelics decriminalization has been enacted in a number of major cities in the country, including Seattle, Detroit and Oakland. In addition, voters in Washington DC and some cities in Massachusetts have taken similar steps to decriminalize psychedelics.
Meanwhile, several companies such as Delic Holdings Corp. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) are seeking to develop a variety of approved therapeutic formulations from psychedelics. This could put these substances on a firm medicalization path, which will avail them to the public through the healthcare system as the politics associated with their decriminalization or legalization plays out.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Delic Holdings Corp. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/DELCF
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