Charles MacLean, M.D., professor of medicine and associate dean for primary care

(MAY 6, 2024) Following testimony and an informational slideshow presented by Charles MacLean, M.D., professor of medicine and associate dean for primary care, a House committee in Vermont has advanced a bill that, in its current form, would create a psychedelic-assisted therapy working group to make recommendations on whether and how the state should regulate legal access to substances like psilocybin and MDMA, Marijuana Moment reports.

Before passing the measure, which has already cleared the full Senate, the House Human Services Committee narrowed the scope of the proposal, removing provisions that would have directed the task force to reconsider the “criminalization of psychedelics under State law” as well as provide “potential timelines for universal and equitable access.” Instead the group’s work would focus on “the cost-benefit profile of the use of psychedelics to improve mental health.”

As originally introduced, the bill from Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick (D) would have legalized noncommercial use and possession of psilocybin, but lawmakers on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee nixed that section in March to focus instead on the therapeutic psychedelics working group.

Thursday’s panel vote came after the committee considered the bill a day earlier, hearing testimony from MacLean—who presented an informational slideshow to the panel—as well as psychiatrist Rick Barnett, co-founder of the Psychedelic Society of Vermont and legislative chair for the Vermont Psychological Association.