Medical Mushrooms coming soon
Medical mushrooms, sometimes referred to as magic mushrooms, for Wisconsin? In all honesty the “traditional market” has supplied mushrooms to many in Wisconsin and prohibition of these fungi will never stop demand for shrooms. Micro doses of these mushrooms makes main stream media reports often enough and legalization efforts in other states dominate drug policy reform news.
In 2014, the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus became the site of the first Phase 1 clinical trial for psilocybin. To provide infrastructure and other resources to stay on the cutting edge of this emerging field, the School of Pharmacy was launched in 2021 the UW Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances. While legal retail sales may not be coming soon, new legislation is.
WHAT, WHO?
A group of bi-partisan legislators are looking to do something in this area. Representative Nate Gustafson (R) and Representative Clinton Anderson (D) along with Senator Jesse James (R), Senator Dianne Hesselbein (D) have introduced a bill.
These legislators have circulated a 2023 bill LRB-4215/1 for co-sponsorship with a DEADLINE of Friday, November 17, 2023 at 12:00 PM.
The bill would create a medicinal psilocybin treatment fund and a pilot program to study the effects of medicinal psilocybin treatment on certain patients (veterans 21 years or older) with post-traumatic stress syndrome at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Main stream media reports seems to indicate a potential public hearing for this bill is expected. The recent introduction of the Kratom legalization bill by Republicans for the second straight session led to a public hearing on the issue in the Assembly Committee shortly after introduction of that bill. The cannabis legislation regulating and taxing adult use cannabis is stuck, or should I say, dead in committee again this session.
What will come of the psilocybin legislation and which committee will be assign this bill will be known shortly and I will report back. Until then if you are active and speak with your legislators, now is a good time to contact them about being a co-sponsor of this legislation.
