SB 200: Medicinal Psilocybin Program for Utahns

This bill did not receive a vote.

Utahns have the worst mental health in the nation. We have the highest rates for mental illness (29%) and suicide rates far above the national average. Current psychiatric medications “are purely symptomatic, with no known or proven effect on the underlying disease. They are like fifty variations of aspirin, used for fever or headache, rather than drugs that treat the causes of fever or headache.” 

Years of research have shown that there is another option. Psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in hundreds of mushroom species, can be an effective and enduring treatment for depression and other mental health maladies. It is believed to increase neuroplasticity, offering a longer-term solution that actually modifies the course of mental illness.

Senate Bill 200, sponsored by Senator Luz Escamilla, offers Utahns a way to safely access psilocybin for medical use. Medical providers with training in psilocybin would screen patients. If a patient is over 21; suffering from depression, anxiety, or PTSD; and doesn’t have any contraindications, a provider could recommend psilocybin if he believes it would benefit the patient. A licensed therapy provider would then be able to fill that recommendation for patients and administer psilocybin in their office. 

Because patients could only use psilocybin in a therapy provider’s office, it would be easy for law enforcement to distinguish between legal and illicit use. And because patients can only use psilocybin under a therapy provider’s supervision, there is no risk that patients will drive while impaired or otherwise act unsafely while under the influence of this medication. 

The FDA has granted psilocybin “breakthrough status” multiple times, which is intended to speed up the drug approval process. And while this has allowed psilocybin to proceed to phase three clinical trials, a prerequisite for FDA approval, approval is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for legalization. At best, FDA approval informs what is a highly-politicized process. 

For psilocybin to be federally legal, either the DEA or Congress would have to reschedule or de-schedule psilocybin. Congress has made no attempt to do so, and if the perennial and abortive attempts to reschedule cannabis since 1981 have any bearing here, those waiting for Congress could be waiting for decades. Legalization through the DEA requires an extended, bureaucratic process. A May 2022 letter from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recognizes the value of psychotherapeutic medicine and says the Administration is “exploring the prospect of establishing a Federal Task Force to monitor and address the numerous complex issues associated with emerging substances.” To date, this exploration has not even led to the creation of a task force. 

In short, there is no guarantee or even a firm basis to hope that the federal government will legalize psilocybin in the near future. In the interim, many Utahns will continue to endure a diminished quality of life and some will even end their lives.

Utah recognized the potential of psilocybin and other psychotherapeutic options last year when it created a psychotherapy and mental illness taskforce which ultimately concluded the psilocybin is both safe and effective. Senate Bill 200 builds on this work and offers Utahns a path to mental wellness.