by Brent Addleman
Using psychedelics to treat mental health disorders is the focus of a bill that passed out of the Public Health Committee, Senate Democrats said.
House Bill 5396, which addresses access to mental and behavioral health services and medications, moved out of committee on Monday. The bills are sponsored by state Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, who serves a vice chairman of the committee.
House Bill 5275Â also moved out of the committee; it addresses step therapy and prescription drugs for mental and behavioral health issues.
If enacted, the bills would use new treatment options for mental health issues, including the use of psychedelics MDMA and psilocybin, create a Psychedelic Treatment Advisory Board, and end the practice of using less expensive treatment options for treatment drugs for mental and behavioral health issues.
MDMA is known formally as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and informally as “ecstasy” or “Molly.” Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic alkaloid, found in some toadstools.
“Our state, and our nation, continues to deal with a mental health crisis, and we need to make sure we are aiding those struggling however we can,” Anwar said in the release. “These bills can play an important role in ensuring we streamline ease of access to important, even lifesaving drugs, and that we are studying and pursuing all options available to treat individuals’ mental health, including ones that have been previously disregarded.”
HB5396, if enacted, would establish a pilot program that would study the use of MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapies that fall under the guidelines of a federal program approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Under the program, three sites would be selected for the program that would fall under the direction of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
The program would end if the FDA approves each psychedelic for mainstream treatment of mental health issues, according to the bill.
Under the bill, $1.5 million from the general fund would be appropriated to the department to equally fund treatment sites this year, and $1.5 million would fund approved treatment sites prior to March 31, 2023, provided there is a receipt of $1.5 million in matching grants from a private foundation to treat qualified patients.
Qualified patients, according to the bill, would be state residents who are veterans, retired first responders, direct care health workers, or from a historically underserved community who have serious life-threatening mental or behavioral health disorders and don’t have access to effective mental health or behavioral health medication.
Currently, according to the release, MDMA and psilocybin are listed as Schedule I substances by the Drug Enforcement Administration, even though recent studies have found potential therapeutic use in treating mental health issues.
House Bill 5275, if enacted, would prohibit health carriers from requiring step therapy for prescription drugs that are used to treat mental and behavioral health conditions. Step therapy calls for insurance companies to use less expensive treatments before moving on to higher-priced medications.
The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, according to the release, under the psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program would provide patients with the funding necessary to undergo treatment, with funds being set aside in a special fund, the Qualified Patients for Approved Treatment Sites Fund.
The department, according to the release, would select three applicants for approved treatment sites by Dec. 28.
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Brent Addleman is an Associate Editor and a veteran journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He has served as editor of newspapers in Pennsylvania and Texas, and has also worked at newspapers in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Kentucky.
