SDZ Today News

Law & Politics

Medical

Category: Scott Wiener

Auto Added by WPeMatico

Psychedelics Decriminalization Bill Introduced by California Lawmaker

December 20, 2022 Published by

A California lawmaker on Monday introduced legislation to decriminalize the possession and use of natural psychedelics including psilocybin, the primary psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms. The bill, introduced by state Senator Scott Wiener, follows similar legislation the San Francisco Democrat introduced last year that was eventually gutted by the legislature in August.

The bill likely faces opposition from law enforcement groups wary of the potential safety risks of easing restrictions on psychedelic drugs, according to media reports. But the measure is backed by mental health professionals and veterans groups that want to allow access to the potential benefits of the compounds.

“Psychedelics have tremendous capacity to help people heal, but right now, using them is a criminal offense,” Wiener said in a statement. “These drugs literally save lives and are some of the most promising treatments we have for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and addiction.”

Psychedelics And Mental Health

Clinical research and other studies into psychedelics such as psilocybin have shown that the drugs have potential therapeutic benefits, particularly for serious mental health conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety. Research published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry in 2020 found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was an effective and quick-acting treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorder. A separate study published in 2016 determined that psilocybin treatment produced substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.

The legislation introduced on Monday, Senate Bill 58 (SB 58), would decriminalize the possession and use of small quantities of natural psychedelic drugs including psilocybin, ibogaine, mescaline and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The bill does not legalize the sale of psychedelic drugs. Chad Harman, CEO of psychedelics-focused biotech firm Psycheceutical, said that SB 58 “is a huge advancement for the progress of the psychedelic movement.”

“A careful review of the science and facts surrounding these potentially life-saving compounds is exactly what we have been fighting for, and now the State of California is showing signs of being on board,” Harman wrote in an email. “Not only does this decriminalization bill confirm growing momentum and acceptance from the scientific and medical communities, but it could set the precedent needed for other states to follow suit.”

Bill Follows Similar Measure Introduced Last Year

The measure is similar to legislation introduced by Wiener last year, although the new bill does not include synthetic psychedelics such as LSD or MDMA (ecstasy) that were included in the previous version. The earlier measure, Senate Bill 519 (SB 519), was stripped of its decriminalization provisions by a legislative committee, leaving legislation that only funded a study of the proposal.

“While I am extremely disappointed by this result, I am looking to reintroducing this legislation next year and continuing to make the case that it’s time to end the War on Drugs,” Wiener said in an August statement after learning of the changes made to SB 519. “Psychedelic drugs, which are not addictive, have incredible promise when it comes to mental health and addiction treatment. We are not giving up.”

Joshua Kappel, an attorney with the cannabis and psychedelics law firm Vicente Sederberg, said that Wiener’s new bill could advance the use of psychedelics for mental health, similar to a ballot measure passed by Colorado voters in last month’s midterm elections.

“California’s SB 58 is smart drug policy. John Hopkins, UCLA, and many other universities are discovering that psychedelic-assisted therapy shows promise in treating addiction, depression, and PTSD, Kappel wrote in an email to High Times. “Similar to what the voters recently passed in Colorado through Prop 122, SB 58 decriminalizes the same natural medicines and creates a pathway for supervised therapeutic use.”

Although the bill is supported by some mental health professionals and veterans groups, it is likely to face opposition from law enforcement groups that opposed Wiener’s original bill.

“Without more evidence that these hallucinogenic drugs are no more dangerous than cannabis, we cannot support legalizing them,” the California District Attorneys Assn. wrote in opposition to the previous version of the bill. “Hallucinations can be dangerous to users and bystanders alike, and it is not clear that the benefit of legalizing these drugs outweighs the cost to the common welfare.”

The post Psychedelics Decriminalization Bill Introduced by California Lawmaker appeared first on High Times.

California Lawmakers Approve Bill Authorizing Safe Consumption Sites

August 4, 2022 Published by

The California Senate took new strides in the effort to control the steep increase in drug overdose deaths this week with the passage of legislation to authorize safe consumption sites in the state. The measure, Senate Bill 57 from Democratic Senator Scott Wiener, was passed by the Senate on Monday after receiving the approval of the California State Assembly a month earlier. The bill now heads to the desk of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for consideration.

“Every overdose death is preventable,” Wiener said after the legislation was passed by the state Assembly on June 30. “We have the tools to end these deaths, get people healthy, and reduce harm for people who use drugs. Right now, we are letting people die on our streets for no reason other than an arbitrary legal prohibition that we need to remove. SB 57 is long overdue, and will make a huge impact for some of the most vulnerable people in our community.”

SB-57 authorizes four local jurisdictions to operate overdose prevention programs, also known as safe consumption sites or safe injection sites, as a five-year pilot program. The legislation provides approval for such facilities in Los Angeles County and the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. A statement from Wiener’s office noted that the city councils or board of supervisors in all four jurisdictions had requested to be included in the legislation.

Overdose Prevention Centers Save Lives

Safe injection sites offer places where people can inject or otherwise consume drugs under the supervision of trained healthcare professionals, who can intervene in the event of a drug overdose or other medical emergency. The facilities also offer other services including referrals to drug treatment, housing assistance, and HIV prevention services. Safe injection sites have operated successfully in Switzerland, Canada, and eight other countries for years, with no overdose deaths among people using the facilities recorded.

The legislation passed this week also includes protections for professionals who work at the authorized safe injection sites, exempting them from professional discipline, civil liability, and existing criminal penalties due to good-faith conduct and actions under the overdose prevention program. The Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California would still be permitted to take disciplinary action against licensed medical professionals under the bill.

Wiener’s bill was passed as California and the nation continue to suffer the effects of an epidemic of overdose deaths, largely fueled by the opioid crisis and the introduction of fentanyl into the illicit drug supply. In May, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 107,000 people died of a drug overdose last year, setting a grisly new record for drug-related deaths in the country. And in California, overdose deaths spiked by 83% from 2017 to 2020, according to CDC data.

Safe Injection Sites Opened in NYC Last Year

Late last year, civic officials in New York City announced that the city had opened the first publicly recognized overdose prevention centers. Since then, research published by the American Medical Association found that New York’s safe consumption drug sites have decreased overdose risk, encouraged people not to use illicit drugs in public and provided ancillary health services to people who use illicit substances. As in other safe injection sites around the world, no overdose deaths have occurred at New York’s facilities, leading city leaders to call for nationwide support for overdose prevention centers from the Biden administration.

But opening safe injection sites has been a challenge in many communities because of provisions of federal law that prohibit providing a location for the use of illegal drugs. Shane Pennington, an attorney with the law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, said that action on authorizing safe consumption sites across the country is needed at the federal level.

“The Biden administration promised to bring harm-reduction strategies to the fight against the U.S. overdose epidemic. Safe consumption sites are one such strategy that mountains of evidence proves saves lives,” Pennington wrote in an email to High Times. “The fact that the Federal government is inexplicably dragging its feet in implementing that strategy should not cause the states to do the same. Safe consumption sites save lives. I hope the Governor signs the California bill into law and other states pass similar life-saving measures as soon as possible.”

The post California Lawmakers Approve Bill Authorizing Safe Consumption Sites appeared first on High Times.