Washington Psychedelic Advocates Oppose Pending Psilocybin Legislation Lacking Personal Use Protections
Olympia, Washington — In a surprising twist, psychedelic advocates and community groups across Washington are organizing in opposition to the proposed Clinical and Supervised Access to Psilocybin Act, Senate Bill 5201 and its companion House Bill 1433. Although the bill would legalize access to psychedelic experiences in strictly regulated settings, advocates oppose the bill because they say it would create an oligopoly on psychedelic experiences that criminalizes people who seek the experiences outside of clinical settings.
Similar programs have been adopted by voters in Oregon and Colorado, but advocates say those programs do little to advance public health. “The cost in Oregon is typically over $1,000 for a single session, despite the fact that psilocybin can be found in nature or grown at nominal cost,” says Tatiana Luz of the REACH Washington Coalition, which advocates for personal use protections. “Like the Oregon model, the bill would create unnecessary paywalls that will ensure that these treatments are financially out of reach for many who would benefit.”
Senator Jesse Salomon of Shoreline, who is sponsoring the legislation, hopes the bill will give Washingtonians more options when it comes to health treatments. Washington ranked 32nd in the nation for mental health care, and the legislation claims psychedelic therapy to be “a promising practice for the treatment of conditions such as substance use disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and other serious maladies.” The federal Food and Drug Administration has granted numerous psychedelic substances with “breakthrough therapy” status, meaning that studies indicate they demonstrate substantial improvements over the most effective treatments that are currently available.
Washington advocates have not waited for FDA or state approval to seek the benefits of psychedelic access. In 2021 Seattle became the first city in Washington to pass a resolution. Since then, Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Olympia, and Tacoma have each passed resolutions directing their law enforcement agencies to not spend government resources to enforce laws prohibiting the cultivation, gifting, and personal use of natural psychedelics. The resolutions also call on state lawmakers to consider decriminalizing psychedelics, but so far the legislature has failed to take up the topic. Today, over 14% of Washington residents live in a jurisdiction that has adopted such a resolution.
Community groups dispute the notion that costly guardrails of a regulatory program are necessary for everyone. “One of the major challenges of ensuring fairness in a regulated program is affordability. When these substances can be grown so cheaply with relative ease, we don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to come up with a solution,” says Jon Dennis of the REACH Coalition.
Both bills will be considered at legislative hearings this week, including at the House Health Care & Wellness Committee at 1:30pm on Wednesday, February 5 and at the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee hearing at 8:00am this Thursday, February 6. The pending legislation marks the third attempt by bill champion Senator Jesse Salomon to pass such legislation.
“All we’re asking for is that the legislature take heed of the message sent by cities across the state,” said Tatiana Luz. “Anything less than that would criminalize people seeking affordable healing. Anything less than that would be unjust.”
Media Contact:
Tatiana Luz
Educational Outreach
REACH Washington
contact@reachwa.org
www.reachwa.org