TOPEKA — A biotech company is attempting to persuade Kansas legislators to modify the state’s controlled substances act in advance of a possible new psychedelic treatment.
A lobbyist requested House Bill 2218 on behalf of Compass Pathways. The company is currently overseeing a synthetic psilocybin drug meant for remedying treatment-resistant depression. The drug is in the final phase of clinical trials, the last step before applying for approval from the Federal Drug Administration.
Psilocybin, the psychedelic component found in “magic mushrooms,” has shown promising results in treating certain mental health conditions, and Compass Pathways is among a dozen other companies conducting research on the drug.
“This bill does not decriminalize or legalize psilocybin or any other psychedelic substance, nor does this bill allow access to drugs that have not been FDA-approved,” said Tess Bettler, a representative from Compass Pathways, in written testimony to the House health committee.
The bill would specifically legalize Compass Pathways’ drug, a 25 mg pill capsule called COMP 360, ensuring the company has a path to bringing the drug to Kansas doctors’ offices if it becomes FDA-approved. The proposed legislation would exempt any FDA-approved form of psilocybin from the state’s controlled substances act.
“Unless and until an FDA-approved and DEA-rescheduled product is also rescheduled in Kansas, patients will not have access to it,” Bettler wrote.
International research in recent years has shown psilocybin to be an effective treatment when combined with therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment-resistant depression, end-of-life anxiety and, in some cases, eating and alcohol use disorders.
Psilocybin naturally occurs in certain species of fungi, and it has been used ceremonially and recreationally for hundreds of years, particularly in Indigenous Mesoamerican cultures, according to a 2022 study from scholars in the U.S. and Mexico. It is a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act, like marijuana, making it federally illegal to produce and possess.
Synthetically produced psilocybin, as opposed to naturally occurring psilocybin in fungi, enables manufacturers, treatment providers and users to be assured that every dose of the drug is the same, Bettler told legislators at a Tuesday hearing.
Dozens of companies are currently conducting clinical trials with synthetically produced psilocybin with the hopes of submitting applications to the FDA for approval.
Atchison Republican Rep. Allen Reavis, who spent 24 months in pharmacology research at the University of Kansas Medical Center, wondered if the bill might put “the cart ahead of the horse.”
It’s not guaranteed the FDA will approve the drug.
“I know one thing, it will not be fast,” he said at the hearing.
Bettler said clinical trials, some of which have taken place in Iowa and Nebraska, won’t be complete until 2026.
“Essentially what we’re trying to do here is really change the way mental health care is delivered,” Bettler said.
Regulations and restrictions for psilocybin treatment have taken shape in two states, leading to the establishment of psilocybin manufacturing facilities and treatment centers where patients undergo supervised, therapeutic sessions with a licensed professional, according to health and regulatory agencies in Oregon and Colorado.
The sessions, which can cost thousands, involve a hallucinogenic “trip,” which research has shown can create neuroplasticity in the brain, encouraging new connections between neurons, though it is not wholly understood. Those new connections have led to reductions in depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms during clinical trials. Combat veterans with PTSD were early and vocal supporters of legalizing psilocybin therapy.
“It actually creates new pathways rather than tinkering with the volume of neurotransmitters in existing pathways,” said Republican Rep. Ron Bryce of Coffeyville, who is vice chairman of the committee and a physician.
Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for therapeutic use in 2020 through a voter-approved ballot measure. Colorado voters legalized psilocybin for therapeutic use in 2022. Recreational use of psilocybin is not sanctioned in either state.
The Kansas Board of Pharmacy had no objections to the bill. Only one opponent wrote to legislators, James Davis, a part-time Kansas resident and psychedelic therapy proponent. He asserted the bill picks winners and losers and alleged Compass Pathways is simply attempting to capitalize on the current enthusiasm for psychedelics.
“Rather than creating complicated legal and regulatory structures for psilocybin, the best path forward may be clearing the way for education among therapists, social workers, doctors, and the public instead,” Davis wrote. “People are becoming more interested in psychedelics, and this will inevitably continue as the stigma around them erodes over time.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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