Marijuana may be illegal here in Wisconsin, but state lawmakers are also looking to study and *potentially* legalize another drug in order to treat veterans’ Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Here’s Five Fast Facts about the Psilocybin Bill:
- 🧪 Plenty of Room - A new bipartisan bill aims to create a state trust fund that would be administered by researchers at UW-Madison. The fund would be used to study the use of psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic (or “magic”) mushrooms to treat PTSD.
- 🧑⚕️ Legalize? - Psilocybin is considered a Schedule I drug under federal law. It is also illegal in Wisconsin. The federal government says that psilocybin has a tendency for addictive use.
- 🎖️ Precedent - State Sen. Jesse James is one of the bill’s sponsors and a veteran. He points to Texas, Maryland, and Washington all legalizing psilocybin for mental health treatment as the precedent for this bill. It would certainly put Wisconsin on the cutting edge of research.
- 💰 Money Money - The bill requests $100,000 in state funds for the trust to be renewed annually.
- 🔬 Oh Oh It’s Magic - UW has already been studying magic mushrooms and MDMA (or ecstasy) to treat depression, substance abuse, and PTSD. The bill does not allow for the purchase of Grateful Dead and DeadMau5 albums.
🔥Bottom line: We’re not advocating for any kind of legalization here, but it’s certainly interesting what lawmakers are willing to legalize and what they aren’t. If this bill can help our veterans, it’s certainly a win for everyone. The requested money isn’t a large amount in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still coming from our taxes. Of course that raises the question if that’s an appropriate use for it, but that’s a different discussion.
What do you think of the bill?
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