Overview:
The Biden administration appears to have taken a step forward towards normalizing the use of psychedelics for limited therapeutic use.
Following the introduction of a bipartisan bill by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) to allow terminally-ill patients to access MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms, the Biden administration appears to have taken a step forward towards normalizing the use of psychedelics for limited therapeutic use.
According to The Intercept, “The administration is ‘exploring the prospect of establishing a federal task force to monitor’ the emerging psychedelic treatment ecosystem, according to the letter sent by assistant secretary for mental health and substance use Miriam Delphin-Rittmon to Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.” As per the Intercept, the Biden Administration anticipates that regulators will approve MDMA and psilocybin within the next two years for designated breakthrough therapies for PTSD and depression respectively.
Signs of the growing acceptance of psychedelics include the four-part Netflix docuseries How to Change Your Mind based on Michael Pollan’s 2018 bestselling book, which premiered on July 12, 2022. Along those lines, on July 26, 2022, Pollan joined other leaders in an online press conference announcing the new UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP), which Pollan co-founded.
This news coupled with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)’s decision late Friday to drop plans to schedule several DMT analogs seems to indicate that the Nixon era War on Drugs may be coming to an end.