Lawmakers put off consideration of psilocybin bill until new year

Lawmakers put off consideration of psilocybin bill until new year

NJ Spotlight News

November 29, 2023

State lawmakers plan to introduce a new bill allowing for the regulated use of psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic purposes in the upcoming legislative session that starts in January. Lawmakers had planned to consider the Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Act for discussion only in the Assembly Health Committee last week but that bill—the Assembly version of legislation introduced by Senate President Nick Scutari in June 2022—was pulled from the agenda. ... The bill lawmakers had planned to discuss last week aimed to regulate the production and use of psilocybin for behavioral health care, to decriminalize its production, dispensing and use by people who are over 21 years old and to expunge past and pending offenses involving psilocybin. ... There is still concern among advocates and some lawmakers about how the bill is written, which prompted work on the new legislation they promise to unveil in January. All bills that do not pass before the end of this legislative session must be reintroduced.