A committee advances a bill rescheduling a drug proponents say could be “life saving” for individuals who struggle with mental health and post-traumatic stress disorders.
The bill reschedules the pharmaceutical composition of crystalline poly-morph psilocybin.
The federal Food and Drug Administration is studying some formations of the drug in clinical trials to treat mental health and PTSD.
HB 1099 is a trigger bill that would take effect on the contingency of FDA approval.
Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt is the bill’s prime sponsor. She explained the need to avoid a lag time if FDA approval comes when the state Legislature is not in session.
“You know these are patients that have refractive depression that really can’t be treated by anything else. And so, they’re patients that are really at their last resort, and for me that means it could potentially be life saving. And that’s why this bill is very important: to make sure that it’s timely is that it really could save a life," Rehfeldt said. "If we’re unfortunately having the approval between January and March of one year until January and March of the next year, that’s a long time that somebody may not be able to get that treatment that could save their life.”
The House Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approve sending the bill to the House floor. It was not recommended for the consent calendar, so HB 1099 will receive a hearing on the House floor.
