The NJ Assembly Appropriations Committee passed a bill to allow medical psilocybin, magic mushrooms, or shrooms research to be done by a corporation with hospitals.

The bill A 3852 passed the NJ Assembly Health Committee recently. It would create a small psilocybin pilot program run through large hospitals that’s funded with $6 million.

It was substantially changed from its initial form. The bill does not decriminalize natural psychedelic mushrooms. Nor does it set up an industry like the cannabis industry.

The bill presumes that there will be progress on the federal level regarding synthetic psilocybin to create a medical product overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Advocates Oppose Corporate Fake Shrooms Pilot Program

Several shroom legalization advocates opposed it.

Neal Usatin of the grassroots group NJ for Fungi and Plant Medicine opposed it. He said working on the documentary How to Change Your Mind” opened his ideas to the benefits of shrooms as medicine.

Usatin explained psilocybin is safe, non-habit-forming, and helps treat depression.

He noted New Jersey’s Cory Booker is among the U.S. senators seeking to legalize medical psilocybin under supervision via a congressional bill.*

“This bill is too incomplete to pass,” Usatin argued. “…Who will design the pilot program and who will benefit?”

He noted it would be a Big Pharma synthetic psilocybin product approved by the FDA that would be administered in the pilot program.

Usatin noted an earlier version of the bill did seek to set up a local legal psilocybin industry made up of natural growers. So he wanted them to demand that they revise the bill to include legal, natural sourced psilocybin study options.

Michel Cruz said he is a licensed psilocybin trip facilitator in Colorado. He is from Camden in South Jersey.

“This bill needs to be worked on,” he argued.

Healing Trauma with Shrooms

NJ Psychedelic Therapy Association Founder Denise Rue said she’s a licensed social worker who helps people with trauma. She said she has helped people overseas to heal via tripping

“I do not agree that this bill moves psilocybin services forward in this state,” Rue said.

“We already have ample research data on 1400 patients who have participated in psilocybin trials,” she argued.

Rue noted that no pre-preparation or post-integration sessions are included in their bill. This is bad since they really help in the healing process.

“This is not like a pill we give people…,” she noted.

Rue said their approach without preparation and integration is risky.

Selling Out to Corporate Big Pharma

She argued that natural Psilocybin mushrooms cost about $5 to $10 per gram. In contrast, the proposed legal synthetic version could cost thousands of dollars.

Juanita Yepez said she is a medical student who treated chronic depression with psilocybin.

“It gives the illusion of progress, but it’s downright unethical!” she exclaimed about the bill.

Yepez criticized their Big Pharma model and their proposed costly barriers to legal treatment.

Richard Bartholomew, of the nonprofit Hearts of Valor, said he’s a Marine Corps disabled veteran who fought in the Middle East, and agreed with much of what was said.

However, “I’m here in the affirmative,” Bartholomew explained. “…I look at this as a first step forward.”

He said 20 veterans are lost every day due to suicide.

“They’ve been left behind,” Bartholomew said.

He called trauma an invisible wound that few realize is there.

“It outperforms everything!”  Bartholomew exclaimed. “…This medicine isn’t recreation.”

He said ignoring traumatized veterans is like leaving a wounded man on a battlefield.

Baked by the River dispensary CEO Jesse Marie Villars said psilocybin helped her cope with opioid issues 12 years ago. She also criticized the limited pilot program.

Villars said natural shrooms are more healing.

“…This is a step in the wrong direction,” she said.

Favoring Some Legal Medical Shrooms Progress

“We’re all on the same page,” Committee Chair Lisa Swain (D-38-Bergen) said. “…I do think this is a first step.”

Swain said an advisory board that would be created could approve a natural mushrooms study.

“It is a pilot program, and we do want to get started,” she said.

Assemblywoman Melinda Kane (D-6-Camden) appreciated their testimony after hearing stories similar to those during Health Committee meetings.

Assemblywoman Shama Haider (D-37-Bergen) noted how shrooms could help with cluster heads but wanted to move the bill forward.

The bill passed with some Republicans against it.