Psychedelics advocates form political action committee

A group of psychedelics activists has formed a political action committee aimed at lobbying Congress to support research into the therapeutic uses of compounds such as psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine. The new group, dubbed the Psychedelic Medicine PAC, also plans to encourage lawmakers to relax restrictions on the powerful drugs that have shown promise as potential treatments for mental illnesses like depression, anxiety and addiction.

“With the growing evidence of the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics, we believe it is time for the American people to take action themselves by electing leaders who support policies that expand access to these life-changing treatments,” says Melissa Lavasani, the president and co-founder of the Political Action Committee, said in a statement.

The Psychedelic Medicine PAC points to the passage of psilocybin legalization measures by voters in Oregon and Colorado as evidence that such reform is warranted at the federal level. However, the group’s leaders acknowledge that persistent misconceptions about psychedelics pose challenges to progress on the issue.

“We need to convince a historically die-hard psychedelic audience that we’re not the 1960s,” said Ryan Rodgers, co-founder and executive director of Psychedelic Medicine PAC.

“People aren’t going to stare at the sun to make their eyes go out. People will not jump off a building,” he added. “This is about healing from trauma. It’s not about rest.”

Ongoing research has shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental illnesses, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. A 2020 study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was a fast-acting and effective treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorders. And separate research published in 2016 found that treatment with psilocybin resulted in significant and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.

Lavasani has personally experienced the benefits of psychedelics after using the promising drugs to treat postpartum depression and chronic pain. She led a 2020 campaign to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi in Washington, DC, which passed with the approval of 76% of the district’s voters. That same year, Oregon voters supported a ballot initiative to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the primary psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms.

The leadership of the new PAC believes that before psychedelics can be legalized federally, time must be spent educating members of Congress and the Executive Branch about the therapeutic potential of the compounds. Last year, the Biden administration announced that it was considering forming a task force to research psychedelics in anticipation of a possible upcoming US Food and Drug Administration approval of psychedelics-assisted therapy.

“A research approach and a science-driven approach is really the path of least resistance,” Lavasani said. “It’s going to take a little longer – it’s a very slow approach and it’s very methodical in what we’re trying to do – but it’s a way of making sure people are comfortable taking an interest in this issue.”

The Psychedelic Medicine PAC is also trying to build relationships with politicians on both sides of the aisle, noting that activists for cannabis policy reform have had some success in building consensus. But some policies pushed by many cannabis advocates, such as

“We want to make sure that what we are campaigning for doesn’t generate opposition to the issue in the halls of Congress,” Lavasani said. “We’ve seen how some of the strategies employed by the cannabis reform movement have been really divisive, and that has really delayed some progress. That’s a real lesson learned.”

One of the lessons activists for psychedelics policy reform have learned is not to push for decriminalization and legalization until lawmakers have a better understanding of the drugs’ therapeutic potential.

“If their goal is debt restructuring or decriminalization, they’re going to have an extremely tough time,” advised Dustin Robinson, founder of Iter Investments, a psychedelics venture capital firm. “But if their goal is to create more guidelines about what happens with psychedelics in the therapeutic realm, the federal government seems very open to that.”

In November 2022, two House lawmakers established the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Clinical Treatments (PACT) Caucus to advocate for psychedelics research. Additionally, a bipartisan bill by Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul and New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker would create a path for psychedelics, including psilocybin, to be classified as Schedule II drugs instead of the more restrictive Schedule I, under which they are currently listed. However, activists warn that the legalization of psychedelics will not happen overnight.

“We’re in the hype phase now,” said Ryan Munevar, campaign director for Decriminalize California, a group campaigning for the decriminalization and legalization of entheogenic plants and fungi in the state. “Everything in politics should be treated with caution. It’s not a system designed to move fast.”