Bob Christie | Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX — Arizona legislators are big proponents of the party drug known as ecstasy, and are also eyeing hallucinogenic magic mushrooms.

But don’t get this wrong. They do not endorse drug use for ordinary recreational purposes.
Instead, a bill to fund a $30 million research program to study psilocybin mushrooms in the treatment of post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression, and to legalize a drug formally called MDMA for the same use. Another bill is moving forward amid strong new evidence that they can be highly effective. new treatment.

That’s why former Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy and Marine Corps veteran Robert Steele marched to the Capitol earlier this month. His 39-year-old married father of two children told a House committee that the effects of PTSD and a traumatic brain injury had left him nearly crippled, driven to suicide, and unable to work. He said his family life was almost destroyed.

Despite being so driven to serve in the military and law enforcement that he’d never even tried marijuana, Steele took the last step to get relief after hearing that magic mushrooms might help. He called the effects “profound”.

“For the first time in years, I felt like I was thinking clearly,” Steele told a House committee.

“It was like watching color 4k TV after seeing black and white and my whole life,” he explained. I did.”

And Steele said psilocybin has made him a happier person, with better memory and no more suicidal thoughts.

“This drug has restored my relationships, brought me closer to my wife and children, and helped me regain a life worth living,” he said.

Dr. Suzanne Sisley told the House Armed Services and Public Safety Committee that a grant contained in House Bill 2486 would allow Arizona to take a different route to legalizing magic mushrooms simply by voters, like Oregon and Colorado. He said he would walk.

“I hope our state can actually lead the way in science before establishing a regulatory system for selling mushrooms,” Sisley said.

She is a psychiatrist and primary care physician who has spent years researching alternative medicines to treat PTSD and other disorders.

This isn’t the first time Sisley has dealt with state legislators or drug politics.

She was fired ten years ago from the University of Arizona, which had plans to start a federally approved medical marijuana research program. It happened as she tried to overcome opposition from Republicans in Congress.

With the support of veterans who hoped to show results in her research on PTSD, Sisley made the decision to release her as a politician even though she had no conclusive evidence. said. She eventually started the Scottsdale Institute, which aims to develop treatments and pain management for her PTSD using marijuana and other natural compounds.

At a hearing earlier this month, Sisley told lawmakers that clinical trials conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for the Study of Psychedelics and Consciousness have shown promising results. Although he said he was using synthetic psilocybin, the proposal unanimously supported by the committee was to consider the whole natural mushroom.

Anecdotal evidence has led veterans and law enforcement officers like Steele to band together to promote treatments using psilocybin mushrooms, but they remain Schedule 1 drugs under federal law. and has no medical or other legal use.

That means federal funding for research into potential treatments using mushrooms wasn’t available until recently. He said it could lead to funding to test and other addiction treatment studies.

Although the therapeutic areas are different, Sisley said federal funding is important.

Republicans and Democrats on House committees accepted the proposal and $30 million in state funding after being questioned about whether mushrooms were addictive. Sisley said it appears to be much less likely than caffeine, and Johns Hopkins research suggests mushrooms could have a big impact in treating addiction.

Another bill that would allow MDMA to be prescribed if the federal government removed it from Schedule 1 restrictions would open another avenue for treating PTSD and similar disorders.

Used illegally for decades as a party drug under the street names Molly and Ecstasy, clinical studies have shown that MDMA is highly effective when administered in the right settings.

The drug is usually administered by a doctor after several visits to a counselor, said Mike Williams, a lobbyist for a company that runs clinical trials. Patients remain in the clinic while under the influence of the drug.

“Eighty percent of patients who have had this treatment have now recovered from their PTSD diagnosis,” Williams said. “It’s a great drug.”

Williams’ comments were based on limited trials, but Democrat Rep. Amish Shah believes there is great potential in using MDMA to treat people with PTSD and depression. said.

Shaw, an emergency room physician at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, which represents the northern Phoenix district, said he was impressed when he read the research on MDMA.

“This is actually causing some ripples in the medical community. When done in a controlled environment with the right therapists trained to do this the right way, there’s a lot more to helping people with PTSD.” It has proven to be very effective.He joined 14 other members of the House Appropriations Committee in approving House Bill 2489.

“I think it’s really great when something like this happens,” Shaw said.

“We know one drug, and when you use it in another situation, it gives people many cures,” he said. And we hope that innovative uses of old medicines will help many people suffering from PTSD.”

Peoria Republican Rep. Kevin Payne, who advocates for legislation addressing issues affecting veterans and law enforcement officers, supports both bills. He called the unanimous approval by both committees the “Kumbaya moment”.

If the bill passes the House, they’re headed for action in the Senate.