Maryland’s psychedelics task force has come out with an initial report as it gathers information about various regulatory and public health considerations that could pave the path for the legalization of substances such as psilocybin, mescaline and DMT for medical or recreational purposes in the state.
And while the panel is so far in consensus that Maryland lawmakers should pursue establishing a regulatory framework for psychedelics, members are emphasizing their interest in hearing from a wider variety of voices as they prepare a final report due in October—because, so far, they haven’t heard from any opponents who feel the substances should be strictly prohibited, despite intensive outreach efforts.
The Maryland Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances was formed following Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) signing of a pair of bills into law in May of last year. The 17-person body, overseen by the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA), is charged with studying how to ensure “broad, equitable and affordable access to psychedelic substances” in the state.
Now the panel has come out with its interim report—which it says is the product of “over 100 meetings, reflecting more than 500 hours of volunteer service by Task Force members above and beyond their professional responsibilities.”
“Our preliminary findings suggest a consensus supporting regulated frameworks such as medical and therapeutic use, supervised adult use, and/or commercial sales of natural psychedelic substances, with an initial focus on psilocybin,” the task force said. “These models show promise in addressing unmet mental health needs, enabling safety oversight, and offering viable economic pathways for small businesses.”
Members also stressed that, at this point, the panel “does not support delaying state action pending future federal [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] approval.”
At this point, the task force is only looking at psilocybin, mescaline and DMT. While the legislature empowered members to investigate potential regulations for other psychedelic substances, they decided to take a more conservative approach in their initial work.
“This is a report to pull all the information together—but we are to make recommendations of how we should move forward with the responsible use of psychedelics,” Andrew Coop, chair of the task force and a professor of pharmaceutical science who also serves as associate dean at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.
“We have very much an open free hand to advocate or to propose and recommend whatever we’ve liked,” he said. “One of the things that we’re struggling with is that we really need to hear from the voices that are against loosening up accessibility to psychedelic agents.”
“We hear from many individuals—some folks just want medical use, some folks just medical use for veterans with PTSD, some folks would like wide availability, some folks would like grow at home, some like commercial sharing—and we’re looking at all these,” Coop said. “One of the things we’re not hearing from are individuals who are against loosening up the regulation.”
Another member of the task force, Laura D’Amato Barrett, said it’s not unusual for people who are passionately for or against a given policy to make their voices heard first, and so the group is “targeting the people that we think might oppose this and begging them for comment and begging them for feedback.”
Task force member Timothy Hamiltone echoed that point, saying the panel wants “a diversity of opinions in this—otherwise we look like we’re cheerleaders.”
“We do not want to be cheerleaders. I mean, I’m personally a strong proponent, but I put that aside because that’s not my job. So we have looked for people—because at least you get them on paper—then you’re like, ‘Alright, we’ve done our due diligence.’”
But even people who they expected to offer some skeptical feedback on regulatory models for psychedelics so far haven’t made the case for outright prohibition. That includes a law enforcement representative, who signaled interest in providing access to these natural substances and highlighted the potential therapeutic benefits for officers with post-traumatic stress disorder, for example.
“Frankly, this has been a big concern of ours: that we cannot find opposition,” he said.
The task force’s final report is due October 30, after which point its psychedelics recommendations will be forwarded to the legislature for further consideration. The panel has a website to help people submit their feedback as that report is being finalized.
The interim report includes 85 potential recommendations, which touch on cross-model propositions, decriminalization/deprioritization of psychedelics, non-commercial peer sharing, commercial sales, religious use, supervised adult use, medical use and FDA-approved use.
As originally introduced, the House version of the task force legislation contained more prescriptive requirements to explore and issue recommendations on aspects of psychedelics policy such as “systems to support statewide online sales of natural psychedelic substances with home delivery” and “testing and packaging requirements for products containing natural psychedelic substances with clear and accurate labeling of potency.” That language was ultimately removed, however.
The task force legislation advanced about two years after a different law took effect creating a state fund to provide “cost-free” access to psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
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Meanwhile in Maryland, the governor in June issued another mass pardon for people with past marijuana possession convictions, granting clemency to about 7,000 more people on the holiday Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery.
In February, Moore also touted in his State of the State address legislation that would expand opportunities for people to have their criminal records for marijuana expunged, allowing people who violated terms of their parole or probation to petition courts to erase those records.
In April, Moore signed a series of cannabis bills, including one that will require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.
He further signed off on legislation that will allow adults to manufacture marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use, as well as a measure dealing with rules around cannabis consumption lounges.
Separately, the Maryland Senate also passed a measure this session to protect for fire and rescue workers from being penalized for off-duty use of medical marijuana, though it did not advance through the House.
Employers could not “discipline, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against the fire and rescue public safety employee with respect to the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” based solely on a positive screening for THC metabolites under the legislation.
In January, officials in Maryland’s most populous county separately said they were moving to loosen marijuana policies for would-be police officers in an effort to boost recruitment amid a staffing shortage.
Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.
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