Doctors, therapists and advocates laud benefits of psychedelic mushrooms at CT Capitol

In a sharp shift from past decades, the Connecticut legislature is exploring the decriminalization of psychedelic mushrooms that are now seen as offering possible relief for anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Advocates want to decriminalize possession of small amounts of psilocybin mushrooms, and they are pushing for that in the 2024 legislative session that starts on Feb. 7. The state House of Representatives passed a similar bill last year, but the issue was never debated in the Senate before time ran out.

The advocates gathered Wednesday at the state Capitol complex in Hartford with invited speakers that included medical doctors, therapists, and those pushing for decriminalization of mushrooms.

Courtney Barnes, a California attorney, said the movement has spread around the country since its inception in Denver in 2019.

“It was a monumental moment for the nation” upon the first approval, she said. “Denver was the first. It was specific to psilocybin only. … You don’t have to have cancer, PTSD.”

Since then, more than 25 cities have passed actions for decriminalization, including Oakland, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Somerville, a small city of 80,000 residents outside Boston. Getting passage at the local level, she said, has been faster and easier than trying to pass a law at the state level.

“It is a really incredible time for the movement right now,” Barnes told the panel at the forum. “It’s a natural product, and it just makes sense. … This isn’t something that we should be criminalizing. We’ve seen this with cannabis. … Just because it’s prohibited, just because it isn’t allowed doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”

Psilocybin is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which is illegal and deemed dangerous.

Advocates said that Gov. Ned Lamont had threatened to veto last year’s version of the bill, and they said this year’s version is similar.

“The governor has concerns about broad decriminalization of mushrooms,” Lamont spokesman David Bednarz said Wednesday. “However, it is a bit too early to speculate because a bill has not been filed yet, and we have no language to review.”

While the invited speakers Wednesday were strongly in favor of decriminalization, some state legislators are adamantly opposed.

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said recently that decriminalization is a bad idea that is heading in the wrong direction.

“The Democrats are creating a culture of drugs,” Candelora said. “It started with marijuana. Now, we’re going to transition to magic mushrooms. Next, it will be cocaine and heroin. The reality is we’ve already seen [increases in] wrong-way driving and fentanyl deaths, and none of this seems to be concerning” to some legislators.

Candelora agreed that some patients need to be treated for medical purposes.

“That drug use should be done under a doctor’s care, not under self-medication,” Candelora said. “This is just a veiled attempt to continue to decriminalize illicit drug use under the guise that there’s some medicinal value to it.”

Invited speakers

The forum was organized by Democratic state Rep. David Michel of Stamford and others. They expected as many as 30 people to speak during the forum, which started at 10 a.m. and lasted until 1:20 p.m. Wednesday. Multiple speakers said their patients are concerned about getting a criminal record for consuming mushrooms.

Sarah Gersten of West Hartford, executive director and general counsel of the Last Prisoner Project, said that mushrooms are a “safe, effective, non-addictive treatment” for various mental health conditions.

“Unfortunately, the stigma … remains,” Gerston said.

She said the legislature needs to provide “retroactive relief” for those arrested in the past for possession of mushrooms. Lawmakers have already passed the “clean slate” law that is designed to wipe away past criminal convictions for various other offenses.

Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a primary care doctor in Boston, said that his father was a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who was “a little bit ahead of his time” by studying psychedelics decades ago. Mushrooms can be used to treat alcoholism, depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD, and end-of-life care, he said.

”Ten percent of people have bad trips, which can be scary,” said Grinspoon, who is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Other patients, though, receive benefits from mushrooms, he said.

“Why criminalize something that people are going to do anyways?” he asked. “I don’t think the drug is that harmful. … It is really, really promising — the psychedelic-assisted therapy.”

Dr. Jordan Sloshower, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Yale Medical School, has been studying the issue in clinical trials with “no serious adverse events” medically.

“This is not a magic bullet theory as sometimes the media portrays,” he said. “It doesn’t work for everyone.”

Erin Doolittle, a licensed marriage and family therapist for 20 years who specializes in trauma, said the largest barriers to using psilocybin are stigma and law enforcement.

“People are in pain, and no amount of talk therapy is going to cure them from what ails them,” Doolittle said. “I consider cannabis to be the daily driver. It’s going to help you get through your day.”

Patients should be able to use marijuana and mushrooms with “no shame, no fear of enforcement,” she said. “No one should go to jail for a plant or a fungus.”

During the Connecticut House debate last year, lawmakers were split over the issue — mainly along party lines.

The measure passed by 86-64 with two Republicans joining with the Democrats for passage and 13 moderate Democrats, including six deputy speakers, breaking with their party and voting against the bill. Even with the House passage, the measure must start over this year and must be passed by both chambers and signed into law by the governor.

Chandra Campanelli, a registered nurse who is also a health and wellness nurse coach, said she hopes this year will be different.

“This year, 2024, Connecticut legislators absolutely must decriminalize psilocybin,” Campanelli told colleagues. “I challenge our legislators to be bold, to be trailblazers.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com