When Will Psychedelics Become Legal? - 2022 Update and Timeline

Although we offer legal psychedelic therapy in the form of ketamine treatment, people are often interested in other psychedelic compounds for healing. The field is complex and evolving. This is a 2022 update about the legality and FDA approval process of psychedelics for therapy and personal growth.

What’s Legal in 2022

Ketamine Therapy in Colorado and Boulder

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is legal, safe and creates psychedelic experiences for healing.

Ketamine Therapy

Ketamine is a legal medicine that began to be used off-label for mental health issues around 2005, following observational studies that indicated ketamine helped with depression. Since then, many more studies have looked at ketamine therapy for depression, anxiety, chronic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and more.

Ketamine is legal in all US states, and is prescribed by a doctor, psychiatrist, or psychiatric nurse practicioner.

Here at Psychedelic Growth, we combine ketamine as a medicine with therapy which leads to better and more lasting outcomes than stand-alone ketamine infusions.

Other Psychedelics: What is Decriminalization?

Various cities and states have begun efforts to decriminalize certain psychedelics. Decriminalization is not the same as legalization. Decriminalization means there are local laws that require police agencies to put psychedelics on the lowest priority for prosecution. It often includes a removal of criminal penalties for possession of psychedelics. Here is a list of cities that have decriminalized psychedelics:

• Denver, Colorado (2019)

• Oakland, California (2019)

• Santa Cruz, California (2019)

• Washington, D.C. (2020)

• Somerville, Massachusetts (2021)

• Cambridge, Massachusetts (2021)

• Seattle, Washington (2021)

• Ann Arbor, Michigan (2021)

Decriminalization as a strategy remains controversial. Importantly, these efforts do not create a legal market for psychedelics (you can’t buy them in a legal way). In addition, decriminalization does not create a regulated framework to access psychedelic therapy. Psychedelics could be used by yourself, with an underground guide, or in a group (if you know where to find them).

Psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms)

Psilocybin Therapy

Psychedelic (magic) mushrooms contain psilocybin, a powerful psychedelic used for treating mental illnesses.

Psilocybin is the ‘magic’ compound found in magic mushrooms. It’s the chemical that both causes a psychedelic trip and appears to have strong therapeutic effects for a variety of conditions. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted psilocybin the status of a Breakthrough Therapy for depression in 2018 following preliminary evidence suggesting psilocybin combined with psychotherapy may be an enormous improvement over existing therapies. The “breakthrough therapy” status is meant to speed along the FDA approval process, signaling that these breakthrough therapies are just that - a breakthrough - that should be sped along to the public.

Since then, psilocybin has been used (or is being now used) in clinical trials to treat:

• Depression

• Eating Disorders

• End-Of-Life Distress

• Alcohol Abuse

• Bipolar Disorder

• Stimulant Abuse

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Migraine Headaches

Oregon Psilcybin Services Program

In 2020 the voters of Oregon passed a measure to create the Oregeon Psilocybin Services Program. This is a legal (on the state level in Oregon) program that allows access for healing to licensed psilocybin centers. The state also licenses and regulates the growers of magic mushrooms, and the facilitators (guides) who are with people while they use psilocybin at a licensed healing center. In 2022, this program is beginning to be implemented with services anticipated to be available in 2023.

If you don’t live in Oregon you can travel there to recieve psychedelic therapy. While psilocybin remains illegal on the federal level, this state-level program is legal and regulated.

Legal Psychedelic Therapy in Colorado - The Natural Medicine Health Act

In 2022, advocates in Colorado created the Natural Medicine Health Act (Proposition 122). From the website:

“Proposition 122 is designed to create regulated access to natural psychedelic medicines for veterans struggling with PTSD, people facing a terminal illness, and adults dealing with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges in a way that maximizes safety. Adults 21 and older will be able to access research-backed psychedelic medicines under the guidance of a licensed facilitator at designated and licensed healing centers, approved health-care facilities like palliative care, and in the comfort and safety of their own home.

Nobody should face prosecution for trying to heal. Proposition 122 ends criminal prosecution simply for the personal use and possession of these natural medicines. Individuals with a criminal record related to natural medicines would be able to petition the courts to seal their record at no cost to them.”

If this measure passes, Colorado will have 2 years to create the regulatory framework for psychedelic therapy. The Act would decriminalize and make available these natural medicines:

• Psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms)

• Ibogaine

• Mescaline (excluding peyote)

• DMT (a compound found in Ayahuacsa, an indigenous plant medicine found in South America)

The proposal remains controversial, however the number of positive endorsements is higher than those against it. As of this writing, it’s unclear whether the measure will pass.

"Yes" Endorsements

ACLU of Colorado •Veterans of War • ProgressNow Colorado • Law Enforcement Action Partners • The Durango Herald • Boulder Weekly • Peaks Recovery Center • Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights • Rocky Mountain Regenerative Medicine • Naropa University • Libertarian Party of CO • Arapahoe County Green Party • Psychedelic Medicine Coalition • Psychedelics Today

"No" Endorsements

The Denver Gazette • Smart Approach to Marijuana • Blue Rising Together

MDMA (Ecstasy)

When Will MDMA Therapy Become Legal and Available?

MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) has been spearheading advocacy and research on MDMA’s medical applications for over 20 years. MAPS has reported promising study results in patients with chronic PTSD, and MDMA has gained momentum as a potentially life-changing therapy for these individuals who haven’t been helped by conventional treatments. 

In 2021, MAPS completed their phase III study on MDMA therapy for PTSD. Now, they’re in the process of a second phase III study, expected to wrap up at the end of 2022. Then MAPS will apply for FDA approval. It is anticipated that FDA approval may come in late 2023. Once it’s an FDA approved medicine, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will move MDMA off it’s schedule 1 classification, and MDMA therapy could be available to eligible patients in 2024. It’s also expected that the ‘prescription’ for MDMA will include therapy; the two components will have to be combined.

LSD (Acid)

Source: BBC World Service

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Although it’s now illegal in all US states and seen as a dangerous recreational drug, it has a long history of medical use.

In the 1950’s LSD was sent to psychaitrists in several countries by its maker Sandoz, in an effort to discover a use for LSD in treating mental issues. Between the years of 1950 and 1965, some 40,000 patients had been prescribed one form of LSD therapy or another as treatment for anxiety, schizophrenia, alcoholism and depression. It was even prescribed to children with autism, and it’s rumored that the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) used LSD to treat his own alcoholism as well as recommend the treatment to other alcoholics.

Research into the potential therapeutic effects of LSD and other hallucinogens had produced over 1,000 scientific papers and six international conferences. These findings were promising, and LSD was seen as a hopeful new treatment for mental illnesses.

The research was halted in the 1960’s when LSD became associated with the counterculture and President Nixon championed its exile in 1968 with the Controlled Substances Act.

As of 2022, there’s no effort to legalize or decriminalize LSD, although its use in clinical trials is growing.

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