Last year, the General Assembly legalized small amounts of marijuana. This year, as Michael Pope reports, they are debating decriminalizing psilocybin.
Magic mushrooms are on the docket at the General Assembly, where members of the state Senate are considering a bill that would decriminalize psilocybin. Will Nelson of the group Decriminalize Nature Virginia says this is a drug that can help with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, especially coming out of the pandemic.
"The reason we need to do this now and pursue this now is because people need to heal. Virginians need to heal," Nelson says. "And if we want folks to come back from this at full productive capacity ready to make a difference in the world, ready to meetup with their families, their friends and go back to work, then this is a part of that."
Some military veterans groups support the issue, saying the drug helps vets deal with the trauma of war. That's one of the reasons why the bill has the support of Republican Senate Leader Tommy Norment.
"I have had a number of clients that have come back from Afghanistan and other areas suffering from PTSD," Norment explains. "And they have only been able to get relief through medicinal disbursements that don't come out of the VA hospital. So this is not the first time I have heard about this drug."
Senators suspect this bill might hit a roadblock in the Republican-led House, so they're working on creating some guardrails against abuse that might help the bill find approval.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
