Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Working to Make it Easier for Researchers to Treat Veterans with PTSD with Mushrooms

Thursday, November 30th, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) To give Wisconsin veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder more options, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to make it easier for researchers to treat those with acute PTSD with the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. 

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the bill would create a state trust fund called the "medicinal psilocybin treatment program" that would be administered by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The school has been studying the use of psilocybin and MDMA, another psychedelic compound commonly known as ecstasy, to treat depression, substance abuse and PTSD since 2014. In 2021, UW-Madison launched a new center for that research.

Psilocybin, found in mushrooms that grow naturally in Mexico, Central America and the U.S., is considered a schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act, which warns of "high potential for abuse" according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The compound is also illegal in Wisconsin.

In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released guidance to researchers using psychedelic drugs in mental health studies, which some believe could help bring the developing field into the mainstream.

"Our federal government has failed us when it comes to marijuana and the psilocybin and all these other variants that are out there in doing these studies," State Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona, told WPR. "So, if states have to take it upon themselves to do it, then I guess that's what we should be doing."

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