Magic mushroom advocates hope Arizona grant funding can be saved with new bill
Magic mushroom advocates say a $5 million research grant was a worthy endeavor, even if new legislation fails to save it.
Lawmakers passed the grant subsidy last year with bipartisan votes. The move highlighted national interest in the potential for psilocybin, the source of the mushrooms' psychedelic intoxication, to help with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and other ailments.
But they forgot to include text that allowed the Department of Health Services, which is overseeing the program, to disperse the money to researchers over a multi-year period. The grant is now set to revert back to the state's general fund automatically on July 1, which is too soon to complete the desired research.
Rep. Kevin Payne, a Peoria Republican who sponsored the original bill for the grant, submitted a new bill last week that would exempt the grant from getting pulled back. It seeks an emergency designation so it could take effect before July 1 instead of months later.
But that requires a two-thirds majority vote by the Legislature. Worse, it's coming at a time when lawmakers are trying to find more than $400 million in cuts to this year's budget because of a revenue shortfall. Not doing anything means an automatic $5 million back in the treasury.
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"It's in jeopardy now," Payne said of the research.
Dr. Sue Sisley, a scientist who helped write the grant law, says the new bill's chances of passing are "slim to none." That means hopeful psilocybin researchers won't conduct the study because they know they won't be reimbursed from the grant funds after July. The first research phase will easily cost $1 million or more, said Sisley, who's president and principal investigator at the private Scottsdale Research Institute.
But it's not all bad news for advocates. Sisley said initial startup expenses, like finishing detailed grant proposals and obtaining necessary approval from the Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Agency, will cost up to $50,000 and could be reimbursed in time.
Scientists could then ask private sources for money to move forward with the research, which would be the first of its kind to test the effects of the whole mushrooms themselves instead of synthetic psilocybin, Sisley said.
"There are generous philanthropists who care about this," Sisley said, adding that having the study underway with some state backing would be a good first step.
She also hopes to convince DHS to eliminate the state requirement for FDA approval, which takes a year or more. The requirement was waived for her previous study of cannabis for veterans with PTSD, she said. Doing so would mean researchers could get more accomplished before the July 1 funding deadline.
Psilocybin "deserves to be researched" because it's shown promise in treating PTSD, opioid and other addictions, long COVID's "brain fog," depression, anxiety and chronic pain, she said.
Payne's grant bill created the Psilocybin Research Advisory Council, which had its first meeting in November and has been a magnet for those interested in therapeutic magic mushrooms.
One advocate, Andrew Dean, created Citizens for Psilocybin two months ago to help deliver information about mushrooms to the stakeholders and the public. Research on psilocybin could lead to the legalization of its medicinal use, he said.
"We want to bring some regulation to it, so that people are using it appropriately and getting the proper therapy," Dean said. "It increases the effectiveness."
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Psilocybin research funding 'in jeopardy' unless Arizona bill Ok'd
