Vermont Psychedelics Task Force Recommends Harm Reduction Education For Use ‘Outside Of A Legalized System’

A report from a working group in Vermont tasked with evaluating opportunities surrounding psychedelic-assisted therapy concludes that psilocybin has the potential to help manage depression and anxiety. But members stopped short of advising any major changes to how the state regulates access to psychedelics, instead calling for increased harm-reduction training for healthcare providers and the public.

“Spoiler alert: nothing exciting,” psychologist Rick Barnett, co-founder of the Psychedelic Society of Vermont and the task force’s representative for the Vermont Psychological Association, said about the report on social media this week.

Top-level recommendations from the Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group’s report advise increased harm-reduction training for health practitioners and the public, noting the growing trend of psychedelics use for therapeutic and recreational use.

“As psilocybin and other psychedelic substance use increases in Vermont and nationally,” a summary section says, “the group recommends developing and funding harm reduction training and education for health practitioners and the public.”

“Regardless of any regulatory change pursued by the legislature,” the group added, “there was widespread agreement that it would be beneficial to develop education for the public and training for practitioners to reduce risk for those who choose to use psilocybin outside of a legalized system. This recognizes that there are limitations to what licensing boards can develop if use is not legal.”

The report also recommends lawmakers extend the work of the psychedelics task force “to monitor the evolution of research and programs across the country and to facilitate the ability to research psychedelic therapies in Vermont.”

“Although not the only promising area of application supported by existing science,” it says, “the group demonstrated general consensus regarding the potential for psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression and anxiety in the context of serious illness & end-of-life care.”

#vtpoli here’s the report from Act 126 Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Group. Spoiler alert: nothing exciting @MarijuanaMoment@PsydelicsToday@Josh__Hardmanhttps://t.co/ybUBcTgSVO

— Dr. Rick Barnett, PsyD 😊 (@drrickbarnett) November 13, 2024

In terms of more major reforms, the report notes the task force “found it difficult to conclude which model should be pursued in Vermont.”

“Data from existing programs, while promising, are insufficient to inform the public health impact of legalizing the therapeutic use of psilocybin or other psychedelic substances,” it says. “The group did not reach a consensus, though the majority did not recommend the creation of a state program for psychedelic therapy at this time.”

Members were conflicted, acknowledging in the report both the possible risks of delaying a promising therapy option as well as those of moving forward with a state program at a time when most other jurisdictions still prohibit psychedelics.

“Concerns expressed included the practicalities of creating and enforcing standards of care in an environment of federal prohibition or without broad national consensus,” the document says. “There were also concerns about delaying access to this approach with appropriate safeguards given the mental health and addiction crisis in Vermont.”

Among some options, members considered facilitated-use models for therapeutic psychedelics, as have been adopted in Oregon and Colorado. They also weighed recommending a decriminalization model paired with public health, safety and education initiatives as well as the creation of practice guidelines for medical and mental health practitioners around integration of psychedelic-assisted therapy into existing care.

Another option would be to create a right-to-try framework in the state that could allow patients with serious and terminal conditions to seek psychedelic treatment despite it not having received approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In practice, efforts by some patients to obtain psilocybin in states that already have right-to-try laws have been frustrated by pushback by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“While each of these possibilities had support from some members, there was not a clear consensus among the group for moving forward with most of these measures at this time, with concerns about efficacy, safety, and practicalities cited as barriers,” the task force said. “The Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Group attests to the curiosity and hope for the potential strong application of the research on psychedelics as medicines and therapy, and that a segment of the population may benefit from these applications in the future.”

As noted by Barnett, the working group’s report is a relatively unexciting conclusion given that the legislation behind it initially sought to legalize the use and possession of psilocybin more broadly in Vermont. Lawmakers on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, however, deleted that section of the bill to focus instead on the therapeutic working group.

Changes also removed an earlier provision directing the task force to provide an opportunity “for individuals with lived experience to provide testimony.”

“Personally, I’m very disappointed that they took out the conversation about decriminalization,” Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick (D), the sponsor of the bill, said at the time. “I mean, this is literally a group that’s just going to be talking and looking at data and researching.”

In May, Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed the amended S.114 to create the working group, charged with making recommendations on whether and how the state should regulate legal access to substances such as psilocybin and MDMA.

The job of the eight-person task force, according to the law, is to “review the latest research and evidence of the public health benefits and risks of clinical psychedelic assisted treatments” and “examine the laws and programs of other states that have authorized the use of psychedelics by health care providers in a therapeutic setting.”

Separately this past legislative session, Vermont became the third state to authorize the use of overdose prevention centers (OPCs), which allow people to use drugs in safer settings supervised by trained staff. Regulators unveiled operating guidelines for the facilities in September.

Scott had originally vetoed the bill that legalized OPCs, but lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto in June.

Meanwhile a study published last month found that millions of Americans—as many as 6 in 10 people currently receiving treatment for depression in the U.S.—could qualify for psilocybin-assisted therapy if the treatment were approved by FDA.

Also last month, a Senate committee in nearby New Jersey approved a bill that would legalize a therapeutic psilocybin program in the state, with even hesitant lawmakers saying that they’re coming around on the psychedelics proposal.

And in Minnesota, a task force charged with making psychedelics-related policy recommendations to lawmakers recently advised that lawmakers decriminalize the use and possession of personal-use amounts of psilocybin mushrooms—one of the latest suggestions set to go into the panel’s report set to go to the state legislature in January.

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Vermont Lawmakers Send Bill To Legalize And Fund Safe Drug Consumption Site To Governor’s Desk

Lawmakers in Vermont have passed legislation to legalize and fund a Burlington facility where people could use currently prohibited substances in a medically supervised environment—part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the state’s ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. The measure now heads to the desk of Gov. Phil Scott (R), who vetoed an earlier 2022 measure that would have created a task force to study such sites.

The House of Representatives signed off on Senate-made changes to the bill, H.72, in a voice vote on Tuesday. The Senate approved the measure after making the changes last week.

House lawmakers approved a previous version of the bill in January, as Rep. Theresa Wood (D) reminded colleagues ahead of Tuesday’s floor vote.

“Members may have forgotten about this bill,” she joked. “It was one of the very first ones we passed back in January.”

If enacted, the legislation would create an overdose prevention centers (OPC) Burlington, with $1.1 million set aside in funding plus another $300,000 to study the study the impact of the pilot project. The OPC would need to have on-site professionals with training in CPR, overdose interventions, first aid and wound care, as well as medical assessments to determine the need for further emergency care.

“The Vermont Department of Health has a public health campaign that tells all people with substance use disorder to never use alone, because doing so can be extremely dangerous,” Wood told House colleagues. “Between 2012 and 2023, there were over 1,500 Vermonters that died. The vast majority of them did not have a bystander. This is a shocking loss of lives—lives that were our friends, our family members, our community members and so many Vermonters, all of whom deserved a chance to live and heal.”

Beyond establishing a site where people could use drugs in a medically supervised setting, the bill also now includes a Senate-added requirement that the facility provide drug-checking services, and it includes language on criminal immunity for OPC staff, property holders and others to ensure they aren’t subject to arrest or prosecution as the result of good-faith overdose prevention efforts.

If it becomes law, Vermont would join Rhode Island and Minnesota in authorizing the facilities.

Sponsored by Rep. Taylor Small (P/D) and 28 House colleagues, the bill is another attempt by lawmakers to allow overdose prevention centers following Scott’s veto of a 2022 measure that would have established a task force to create a plan to open the sites.

Earlier this year, the governor said he’s still skeptical of this session’s proposal. “I just don’t think that a government entity should be in the business of enabling those who are addicted to these drugs that are illegal,” he said in January, as the measure passed out of the House in its earlier form.

Scott wrote in his 2022 veto message on the earlier legislation that “it seems counterintuitive to divert resources from proven harm reduction strategies to plan injection sites without clear data on the effectiveness of this approach.”

Some who opposed the bill during Tuesday’s House session said they felt it was premature, as the sites are not federally approved.

“If this site does get established in Burlington, you can be assured that I may be the first one going on up there saying, ‘How can I help?'” said Rep. Eric McGuire, a program manager at a family services center in Rutland who provides volunteer ministerial services at the Vermont Department of Corrections. “But this is not a proven practice at this time in our country.”

“I believe in cutting edge approaches to harm reduction as a practitioner in our field,” McGuire said, but he added that “we have an obligation and a duty as practitioners to follow the models as outlined, whether it’s the ethical standards and the moral standards,” arguing that OPCs have not been recognized by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or the National Institutes of Health.

“My fear is this is going to result in unintended consequences that could damage anything moving any further,” he said.

Rep. Casey Toof (R) said he agreed with McGuire’s criticism but also opposed using money from the state’s opioid settlement fund to pay for a single site in Burlington.

“I’m just looking at the $1.1 million that we’re going to allocate to one municipality that the rest of the state’s gonna have to pick up and pay for,” he said. “I don’t see my constituents using the services that are provided in these injection booths.”

“This is a pilot project,” responded Wood. “I want to point out that this is a pilot project, very much for us to learn from this experience. And the city of Burlington is equipped—and has requested, frankly, the ability to be a pilot project for this.”

She said the experiment could “assist in saving lives in the city of Burlington and assist our state in understanding better what this could mean for harm reduction.”

Today's press conference was powerful with so many voices in support of #OPCs.

And, today bill H.72 officially passed the #VT legislature! #vtpoli

It's time for OPCs in VT. Tell Gov. Scott to sign the bill: https://t.co/SV2H3t40wKpic.twitter.com/vbBszgcuvQ

— Decriminalize Vermont (@DecrimVermont) May 7, 2024

As passed by the House earlier this year, the legislation would have instead created two overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in undeclared parts of the state, with $2 million set aside in funding for the facilities. A broad amendment adopted in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee last month, however, narrowed the pilot program to a single site in the city of Burlington, where officials have expressed interest in hosting a facility.

In addition to endorsements from the current and former mayors of Burlington itself, the proposal has support from advocacy groups including the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, National Harm Reduction Coalition, the American Diabetes Association, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Johnson Health Center, Broken No More, Recovery Vermont and the Vermont Association for Mental Health Addiction and Recovery.

Separately on Tuesday, a Vermont’s Senate committee endorsed a small change to a measure that would establish a working group to study whether and how to allow therapeutic access to psychedelics, a proposal that next heads to the chamber floor. If that bill becomes law, a report from the working group would be due to the legislature in November with recommendations on how to regulate the substances.

The change approved in committee would direct the Vermont Psychological Association to collaborate with the state Department of Health to help staff and provide technical assistance to body.

As originally introduced, that bill, S.114, would have also legalized use and possession of psilocybin, but lawmakers on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee nixed that section to focus instead on the working group.

Though Rhode Island and Minnesota have state laws on the books allowing safe drug consumption sites, New York City became the first U.S. jurisdiction to open locally sanctioned harm reduction centers in November 2021, and officials have reported positive results saving lives.

An early study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that the facilities had decreased the risk of overdose, steered people away from using drugs in public and provided other ancillary health services to people who use illicit substances. And separate research published by AMA late last year found that the centers have not led to increased crime despite a significant decrease in arrests.

Meanwhile the federal government has fought an effort to open an overdose prevention center in Philadelphia, with the Biden administration arguing that the facilities violate federal law. Last month, the court in that case granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss a challenge from organizers.

The Supreme Court rejected a request to that hear that case in October 2021.

DOJ first blocked the Philadelphia nonprofit from opening the overdose prevention center under the Trump administration. Supporters hoped the department would cede the issue under President Joe Biden, who has promoted harm reduction policies as an alternative to criminalization, but the parties could not reach an agreement to allow the facility to open despite months of “good faith” negotiations.

Congressional researchers have highlighted the “uncertainty” of the federal government’s position on such facilities, pointing out last November that lawmakers could temporarily resolve the issue by advancing an amendment modeled after the one that has allowed medical marijuana laws to be implemented without Justice Department interference.

Meanwhile, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has tacitly endorsed the idea of authorizing safe consumption sites, arguing that evidence has effectively demonstrated that the facilities can prevent overdose deaths.

Volkow declined to say specifically what she believes should happen with the ongoing lawsuit, but she said safe consumption sites that have been the subject of research “have shown that it has saved a significant [percentage of] patients from overdosing.”

Rahul Gupta, the White House drug czar, has said the Biden administration is reviewing broader drug policy harm reduction proposals, including the authorization of supervised consumption sites, and he went so far as to suggest possible decriminalization.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications in December 2021 to investigate how safe consumption sites and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.

Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), has said it’s critical to explore “any and every option” to reduce overdose deaths, which could include allowing safe consumption sites for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.

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Vermont Governor Allows Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill To Take Effect Without His Signature

The governor of Vermont announced on Wednesday that he will allow a bill to legalize marijuana sales in the state to take effect without his signature. He also signed separate legislation to automate expungements for prior cannabis convictions.

While Vermont legalized personal possession of up to one ounce and cultivation of two plants for adults in 2018, retails sales have remained prohibited. But now with Gov. Phil Scott’s (R) decision not to veto the new cannabis commercialization bill, a tax-and-regulate system will finally be implemented.

Differing versions of the marijuana sales proposal passed each chamber before being reconciled in a bicameral conference committee last month. The legislature then approved the finalized proposal and sent it to Scott’s desk. The governor had been noncommittal about his plans for the legislation—even up until the day before the signature deadline—and had hinted that he was even considering vetoing the bill. But he ultimately gave legal cannabis supporters a win by deciding not to block the reform.

In the conference committee, legislators worked fastidiously to ensure that Scott’s stated concerns about the policy change were largely addressed. Those issues primarily related to impaired driving, taxes and local control.

But after the legislature advanced a finalized form, Scott threw advocates for a loop, stating that while he appreciated the legislative process that the bill went through, certain racial justice groups had raised concerns with his office about the extent to which the proposal addressed social equity in the cannabis industry for communities historically targeted by the war on drugs. There was some suspicion that the governor was using that pushback as an excuse to veto S. 54.

On Tuesday, the day before his deadline to act on the bill, the governor said lawmakers “did move forward in a lot of areas that I had concerns about, but it still isn’t exactly what I’d like to see and there are some shortcomings.”

In the end, however, he stood out of the way and took no proactive action.

“However, there is still more work to be done to ensure the health and safety of our kids and the safety of our roadways—we should heed the public health and safety lessons of tobacco and alcohol,” Scott wrote in a letter to lawmakers announcing his decision. “Further, I believe we are at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history which requires us to address systemic racism in our governmental institutions. We must take additional steps to ensure equity is a foundational principle in a new market.”

“The concerns with this bill of the communities historically most negatively affected by cannabis enforcement were not meaningfully incorporated into this bill,” he said.

The governor raised several areas where he feels lawmakers can tweak the legislation in the 2021 session.

The new law will give existing medical cannabis businesses an “an unfair head start on market access” over would-be new entrants to the legal industry, he said, arguing that lawmakers “should consider include creating a social equity applicant category for cannabis establishment licenses” as well as a 50 percent licensing fee waiver for those applicants and additional technical and financial assistance.

“And in the event the Legislature maintains the current integrated licensing structure, to make it more equitable revenues from those licensees could be directed to benefit social equity applicants and the communities historically most negatively impacted by cannabis enforcement,” Scott wrote.

He also expressed concern about cannabis vaping products, marketing that could appeal to youth, roadside impaired driving enforcement training for police and the timeline for appointing a new regulatory board as well as the process by which its members could be removed.

Finally, Scott said that the 30 percent of cannabis excise taxes that are set aside for substance misuse prevention programs should be allocated by the Commissioner of Health. “As passed, this funding could be raided by the Legislature and used for other unrelated purposes,” he wrote.

It’s possible that there was some political calculus involved in the decision to let the bill go into law despite his concerns, as his reelection challenger, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (D), is a vocal advocate for legalization and has raised the issue in recent appearances.

Zuckerman stressed in a debate last week that while he agrees with the sentiment that more needs to be done to ensure racial justice, an imperfect bill can be improved upon, and the legislature has plenty of time to finesse the details before legal cannabis sales launch.

He also noted that separate legislation providing for automatic expungements of prior cannabis convictions, which Scott signed on Wednesday, would complement the restorative justice provisions of the tax-and-regulate bill.

A coalition of Vermont civil rights and criminal justice reform groups including the state’s ACLU chapter released a statement on Sunday that says while they shared concerns about the limitations of the social equity components of the marijuana commerce bill, they felt it could be built upon and wanted the governor to sign it, in addition to the expungements legislation.

“This has been a top priority for the majority in the Legislature for four years, but their work is not complete,” Scott said on Wednesday. “They must ensure equity in this new policy and prevent their priority from becoming a public health problem for current and future generations.”

Legalization advocates celebrated the fact that another state system of regulated cannabis sales is set to come online.

“It’s a great relief to learn that Vermont will finally move forward with plans to replace prohibition with sensible regulation,” Matt Simon, New England Political Director for the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment. “Legislators bent over backwards to address Gov. Scott’s concerns throughout this process, and it’s now clear that these difficult compromises weren’t made in vain.”

“Much work remains to create a responsible and equitable cannabis industry in Vermont, but now that S. 54 has passed the state is definitely on the right track,” he said.

State Attorney General T.J. Donovan (D) said in a Twitter post that the new bill “brings good governance & common sense to VT’s cannabis law. It will provide revenue to fund protections for consumers, education programs & safety measures.”

Over the past year I have advocated for a system to tax & regulate the sale & consumption of cannabis. S.54 brings good governance & common sense to VT’s cannabis law. It will provide revenue to fund protections for consumers, education programs & safety measures. #vtpoli

— Vermont AG Donovan (@VTAttorneyGen) October 7, 2020

Under the tax-and-regulate bill, a new Cannabis Control Commission will be responsible for issuing licenses for retailers, growers, manufacturers, wholesalers and labs. The body will also take over regulation of the state’s existing medical cannabis industry from the Department of Public Safety.

A 30 percent THC limit will be imposed on cannabis flower, while oils could contain up to 60 percent THC. Flavored vape cartridges will be banned.

Local jurisdictions will have to proactively opt in to allow marijuana businesses to operate in their area. Municipalities will also be able to establish their own regulations and municipal licensing requirements.

A timeline for the legislation states that it will formally take effect on October 1, 2020—but regulators would then have to make a series of determinations about rules and licensing before retail sales would launch. Dispensary licenses will have to be issued on or before October 1, 2022.

A fiscal analysis on the final bill projects that Vermont will generate between $13.3 million and $24.2 million in annual cannabis tax revenue by Fiscal Year 2025. Licensing fees will lead to additional funds for the state, but the regulatory board created by the legislation will set those levels at a later date. For now, the Joint Fiscal Office estimates the fees could lead to another $650,000 in revenue every year. Municipalities hosting marijuana businesses will also be able to levy additional local fees.

The separate expungements bill would make it so those with convictions for marijuana possession of up to two ounces, four mature plants and eight immature plants prior to January 2021 would have their records automatically cleared. Those who receive expungements would be notified by mail.

The governor had vetoed an earlier version of a noncommercial legalization bill in 2018 before negotiating changes with lawmakers that made him comfortable with signing revised a revised form of the legislation.

Read Scott’s full letter to lawmakers below:

Vermont Governor Marijuana Bill Letter by Marijuana Moment on Scribd

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Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily.