Legislation To Let Doctors Prescribe A Form Of Psilocybin After Federal Approval Becomes Law In Colorado, But Is Vetoed In Virginia

Governors in Colorado and Virginia have taken action on bills that would allow the prescription of a synthetic form of psilocybin as soon as the federal government authorizes its use.

Legislatures in both states passed the bills last month. In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed HB25-1063 into law. In Virginia, however, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed SB 1135, calling the proposal “premature.”

Neither bill would have affected the legality of psilocybin itself under state law. Rather, the legislation would create an additional carveout, exempting what’s called crystalline polymorph psilocybin from the definition of the psychedelic if and when the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes its prescription use.

The sponsor of the Colorado bill, Rep. Anthony Hartsook (R), explained earlier in the session that while some states automatically OK medications once they receive FDA approval, that’s not how it works in Colorado.

“The reason I’m doing this now in advance is so we don’t have to wait,” he said in January, “and veterans and people that have not responded to other treatments don’t have to wait for us to come back here and get the wheels moving.”

Upon FDA approval, the new law means healthcare providers in Colorado would be able to immediately prescribe the synthetic form of psilocybin as they would any other pharmaceutical.

The substance, also known as COMP360, is a psilocybin formulation produced and patented by the psychedelics company Compass Pathways.

In Virginia, meanwhile, Youngkin recently vetoed a number of drug reform bills, including the synthetic psilocybin proposal. In a veto statement, he said the state should wait until FDA itself takes action.

“I veto Senate Bill 1135, which directs the Board of Pharmacy to promulgate regulations that allow for prescribing, dispensing, possessing, and using pharmaceutical compositions of crystalline polymorph psilocybin,” he wrote. “This legislation is premature to the appropriate FDA approval and DEA drug scheduling.”

“No other drugs are anachronistically codified by the state before federal approval,” the governor continued. “Psilocybin should first be FDA approved and rescheduled by the DEA before any state legislation should be considered.”

Despite Youngkin’s claim about state codification of substances that have not received federal approval, medical marijuana—which remains federally prohibited—is legal and regulated in Virginia. Dispensaries have legally operated there since 2020.

Adult-use marijuana is also legal in the commonwealth, though sales of the drug are forbidden. Youngkin has for two consecutive years vetoed legislation that would legalize and regulate a commercial market.

Colorado, meanwhile, was not only one of the first states to legalize marijuana for adults but was also the second, after Oregon, to legalize a psilocybin program.

Since January, Colorado regulators have been authorized to approve licenses for psilocybin service centers where adults can access the psychedelic in controlled settings. The governor signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal psychedelics in 2023.

But lawmakers there are evidently interested in also setting the state up for a more conventional system of pharmaceutical distribution. The newly signed synthetic psilocybin law is similar to a 2022 bill Polis signed to legalize MDMA prescriptions in Colorado if and when the federal government ultimately permits its use.

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Whether FDA moves forward with approving either substance is uncertain. The agency faced criticism last year after it rejected an application to allow MDMA-assisted therapy for people with PTSD.

However, some advocates and stakeholders are holding out hope that the tides could shift under the Trump administration, as the president has nominated several cabinet officials who back psychedelics reform, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that oversees FDA.

Lawmakers in several other states are considering legislation this year to allow prescriptions of crystalline polymorph psilocybin after federal approval, including in Iowa, where HF 383 was introduced in February. A separate, Republican-led proposal in that state would create a state-regulated therapeutic psilocybin program for adults with PTSD.

Other states weighing reform around psilocybin this session include Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Missouri.

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