Connecticut House Passes Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill To Remove Threat Of Jail For Possessing The Psychedelic
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The Connecticut House of Representatives has approved a bill to decriminalize psilocybin for adults—despite lingering questions about whether the state’s Democratic governor would support it after he rejected an earlier version of the reform measure.
One month after the measure cleared the legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee, it cleared the full chamber in a 74-65 vote on Monday. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.
If enacted into law, the legislation would make possession of up to one-half an ounce of psilocybin punishable by a $150 fine, without the threat of jail time.
“Psilocybin is a product which has been shown to be an effective therapeutic for various mental illnesses, including treating PTSD, addictions, depressions and anxiety disorders,” Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D), co-chair of the Judiciary Committee, said on the floor. “It is a substance that our state currently treats as the equivalent of cocaine, heroin or any other sort of serious Schedule I drug that, if folks are caught with possession of even a tiny little bit, Mr. Speaker, even even personal use of psilocybin, they’d be essentially subject to a class A misdemeanor and up to a year in jail.”
“What this bill seeks to do is pretty simple. It doesn’t legalize the substance. I want to be really clear: This bill does not legalize psilocybin,” he said. “If you’re dealing psilocybin, if you’re driving under the influence of psilocybin, those penalties remain the same as they are under existing law. Driving under the influence of psilocybin, it’s driving under the influence. No change in this bill. Dealing psilocybin continues to be drug dealer offense. You can be prosecuted for drug dealing—that does not change.”
Watch the House debate the psilocybin decriminalization bill, starting at 4:23:40 into the video below:
This marks the third session in a row that Connecticut lawmakers have worked to advance psilocybin decriminalization. In 2023, the reform measure cleared the House but did not move through the Senate. The Judiciary Committee also approved a version last year.
Under the bill, a second or subsequent possession violation would carry a fine of at least $200 but not more than $500. A person who pleads guilty or no contest on two separate occasions would be referred to a substance misuse treatment program.
During the debate, Rep. Craig Fishbein (R) raised a series of concerns about the legislation, arguing that decriminalization of the psychedelic could lead to increased accidental consumption by youth and that the bill’s proposed possession limit is arbitrary, for example.
Stafstrom reiterated that the measure does not legalize psilocybin or create a commercial market where adults could buy it. Rather, the bill is a “recognition” that psilocybin is “probably not quite as harmful as say heroin is or cocaine, and that should be treated as a different classification than we treat other hard drugs.”
“So while we are not legalizing this substance, we are recognizing a different gradation within our penal code of treating certain certain offenses more severely than others. And what we’re saying is possession of heroin is very different than possession of a small amount of psilocybin,” Stafstrom said.
Before passing the bill, the House rejected amendments to replace its decriminalization language with provisions to instead create a working group to investigate other jurisdictions’ psilocybin laws and to direct the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to study the effects of decriminalizing the psychedelic.
Another failed amendment would have increased the fine for first-time possession of the psychedelic from $150 to $2,500 and would have increased the fine for subsequent offenses from a minimum of $200 to a minimum of $5,000.
Lawmakers also defeated proposals to direct the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to study the feasibility of instituting blood THC and psilocybin levels for drivers and to appropriate $1 million for recruitment, training and retention of drug recognition experts.
Police would be require to seize and destroy any amount of the psychedelic they find under the current measure, HB 7065. Possession of more than a half-ounce of psilocybin would be considered a class A misdemeanor.
When the proposal came up last year—which involved an informational forum with lawmakers and activists to discuss the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin and potential pathways to allow for regulated access—the office of Gov. Ned Lamont (D) indicated that it may face a barrier to enactment.
“The governor has concerns about broad decriminalization of mushrooms,” a spokesperson said at the time, noting that at the time it was “a bit too early to speculate” because the bill had not yet been filed yet at that point.
As the 2023 version to decriminalize possession of psilocybin advanced, Lamont also reportedly threatened to veto it, despite having championed and signed into law legislation to legalize cannabis in 2021.
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Lamont signed a large-scale budget bill in 2022 that includes provisions to set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment using substances like MDMA and psilocybin.
Prior to that, he also signed separate legislation in 2021 that required the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to create a task force to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.
Separately, a Connecticut lawmaker also introduced different legislation in 2023 that would have appropriated an unspecified amount of state funds to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services for the current fiscal year to establish a “psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program.”
Meanwhile, Connecticut officials recently created a new division within the state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) that will take over regulatory responsibilities for its medical and adult-use marijuana programs.
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Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert.
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