Medicinal mushrooms might soon be available for therapeutic use in New Mexico, according to KRQE.
Rep. Christine Trujillo (D-Albuquerque) introduced a presentation by the New Mexico Psychedelic Science Society on Tuesday.
"It’s not hippy-dippy stuff from Taos," she said.
The advocacy group attended a committee hearing and met with legislators, KRQE reported. Members talked about why they think New Mexico needs a law to bring psilocybin, a chemical compound found in certain kinds of mushrooms, to the state.
Psychedelic activists also spoke in favor of the new policy.
"We are struggling within our very own pandemic of severe mental health, illness crises, poverty, and substance abuse disorders that have plagued our land for decades," Marisa C de Baca, president of the New Mexico Psychedelic Science Society, said. "This is why I sit before you."
Psilocybin has shown promise as a therapeutic drug. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Ohio State University researchers performed studies that show psilocybin can aid patients with major depressive problems. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology discussed how the compound can help cancer patients cope with depression and anxiety.
C de Baca pointed out the difference between legalizing mushrooms and the steps it took to legalize medical marijuana.
"Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are not a cash crop," she said, according to KRQE. "So, the model is efficacy; it's not so much on its marketable value, but greatly on its health benefit value ... We tend to see the word 'psychedelics' and think that the hippies in the counterculture such as Woodstock. But, I asked this committee, respectfully, to review large amounts of research conducted by some of the nation's and world's most revered and respected institutions and their findings of clinical research that provide us with profound results."