At some point over the course of each year, we like to take stock of where psychedelics stand — our own version of a trip around the sun. The story of the last 12 months is a bit more exciting. While the federal government has finally begun to stir, the most concrete, fastest-moving developments in psychedelic policy have come not from D.C. but from state capitals — and, notably, from a cluster of Southern states that don’t always make the list of psychedelic pioneers. Here at Budding Trends, we’ve been tracking that shift state by state. Here’s where things stand.
Texas: The $50 Million Anchor
The development that reset expectations across the region came out of Texas in the summer of 2025. With Senate Bill 2308 and House Bill 3717, Texas committed $50 million in state funds to support FDA-directed clinical trials of ibogaine — a naturally derived compound that has shown promise for opioid use disorder, PTSD, and traumatic brain injury — in what advocates called the largest publicly funded psychedelic research initiative in history. The effort was championed by former Gov. Rick Perry, who framed it largely around veterans. It was structured as a public-private partnership: The state’s money is meant to be matched by private investment, and Texas negotiated a revenue share if an approved drug results. Texas’ move did more than fund research in one state — it set a template other states could follow.
Mississippi: A Quiet Pioneer Follows the Template
We’ve also been keeping track of what’s been happening in Mississippi. In August 2025, in a post asking whether psychedelic therapy legislation was on the horizon in Mississippi, we covered the efforts of Rep. Samuel Creekmore — chairman of the state’s House Public Health Committee — to push Mississippi toward state-supported ibogaine clinical trials, explicitly following Texas’ lead and exploring a partnership between the two states. By February 2026, the Mississippi Legislature appeared poised to pass legislation authorizing ibogaine clinical trials, with Creekmore’s bill advancing through the House. Mississippi is quietly positioning itself as a regional player in plant-based medicine research.
Louisiana: The Newest Entry
The most recent development — and the one that prompted this roundup — comes from Louisiana. After final legislative votes on May 29 and May 31, 2026, Senate Bill 43, sponsored by Sen. Pat McMath (R), was sent to Gov. Jeff Landry — who let it become law without his signature. The bill, now Act 956, establishes a Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Initiative housed within the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Behavioral Health, aimed at facilitating clinical research into treatments for opioid use disorders, co-occurring substance use disorders, and treatment-resistant neurological and mental health conditions, using substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine, and — after a House amendment — MDMA. Two features stand out. First, the program is designed to be funded in significant part by Louisiana’s $600 million opioid settlement fund, much of which remains unspent. Second, the bill passed with essentially no opposition — final votes were 37-0 in the Senate and 97-0 in the House. Any trials would still have to clear the FDA’s investigational drug process, and researchers would need DEA authorization to work with Schedule I substances. The law takes effect August 1, 2026.
Georgia: Building the Guardrails First
Georgia took a different road. Rather than putting up money for clinical trials, the state moved to regulate the clinics themselves. In May 2026, Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 717, which directs the Georgia Composite Medical Board to issue rules and regulations for clinics administering psychedelic-assisted therapies by December 31, 2026, with licensure required by July 1, 2027. Those rules must address patient safety, provider qualifications, and operational standards, including emergency protocols such as hospital affiliation or patient-transfer capability. The law also layers on Prescription Drug Monitoring Program review and reporting, along with criminal penalties for running an unlicensed clinic. The most consequential feature of the new law is the breadth of the definition of psychedelics. The statute reaches IV ketamine infusions and, more expansively, any therapy using psychedelic, dissociative, or related substances capable of producing hallucinations or rapidly inducing suggestibility or profound changes in one’s perception of reality or self. In practical terms today, that mostly captures Georgia’s existing ketamine-clinic market, since ketamine remains the only one of those substances a provider can lawfully administer. But the language plainly sweeps in psilocybin, MDMA, and others if and when federal rescheduling arrives — meaning Georgia has built the regulatory scaffolding ahead of the medicine. It is a quieter move than a nine-figure research fund, but a telling one: Where Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana are financing the science, Georgia is preparing the infrastructure that the science will eventually need.
The Throughline
Step back and a regional pattern comes into focus. Texas put real money on the table; Mississippi followed the template; and Louisiana built on it with a settlement-funded program and a notably broad, bipartisan coalition. All three share a common architecture: state-supported clinical research that runs through, rather than around, the federal FDA and DEA frameworks, with a heavy emphasis on veterans and patients failed by existing treatments. That’s a meaningful contrast with the better-known state psychedelic models built on decriminalization or regulated adult access. Georgia took a slightly different approach but built a model based on regulation that will be ready if the medicine is approved. The Southern approach is research-first and federally channeled, which makes it both more cautious and, arguably, more durable.
It’s also no accident that this state-level momentum is accelerating just as the federal posture shifts. The same months that produced these state bills also saw a federal executive order directing agencies to speed psychedelic research and access, and a round of FDA priority vouchers for psychedelic medications — developments we’ve covered separately. State research programs and federal review pathways are starting to point in the same direction, and a drug that emerges from a Texas, Mississippi, or Louisiana trial will ultimately depend on both. We’ll keep tracking the trip.
