Psilocybin lawyer asks 9th Circ to weigh workaround to fed drug law

A Seattle, Washington, clinic on Thursday urged the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to order the federal Drug Enforcement Authority to offer a way for terminally ill patients to try psilocybin, the active chemical in hallucinogenic mushrooms, to treat their anxiety and depression.

Much of the argument, before Circuit Judges Mark Bennett, Sandra Ikuta and Ryan Nelson, focused on whether the DEA’s conclusion that it could not waive any part of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which bans psilocybin except for limited research purposes, could even be appealed.

The clinic, the Advanced Integrative Medical Science (AIMS) Institute, asked the agency for permission to use psilocybin under Washington and federal “right to try” laws, which allow terminally ill patients to try drugs that are still under investigation. Forty-one states have passed such laws.

Psilocybin has been the subject of clinical trials to treat terminal patients’ anxiety and depression, but remains a so-called Schedule I substance under the CSA, meaning doctors cannot prescribe it.

Read more at

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/psilocybin-lawyer-asks-9th-circ-weigh-workaround-fed-drug-law-2021-09-03/

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