2026 Second Quarter — Policy & Advocacy Wrap Up

• Name of Bill: HB 26-1325 – Concerning Natural Medicine
• Bill Summary: This Bill authorizes Colorado’s Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) to establish a state-federal ibogaine research pilot program to address the opioid crisis and various mental health disorders. The initiative mandates federal alignment through FDA and DEA compliance while adding ibogaine expertise to the Natural Medicine Advisory Board. Furthermore, it establishes mandatory safety protocols, such as continuous medical monitoring and pre-screening, for any future regulated use.
• Current Status: This Bill was signed into law by Governor Jared Polis on June 4, 2026.
• Analysis: MAPS applauds this Bill for requiring the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) to support partners in navigating federal Investigational New Drug and waiver processes to streamline clinical research and compliant operations, a step toward synchronizing state and federal approaches to data gathering. HB 26-1325’s novel benefit-sharing requirement with Gabon to support Indigenous communities and farmers cultivating iboga reflects an innovative effort toward reciprocity that should be closely watched. Furthermore, the Bill establishes an Ibogaine Implementation Cash Fund to support the research pilot and Natural Medicine Program while directing the BHA to help participants secure additional funding, creating a potential multisource funding structure.
• Recent Development: Following the passage of HB 26-1325, a coalition of psychedelic advocates launched a referendum effort to repeal the law’s restrictions on non-commercial sharing of natural medicine. Supporters argue that prohibiting uncompensated sharing between adults conflicts with the intent of Colorado’s voter-approved Natural Medicine Health Act (passed in 2022) and represents an unnecessary expansion of criminal penalties. If the campaign gathers enough signatures, Colorado voters could decide in November 2026 whether to repeal the provisions of HB 26-1325, while leaving the broader ibogaine pilot program intact.

• Name of Bill: SB 219 – Medical Psilocybin Act
• Bill Summary: This Act establishes a state-regulated framework that provides for the supervised use of psilocybin to treat specific medical conditions. The legislation tasks the New Mexico Department of Health with licensing producers, training practitioners, and overseeing administration in approved clinical settings.
• Current Status: Signed into law in spring 2025, the Psilocybin Advisory Board and Department of Health are still developing the program’s parameters, including deciding on Treatment Equity Fund eligibility criteria and provider licensure, training, and education requirements. Community organizations and advocates are pushing for regulations that will best enable equitable access to treatment within the state program. 

Worth highlighting is the Department of Health’s recently announced draft regulations, which would create a new “diagnostic clinician” licensure category that patients must see before accessing the program. Under the proposal, only specially permitted prescribing providers with a New Mexico Controlled Substance Number could diagnose qualifying patients and conduct a required risk-benefit analysis, effectively making this new clinician type the gatekeeper for program entry.

• Analysis: MAPS is excited to see implementation efforts for this historic, legislature-initiated Act continue to progress. Nonetheless, the Department of Health’s proposed “diagnostic clinician” requirement, while intended to promote patient safety, would significantly narrow the pool of eligible providers and alter the patient entry pathway established by the statute. This approach would unnecessarily restrict access to care by requiring patients, including those who already have qualifying diagnoses, to obtain a new evaluation from a specially credentialed provider. Doing so would create longer wait times, higher costs, and greater barriers to treatment, particularly in rural communities already experiencing provider shortages. Instead, patient safety can be achieved without creating a new gatekeeping role by allowing any qualified clinician to diagnose eligible patients and conducting risk and contraindication screenings after program entry through existing referral networks, similar to the approach used in Colorado’s natural medicine program.
• NM Research Update: Researchers and advocates at the University of New Mexico, the Bernalillo County Health Equity Council, the Psychedelic Mental Health Access Alliance, and partner organizations have published the protocol for a first-of-its-kind, community-co-designed clinical trial of group psilocybin-assisted therapy for PTSD. The protocol centers on trained, peer facilitators and extended integration support. Specifically, the Group Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy study is investigating whether psilocybin-assisted therapy delivered in a group format, among participants who share similar backgrounds or trauma histories, can provide meaningful therapeutic benefit for people with PTSD. The study is now recruiting participants for a veteran and first responder cohort while MAPS is supporting efforts to raise money to fund the creation of an indigenous one.

• Name of Bill: H.F. No. 2906 – Therapeutic Use of Psilocybin and Scheduling of Psilocybin
• Bill Summary: This Bill would establish a psilocybin therapeutic use program for patients over 21 with a qualifying medical condition. This Bill would also reclassify psilocybin and psilocin from Schedule I to Schedule IV, meaning these compounds would no longer be classified as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” but instead “drugs with a low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence.” The rescheduling would decrease criminal penalties for possession and use of these substances.
• Current Status: On March 16, 2026, H.F. 2906 was reported out of the House Health Finance and Policy Committee as amended and re-referred to the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee.
• Analysis: This bill would help some Minnesotans with qualifying medical conditions gain access to psilocybin-assisted therapy. As Rep. Andy Smith (DFL) stated, however, “this program is a very conservative, slow entrance into this new area of psychedelic medicine,” as it is limited to 20 to 50 facilitators, at least three testing facilities, and no more than 1,000 patients during the program’s first three years. While this pilot program is an encouraging step in the right direction, it falls far short of making Minnesota a state where everyone who could benefit has access to psychedelics for personal use. Moreover, while rescheduling psilocybin and psilocin to Schedule IV would better align state law with current evidence, it would not eliminate criminal penalties in the way descheduling or legalization would.

H.F. 2906 implements recommendations from the Minnesota Psychedelic Medicine Task Force’s final legislative report, which MAPS helped develop by providing technical expertise and policy input.

 Accelerating Medical Treatments For Serious Mental Illness

• Summary: This executive order (EO) directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers to psychedelic drugs that have received a Breakthrough Therapy designation to accelerate review and approval of these substances. The EO also directs the FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration to facilitate and establish a pathway for eligible patients to access psychedelic medicines. Additionally, this EO allocates “at least $50 million from existing funds to support and partner with State governments that have enacted or are developing programs to advance psychedelic drugs for serious mental illnesses.” To further support research into psychedelics, the executive order requires the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, and FDA to sign data-sharing memoranda to ensure relevant data is made available to the FDA to “facilitate the timely evaluation and approval” of the drugs. 
• Current Status: The EO was signed by President Trump on April 18, 2026. 
• Analysis: This EO takes important steps in furthering research efforts into the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds. These substances show promise in early- and mid-stage research for treating conditions such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Emerging evidence suggests these therapies may offer meaningful benefits for patients who have not responded to existing treatments. However, it is important that these steps are taken while balancing social responsibility, patient safety, and public benefit. Expanding access to treatment must come with strong ethical commitments: frameworks developed with Indigenous people, responsible global partnerships, accessible public education, and protections against extractive or purely commercial approaches.

Psychedelic-assisted therapies have the potential to radically reduce the immeasurable pain and loss of record overdose deaths and widespread increases in symptoms of mental health concerns. Streamlining psychedelic research and investing in psychedelic research signals an important step toward aligning policy with emerging scientific evidence. However, such efforts must also be paired with regulation, provider training, and robust insurance coverage. Many people find long-term relief with treatment from qualified providers who carefully screen, prepare, and support clients. When we ignore that evidence, we put our communities and future at risk. We must responsibly study and safely integrate these promising psychedelic-assisted treatments into our healthcare system.

See MAPS’ more in-depth analysis of the EO here.