Iowa House lawmakers consider legalizing psilocybin for PTSD treatment

DES MOINES — Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” could be administered to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder under a bill advanced out of an Iowa House subcommittee Tuesday.

Veterans say it could help treat service members who are experiencing trauma from their time in the military.

House File 620, which was unanimously advanced by a House Ways and Means subcommittee, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and allow the hallucinogen to be produced in the state.

Psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound found in some species of mushroom, is listed as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act.

In the past few years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been studying the effects of synthetic psilocybin for treating PTSD. In 2024, the FDA rejected using MDMA treatments for the disorder.

In recent years, voters in Oregon and Colorado have passed ballot measures decriminalizing natural psilocybin for therapeutic treatments.

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The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. John Wills of Spirit Lake, who served in the U.S. military for 25 years, said it will help create another form of treatment for veterans experiencing PTSD.

“I know a lot of my guys that are still suffering,” Wills said. "What happens with those PTSD sufferers is they (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) put them on mind-altering medicine for the rest of their life."

House File 383, which was advanced out of committee in the House and out of a Senate subcommittee, would allow synthetic psilocybin prescriptions in Iowa if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the substance.

Russell Saffell, the state adjutant executive director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Iowa, said he wants to make sure all treatment options are on the table for veterans.

“We're not going to be expecting them to be prescribing little boxes of rainbow-colored zebra tabs,” Saffell told the Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau. ”We're actually looking for this to be done in a real medical setting.”

Under the legislation, there would be a limit of 5,000 patients who receive psilocybin recommendations. Recipients of the treatment would have to be at least 21 years old and be assessed by a qualified medical psilocybin provider who verifies the patient has PTSD.

Administration of psilocybin would be required to take place at a clinic where the administration session is video-recorded, and a qualified medical psilocybin therapist has a contractual relationship with a licensed physician and surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon who remain on call during the course of the session in case a patient needs nonemergency medical intervention.

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Rep. Jeff Shipley, a Republican from Birmingham who has introduced legislation to remove psilocybin from the state's list of controlled substances in past sessions, said he believes available PTSD treatments should not be limited to psilocybin and the bill should allow for other substances to be added in the future.

“This is an urgent matter that should have been handled probably years ago,” Shipley said. “In this instance, even the fact that we're talking about a potential medical benefit, to me, indicates it's (psilocybin) not suitable for Schedule I.”

Wills clarified that while it’s not currently stated in the legislation, the intent is to allow the board to decide whether to add other conditions and disorders to qualify for the treatment, as well as the administration of other psychotropic drugs backed up by peer-reviewed studies.

The bill is modeled after similar legislation being considered in Arizona and Utah.

The proposed legislation’s board would have a similar structure to the state’s Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board. It would be made up of someone with knowledge of psilocybin, someone with experience in the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical manufacturing industry, a law enforcement official, a chemist or researcher associated with a university with experience in manufacturing, and someone who has a background in fungus or mushroom cultivation and processing.

The board would be able to start accepting applications as soon as July 1, 2026.

Democratic Rep. Larry McBurney, of Urbandale, who served in the Iowa Air National Guard as a weapons armament technician and deployed overseas for three tours, said he has hesitations about state employees signing a document stating that they are violating federal law, but says the legislation is a “great first step.”

“The VA … seems to be overprescribing in certain areas. There are drugs that just aren't necessarily working for certain veterans, we can find alternative avenues to treat PTSD,” McBurney said. “The overall good of the bill outweighs the bad of the bill, and I'm looking forward to moving this forward.”

Wills, McBurney and Republican Rep. Brooke Boden, of Indianola, signed on to advance the legislation, which will go to the House Ways and Means Committee.