Colorado legislators back psychedelic drug research

(The Center Square) – Psychedelic drugs are experiencing an unprecedented wave of support across the U.S. for their potential therapeutic benefits.

President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to research ibogaine, used in opiate and substance abuse treatment, is the latest move to explore the once taboo hallucinogenic effects of psychedelic drugs. In Colorado, a bipartisan group of state legislators, who are veterans, is looking to squeeze an ibogaine pilot program into the already tight $46.8 billion state budget.

“As a veteran myself, I have a lot of friends and former colleagues in the military who have dealt with mental health issues, have dealt with PTSD,” Colorado House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, R-El Paso County, told The Center Square. “They’ve tried different treatments and sometimes those treatments work, and sometimes they don’t. I really believe in an all-of-the-above approach.”

But at the moment, the all-of-the-above approach does not include ibogaine, which is listed as a schedule 1 dr...