🍄 New Jersey lawmakers advance a bill to legalize therapeutic psilocybin despite questions about timing and costs.

🎖 Veterans and advocates deliver emotional testimony on life-changing results from supervised psychedelic therapy.

💰 Concerns rise over $6M in state funding as critics urge waiting for expected FDA approval of synthetic psilocybin.

NJ lawmakers move psilocybin bill forward amid emotional testimony

New Jersey legislators in Trenton took a significant step Monday toward legalizing therapeutic psilocybin, pushing forward a bill supporters say could revolutionize mental-health treatment for thousands of residents. The Assembly Health Committee’s Democratic majority advanced the measure, which would authorize supervised psilocybin therapy for adults over 21.

Veterans describe ‘steady and real’ healing from psychedelic therapy

During an hour of testimony on Monday, veterans and mental-health advocates urged lawmakers to look beyond the substance’s recreational reputation. Stacy and Jeffrey Swanson, a military couple speaking for Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, described how guided psychedelic-assisted therapy restored their family after years of failed traditional treatments.

“This treatment reached the roots of trauma in a way nothing else could,” Stacy Swanson said, adding that her husband now sleeps, no longer self-medicates with alcohol, and is fully present for their children.

Advocates like Neal Usatin of New Jersey for Fungi and Plant Medicine argued that clinical evidence shows psilocybin is safe, non-habit-forming, and more effective than standard medications for depression, anxiety, OCD, and addiction.

Supporters call it ‘the next great breakthrough in psychiatry’

Jesse MacLachlan of the suicide-prevention nonprofit Reason for Hope said the therapy could be critical for veterans, noting that 22 to 40 veterans die daily from suicide or substance-related causes. Assemblywoman Melinda Kane (D-Camden), whose son Jeremy was a Marine killed in Afghanistan, voted yes, citing the nation’s growing suicide crisis.

Skeptics push back over cost and timing as FDA review looms

Some Republicans questioned the need for state action, pointing to an FDA review of synthetic psilocybin expected to conclude in late 2026 or early 2027. Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Middlesex) and Assemblyman John Azzariti Jr. (R-Bergen) abstained, citing a tight state budget and the need for stronger evidence.

The bill now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, with less than two months left in the legislative session.

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