Bipartisan North Carolina senators have filed a bill to authorize the creation of a new state psychedelics task force to study and issue recommendations on providing access to the alternative therapies to address serious mental health conditions.

The legislation from Sens. Sophia Chitlik (D) and Bobby Hanig (R), which was filed on Wednesday, would enable the state Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create the body.

Among its responsibilities, the North Carolina Mental Health and Psychedelic Medicine Task Force would need to evaluate that “potential use of psychedelic medicine in addressing the State’s ongoing mental health crisis” and “barriers to implementation and equitable access.”

It would also be charged with assessing and making recommendations on “licensing and insurance requirements for practitioners in the State in the event that psychedelic medicines are federally reclassified and approved” by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Finally, the task force would have to consider “legal and regulatory pathways to the legalization of psychedelic medicines in the State and the potential effects of the medicines on public health,” the bill text states.

“I want to make sure that we’re both proactively supporting the mental and physical health of our veterans and other people who have experienced complex trauma and encouraging research and development, making sure that we’re taking advantage of all of the technology and all of the medical innovation that’s happening” Chitlik told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. “So that’s really the goal of this bill. I see it both as a mental health bill and also as a step to economic development for our region.”

“I think that caring for our veterans is about as bipartisan and universal an issue as you can possibly get—not just in our state, but in our country,” she said. “When people started to hear directly from veterans who have experienced this trauma and who are experiencing this healing, I really believe that hearts and minds change.”

While the task force would be mandated to carry out various objectives if it was established, those responsibilities would only be enforceable if the department chooses to create the body in the first place, which the legislation says it “may” do.

Chitlik said the language was intentional, as the bill as introduced would not appropriate funds so this serves as a “signal” to state agencies “that the General Assembly wants more information about this, and we’re encouraging them, proactively, to explore that.”

It’s also meant to make the measure “more bipartisan and more possible to implement,” she said.

Should state officials institute the task force, it would need to be comprised of 13 members—including representatives of state departments of health, veterans affairs and commerce, four people appointed by legislative leaders in both chambers and various health experts.

This comes about two years after a North Carolina House committee approved a separate bill to create a $5 million grant program to support research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and MDMA and to create a Breakthrough Therapies Research Advisory Board to oversee the effort. The measure was not ultimately enacted, however.

Meanwhile in North Carolina, the speaker of the House recently said state Republicans could be willing to consider medical marijuana legalization this session.

Last month, a poll found that 71 percent of likely voters in North Carolina support legalizing medical marijuana in the state, with majorities across party lines and in every surveyed demographic—aside from people over the age of 80—in favor of the reform.

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Despite repeated efforts in recent sessions, lawmakers have failed to move medical marijuana legalization forward. At the beginning of this year, however, a top GOP state senator said there’s “an opportunity” to advance medical marijuana legalization this session, adding felt it should be coupled with legislation to impose restrictions on unregulated intoxicating hemp products.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R) said “it seems to me that there’s an opportunity there to address the medical marijuana issue,” as well as hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC that are being sold on the market, “at some point during the session.”

Last summer, the state Senate did approve a bill that would legalize medical marijuana—but it stalled out in the House once again.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mushroom Observer.