Coalition for Better Community Health

Our Mission is Simple: Move Safe Psychedelic Care Forward

Budget Cuts vs. Lives Lost
What’s the Real Cost?

We know we are in a budget shortfall, and we are moving a lot of bills, but we have one question: What is the life of a first responder, a veteran, or a person suffering from these debilitating disorders worth in Washington State?

Why Do We need This?

TESTIMONIALS

Following treatment of their husbands; wives of military veterans said:

“I finally got my husband back.”
“He sleeps through the night.”
“It feels safe to come home.”

Claudia CuentasMA, LMFT / Owner of Cora Center, a BIPOC focused, licensed psychedelic service center in Portland, OR

“94% of the participants said psylocibin therapy was one of their top-five most meaningful life experiences"

John Hopkins study on end-of-life patientsLearn more

"I have seen psychedelics change the lives of my patients. Psilocybin has tremendous potential for treating lifelong mental health conditions. The effects are profound."

Nathan Sackett, MD, MS Director, Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry (NTAP) Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences  UW Medicine 

A Safe and Controlled Approach

Over 27,725 doses given in Oregon, and only 13 calls to the emergency services.

Click below for more info on safety and effectiveness.

About the Psilocybin Bill

During the Washington State Legislature’s 2026 session, we will pursue a bill modeled on New Mexico’s “Medical Psilocybin Act” (Senate Bill 219), which Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law on April 7, 2025.

New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Act:

Allows the use of psilocybin in a regulated medical model for alleviating qualified medical conditions
Creates a medical psilocybin advisory board
Tasks the Department of Health with setting the parameters of the program
Exempts producers, clinicians, and qualified patients from criminal and civil prosecution and penalties while operating within the defined program
$2 million is appropriated from the general fund to the Department of Health for fiscal years 2026 and 2027
$1 million is appropriated from the general fund to the medical psilocybin treatment equity fund for FY26
$1 million is appropriated from the general fund to the medical psilocybin research fund for FY26

ADDITIONALLY UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR WASHINGTON’S BILL:

Language to maximize protection of religious practices involving psychedelic substances consistent with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 42 USC 21B
Language that states this law does not supersede or preclude local ordinances relating to the decriminalization of psychedelic substances or the prioritization of enforcement of criminal laws related to psychedelic substances

CALL TO ACTION:
REGISTER YOUR “PRO” SUPPORT

HB 1433

HB 1433 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Health Care & Wellness on February 5, at 1:30 PM.

SB 5201

SB 5201 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee for Labor & Commerce on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at 10:30 AM. Please sign up to testify, submit written testimony, or state your position for the Senate record here:

There is Broad Support for Psychedelic Legislation

“We should not force our service members or veterans to go down to Mexico to get this treatment.”
— Congressman Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas

“From the opioid crisis to psilocybin’s potential with PTSD, it’s well past time we take drug use out of criminal consideration and into medical consideration.”
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY

“I try to tell people this isn’t partisan at all. Let’s take our labels away on this one. This is about humankind. This is about taking care of individuals. This is about saving lives. This is about giving people their lives back.”
— Former Texas Governor Rick Perry

“We should not force our service members or veterans to go down to Mexico to get this treatment.”

– Congressman Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas

“From the opioid crisis to psilocybin’s potential with PTSD, it’s well past time we take drug use out of criminal consideration and into medical consideration.”

– Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY

“I try to tell people this isn’t partisan at all. Let’s take our labels away on this one. This is about humankind. This is about taking care of individuals. This is about saving lives. This is about giving people their lives back.”

– Former Texas Governor Rick Perry

Substitute Bill - SB 5201

13 Pages

Due to budget and political constraints, this bill creates a pilot program to provide supervised access to psilocybin at 3 non-profit, all clinical/research service centers.

SB 5201: Access to Psilocybin

71 Pages

This bill creates a regulated framework for clinical and supervised access to psilocybin.

HB 1433: Access to Psilocybin

71 Pages

A Companion Bill to SB 5201, this bill creates a regulated framework for clinical and supervised access to psilocybin.

SB 5204: Ibogaine Research Study

2 Pages

This legislation proposes a research study, managed by the University of Washington, to assess the effectiveness of ibogaine-assisted therapy to treat opioid use disorder.

Who Are We?

We are a group of professionals, psychiatrists, psychologists, facilitators, doctors, researchers, and therapists who understand the promise of psychedelic-assisted care. We helped draft and support legislation to legalize the clinical and supervised use of psilocybin.

Why Not Wait for the FDA?

The Food and Drug Administration is set up for approving synthetic drugs—it does not have a well-established pathway for plant-based compounds.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis discussed with Bill Maher why he supports his state’s recent legalization of professional psychedelic services, noting how it is “ridiculous” for the FDA to mandate expensive synthetics instead of whole mushrooms.

“There is a lot of promise that some of the mushroom-based therapies (and) natural medicines show for post-traumatic stress disorder, for depression — studies out of Johns Hopkins and others — and we want to make that available…The bureaucracy with the FDA, this stuff takes decades or years, and it comes out costing $1,000 a pill. It’s ridiculous, right? So, we want to make this available. It’s promising.”

Jared Polis

Colorado Governor

Organizations who Support this Bill

While our bill is stalled in the Washington State Legislature until the 2026 session, we will continue to build our coalition of veterans’ associations, firefighters, first responders, end of life caregivers, therapists, counselors, psychological associations, and others that support moving safe psychedelic care forward.

Why Do We need This?

Washington State faces an urgent mental health and addiction crisis. Traditional treatments alone are not enough to meet the needs of our communities. Innovative solutions are critical to improving public health and offering hope to those struggling with treatment-resistant conditions.

Healing Emotional Wounds

Help individuals find peace with trauma and difficult emotions.

Relief for Mental Health Challenges

Provide relief for conditions like depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Honoring Those Who Serve

Support military veterans, first responders, and others in need of effective care.

Advancing Groundbreaking Therapies

Pave the way for innovative treatments to transform mental health care.

Unsure how to Vote?

For a little levity, use this side-by-side comparison to help you decide!

Top 10 Reasons to support this Bill:

I support our veterans, and I want to eliminate veteran suicides.
I support more research, and these Bills help with that.
I want to help people dealing with addiction.
I want to support people dealing with depression.
I believe natural plant medicines can help people.
I like this balanced approach legalizing clinical and supervised access to psilocybin.
I’m on the same team as our veterans, first responders, and professional therapists.
There has been so much research and positive experiences that I want to start helping people sooner rather than later.
People have been using psilocybin, for healing, for thousands of years.
This will save our State a ton of money by reducing long term costs related to PTSD, addiction, and depression.
I believe we should give people freedom to choose their treatment options.

I support our veterans, and I want to eliminate veteran suicides.
I support more research, and these Bills help with that.
I want to help people dealing with addiction.
I want to support people dealing with depression.
I believe natural plant medicines can help people.
I like this balanced approach legalizing clinical and supervised access to psilocybin.
I’m on the same team as our veterans, first responders, and professional therapists.
There has been so much research and positive experiences that I want to start helping people sooner rather than later.
People have been using psilocybin, for healing, for thousands of years.
This will save our State a ton of money by reducing long term costs related to PTSD, addiction, and depression.
I believe we should give people freedom to choose their treatment options.

Top 10 reasons NOT to support this bill:

I believe veterans already have enough treatment options and they get all the care they need.
I like how Nixon blocked all research on psychedelics, and I want that to continue.
No, I love walking down 3rd Avenue in downtown Seattle. The sights and smells add flavor to our city.
That’s their problem, they need to snap out of it.
I only support things made by big pharma. More pills please.
I only like the extreme. Either we have full legalization of all drugs, or anyone who touches anything belongs in jail.
But my friends make a lot of money from addiction misery and PTSD. What about market protectionism?
I’m very cautious. I never let my kids go trick or treating. New things scare me.
It feels like this is being rushed. Let’s slow things down. Big Pharma needs more time to patent a synthetic so they can charge us $1,000 per pill.
I don’t care about long-term costs - we can always raise taxes.
Adults are too dumb to give them freedom of choice.