This amendment updates a bill about psychedelic therapy by expanding definitions, adding coordination with other states, encouraging the use of opioid settlement funds for studies, and clarifying how money from new drug discoveries is shared.
Louisiana2026Enacted
SB43
Law on Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Louisiana
Last scannedAug 25, 2026, 3:26 AM
In one sentence
This law creates a new program within the state Department of Health to support clinical studies using psychedelic-assisted therapy for specific health conditions, outlining rules for medical centers and funding sources.
What it does
- Establishes the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Initiative inside the Louisiana Department of Health's Office of Behavioral Health.
- Identifies academic health centers conducting clinical studies or trial-enabling studies for treating opioid use disorders, co-occurring substance use disorders, and treatment-resistant neurological or mental health conditions.
- Requires participating medical centers to follow strict rules, including getting federal approval (like an FDA application), securing liability insurance, obtaining Institutional Review Board approval, and maintaining DEA registration.
- Mandates that studies include safety plans with emergency procedures, screening for patients, and clear rules for stopping a study if needed.
- Requires medical centers to submit annual progress reports to the state Department of Health by January 1st each year.
- Allows parishes (counties) to use opioid settlement funds to help enroll eligible local patients in these studies or support trial-enabling work.
Who it affects
- Academic health centers that have a medical school, other professional schools, and affiliated teaching hospitals.
- Patients with opioid use disorders, co-occurring substance use issues, or treatment-resistant neurological or mental health conditions.
- Human service districts and authorities who help identify eligible patients for the studies.
- Parishes (counties) that may coordinate to use opioid settlement funds for patient enrollment.
Limits and unknowns
- The law covers specific substances: ibogaine (and related versions), MDMA, psilocybin (and related versions), and mechanistically similar analogs.
- Studies must happen on-site at a hospital, clinic, or research unit affiliated with the academic center.
Plain language
Terms to know
- Psychedelic-assisted therapy
- A treatment where a person takes a specific medicine in a controlled clinical setting while receiving counseling before and after taking the drug.
- Academic health center
- An organization that has a medical school, one or more other health professional schools, and at least one affiliated teaching hospital.
- Drug developer
- A pharmaceutical company, biotechnology company, or contract development and manufacturing organization involved in making drugs for testing.
Official record
Sources
Official summary
HEALTH SERVICES: Provides relative to psychedelic-assisted therapy. (8/1/26) (EN INCREASE GF EX See Note)
Official activity
Bill history
- Effective date 8/1/2026.S
- Becomes Act No. 956 without the Governor's signature.S
- Sent to the Governor by the Secretary of the Senate.S
- Signed by the Speaker of the House.H
- Enrolled. Signed by the President of the Senate.S
- Notice House adopted the Conference Committee Report.S
- Conference Committee Report read, roll called, yeas 97, nays 0. The Conference Committee Report was adopted.H
- Scheduled for floor debate on 05/31/2026.H
- Notice of Senate adoption of Conference Committee Report.H
- Conference Committee Report read; adopted by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays.S
- Scheduled for floor debate on 05/29/2026.H
- Conference Committee report received. Lies over under the rules.H
- Notice of Senate conferees appointed.H
- Conference committee report received.S
- Senate conference committee members appointed: McMath, Luneau, and Owen.S
- Notice House Conference Committee members appointed.S
- House conferees appointed: Riser, Miller, and Egan.H
- Notice of Senate rejecting House amendments.H
- Amendments proposed by the House read and rejected by a vote of 34 yeas and 1 nays.S
- Received from the House with amendments.S
Changes
Amendments
9 stored
Filed 8
Filed 9
This amendment updates a bill about psychedelic-assisted therapy to include MDMA, clarify how funds can be used for research studies, and change specific rules regarding ibogaine treatments.
This amendment clarifies that lists of requirements must include every item listed, spells out the full name of federal and state health agencies instead of using short names or acronyms, and fixes small grammar errors in a bill about psychedelic-assisted therapy.
This amendment clarifies the language in a bill about psychedelic-assisted therapy by spelling out full agency names and ensuring lists of requirements include every item listed.
This amendment changes the bill from a state-run program to an initiative where academic health centers can conduct clinical studies on psychedelic-like substances in partnership with local parishes.
This amendment updates the bill to allow Louisiana health centers and drug companies to work together on clinical trials for ibogaine, aiming to get FDA approval while ensuring the state receives at least 20% of any future profits.
This amendment updates the bill to allow Louisiana health centers and drug companies to work together on clinical trials for ibogaine, aiming to get FDA approval while ensuring the state receives at least 20% of any future profits.