Urges Congress to take certain actions relating to the therapeutic use of certain psychedelic compounds. (BDR R-801)

- 83rd Session (2025)
Senate Joint Resolution No. 10–Senators Nguyen, Stone; Daly,
Doñate, Flores, Hansen, Ohrenschall and Scheible

Joint Sponsors: Assemblymembers González, Moore, Nguyen,
Carter, Watts; Anderson, Brown -May, Considin e, Dalia,
Dickman, D’ Silva, Gallant, Gray, Hansen, Hibbetts,
Jackson, Karris, Orentlicher and Roth

FILE NUMBER..........
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION—Urging Congress to take certain
actions relating to the therapeutic use of certain psychedelic
compounds.
WHEREAS, Mental health conditions, including post -traumatic
stress disorder (P TSD), treatment -resistant depression, anxiety
disorders and substance use disorders, affect millions of Americans,
including veterans, first responders and other residents of Nevada;
and
WHEREAS, Conventional treatments for these mental health
conditions often prove inadequate for many patients, leaving such
patients without effective therapeutic options; and
WHEREAS, Preliminary research has indicated that certain
psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin, psilocin, N,N -
dimethyltryptamine (DMT), iboga ine, mescaline and 3,4 -
methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), when administered in
controlled clinical settings, show promising therapeutic potential for
treating various mental health conditions; and
WHEREAS, The United States Food and Drug Administration
has granted, in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, MDMA -assisted
therapy for PTSD, psilocybin therapy for treatment -resistant
depression and psilocybin therapy for major depressive disorder
Breakthrough Therapy designation, thereby acknowledging the
potential of those treatments to offer substantial improvement over
existing treatments and expediting their development and review;
and
WHEREAS, Multiple Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials have
demonstrated the safety and efficacy of certain psychedelic -assisted
therapy, with trials showing that MDMA -assisted therapy led to 67
percent of patients with severe PTSD no longer meeting diagnostic
criteria after treatment, and psilocybin -assisted therapy
demonstrated a 75 percent response rate and a 58 percent remission
rate in patients with major depressive disorder at 12 months; and
WHEREAS, Researchers at Stanford University demonstrated
that ibogaine treatment led to significant improvements in veterans

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- 83rd Session (2025)
with traumatic brain injury and PTSD, with pa rticipants
experiencing average reductions of 88 percent in symptoms of
PTSD, of 87 percent in symptoms of depression and of 81 percent in
symptoms of anxiety at their 1-month follow-up; and
WHEREAS, Multiple studies focused on veterans conducted at
leading institutions have shown promising results for treating PTSD
related to combat and traumatic brain injury with psychedelic
compounds, including recent breakthrough findings published in
Nature Medicine regarding magnesium -stabilized ibogaine for the
treatment of traumatic brain injury; and
WHEREAS, Clinical research has demonstrated significant
potential for psychedelic compounds to address chronic pain
conditions, with studies showing that the pulse administration of
psilocybin reduced the frequency o f cluster headache attacks by
approximately 50 percent from baseline, from an average of 18.4
attacks to 9.8 attacks per week, and MDMA -assisted therapy
produced significant reductions in the pain intensity, disability and
overall pain severity of patients with PTSD with high baseline pain
levels; and
WHEREAS, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2024, Public Law 118 -31, directed the Department of Defense
to establish a process for service members to participate in clinical
trials studyi ng psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin and
MDMA, for treating PTSD and traumatic brain injury, allocated
$10,000,000 in funding and authorized partnerships with other
agencies and academic institutions, thereby demonstrating growing
federal recognition of the potential of these treatments; and
WHEREAS, The Department of Veterans Affairs has partnered
with researchers at Brown University and Yale University to
conduct a 5-year study, at the cost of $1,500,000, at the Providence
VA Medical Center and West Haven VA Medical Center evaluating
MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with co -occurring PTSD and
alcohol use disorder, representing the first research initiative
involving psychedelic -assisted therapy funded by the Department
since the 1960s, and whi ch was part of a broader effort announced
in January 2025 to investigate the safety and efficacy of psychedelic
compounds for treating veterans with mental health conditions; and
WHEREAS, Extensive research has demonstrated that classic
psychedelics have low abuse potential, with studies showing no
physical dependence or withdrawal symptoms and clinical evidence
indicating that psychedelic compounds can effectively treat
substance use disorders; and

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- 83rd Session (2025)
WHEREAS, Clinical research demonstrates that psychedel ic
compounds like psilocybin and MDMA have a favorable safety
profile when administered in controlled clinical settings with
appropriate medical screening and supervision, with studies
showing no lasting neuropsychological deficits, organ damage or
serious adverse reactions and a significantly lower rate of adverse
medical events compared to many current standard treatments; and
WHEREAS, Schedule I classification under the Controlled
Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801 et seq., designates a substance as
having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for
abuse; and
WHEREAS, Controlled substances classified in schedule I are
subject to significant barriers to research, including more
burdensome regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles than research of
other controlled substances; and
WHEREAS, Physicians cannot access controlled substances
classified in schedule I to treat patients who have terminal or life -
threatening conditions under the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello,
Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017
(“Right to Try Act”), Public Law 115 -176, even if the controlled
substance is otherwise an eligible investigational drug under the
Act; and
WHEREAS, The low potential for abuse of psychedelic
compounds and evidence of their medical utility, particularly the
designation of Breakthrough Therapies by the United States Food
and Drug Administration, contradicts their classification as schedule
I controlled substances; and
WHEREAS, Leading medical research institutions have
established dedicated centers for psychedelic research, including the
Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research,
the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation at t he Petrie-Flom
Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at
Harvard Law School, the University of California Berkeley Center
for the Science of Psychedelics, the New York University Langone
Health’s Center for Psychedelic Medicine, the Par sons Research
Center for Psychedelic Healing at the Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai, the Yale Program for Psychedelic Science, the
University of Wisconsin -Madison Transdisciplinary Center for
Research in Psychoactive Substances, the Stanford Psyche delic
Science Group, the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for the
Neuroscience of Psychedelics, the Charmaine and Gordon McGill
Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy at Dell Medical

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- 83rd Session (2025)
School at the University of Texas at Austin and the Washington
University Program in Psychedelics Research; and
WHEREAS, The State of Nevada recognizes the urgent need to
address the mental health crisis and expand treatment options for
those in need; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF
NEVADA, JOINTLY, That the Nevada Legislature hereby urges the
Congress of the United States and the appropriate federal agencies
to:
1. Increase federal funding for research into the therapeutic
applications of psychedelic compounds, particularl y for treating
mental health conditions, substance use disorders and chronic pain;
2. Establish a streamlined process for approving and
conducting research with psychedelic compounds, while
maintaining appropriate safety protocols and oversight;
3. Establish a process to allow for compassionate medical use
of psychedelic eligible investigational drugs under the Right to Try
Act, while maintaining appropriate safety protocols and oversight;
4. Reschedule psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine, mescaline
and MDMA to a schedule that better reflects the therapeutic value,
low potential for abuse and safety for use under medical supervision
of those compounds, giving priority to the rescheduling of
compounds that have received Breakthrough Therapy designation
from the United States Food and Drug Administration; and
5. Establish legal protection against federal prosecution for
individuals and entities complying with state and local law
concerning the supervised adult use of psychedelic compounds and
require s tates to enter research partnerships with the Attorney
General under the Controlled Substances Act to study the public
health outcomes of such state programs; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Nevada Legislature supports expanded
research into the ther apeutic potential of psychedelic compounds at
qualified research institutions within this State; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and
transmit a copy of this resolution to the President of the United
States, the Vice Pr esident of the United States as the presiding
officer of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation, the
Administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Director of the National Institutes of Health;
and be it further

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- 83rd Session (2025)
RESOLVED, That this resolution becomes effective upon
passage.

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