An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced a bill Wednesday that would allow for the legal, medical use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” in state-approved psychiatric treatment programs.
House File 978 was passed by the Iowa House in 2025. The measure as passed by the House proposes establishing a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. But Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, who floor managed the measure in the House, said at the Senate subcommittee meeting Wednesday he planned to introduce an amendment to the bill that would add oversight of psilocybin to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board, changing the body’s name and adding four additional experts on the substance to the panel.
Wills said he referenced laws establishing similar boards in Utah and Arizona while writing the legislation, in addition to using the framework created by the state’s Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board while drafting the legislation.
The measure would also grant licenses for both production and administration of psilocybin products for individuals with certain mental health needs, alongside setting new restrictions on accessing the substance, including an age restriction of 21 and limit of 5,000 patients who can be recommended psilocybin treatment.
Though it was not taken up by the Senate last year, it has remained eligible for consideration as a bill discussed during the two-year window of the 91st General Assembly.
Advocates speaking in favor of the bill said psilocybin has been found effective — when used in clinical environments with psychiatric support — to help people dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. During House debate on the bill in 2025, Wills said he believed this treatment could provide an avenue for veterans and others dealing with PTSD who have not found success with currently available treatments.
Wills told senators Wednesday that from speaking with veterans and experts, his understanding is that psilocybin taken in a medical setting can help people form new reactions to stimulus and events that are PTSD triggers.
“When you’re in a PTSD state, your brain … it’s on a circuit, and it can’t get out of that circuit,” Wills said. “So, you hear a loud noise, and you flash back to that bomb explosion, or a gunshot and you can’t get out of that circuit. … psilocybin allows your brain to reform those connections and get off that circuit so that now an explosion doesn’t cause you to go back to that panic mode.”
Lobbyists with national veterans organizations including Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions and the ALEC Veterans and Military Affairs Task Force spoke in favor of the bill, saying similar programs have been implemented successfully in other states and recent studies show that these treatments are effective.
But advocates like Amy Campbell with the Iowa Behavioral Health Association and Leslie Carpenter with Iowa Mental Health Advocacy said they did not support the bill, because the substance can cause adverse mental health effects for people in certain situations and at certain doses. Campbell said she understood there were promising studies showing the efficacy of psilocybin in some treatments — but said the Iowa Psychological Association would prefer to wait for federal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration instead of pursuing a separate state legalization and authority structure.
Though there were questions about how quickly the FDA would be able to move to approve this treatment, Campbell said the FDA process “is actually being fast-tracked compared to other things, because there is a growing body of the research on it.” She also said routing this drug oversight and legalization structure through the state instead of waiting for federal rescheduling would require additional funding.
“There’s a fiscal note on this, to have a state board do it,” Campbell said. “When you have an FDA approval, then it would go through a pharmacist to a provider, to the person in a controlled setting. So, I mean, I think that there are ways to do this.”
Wills said he and other supporters were concerned that waiting for federal approval could prevent veterans with PTSD, at higher risk of suicide in comparison to the average population, from accessing care that could help resolve mental health problems.
“The Veterans’ Administration is moving towards this, but with the federal government, it’s going to take years before they get (to) even this point,” Wills said.
The amended legislation would also allow the board to consider expansion in future years to allow psilocybin use for other mental health disorders that the drug has proved effective in treating, given sufficient research and medical support. These expansions would require legislative approval, Wills said.
Though the measure moved forward, senators on the subcommittee said they still had questions about the bill — and about psilocybin as a substance. Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, asked questions of Wills and Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield, about how the drug works, and why psilocybin could not be “formulated and sold like an over-the-counter drug like Tylenol” if it has a low addiction propensity. The measure would not allow for over-the-counter sale of psilocybin, but only allow for use by approved parties in medical facilities with professionals overseeing the treatment.
Sen. Dennis Guth, R-Klemme, said he supported moving the bill forward to have a “broader conversation in our full caucus, which means I got to understand this enough to bring it to the caucus.” The measure has the potential to come before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee Thursday, he said.
“I am willing to recommend passage with an amendment because we are working on some things about the board, which will hopefully mitigate some of the expense and the the fiscal note on here,” Guth said.