Letter to Senate Subcommittee – January 24, 2026

House File 978: An Act relating to the production and administration of psilocybin

Because psilocybin is an illegal substance under federal law, House File 978 requires employees to “engage in conduct which is in violation of the criminal laws of the United States.” HF 978 § 4, at page 5, lines 12-21.  This is exactly the same problem the Medical Cannabidiol Board has been asking the legislature to fix with the medical cannabis program, Chapter 124E, for the past seven years.  Here is the board’s most recent request from January 1, 2026:

The Board recommends that a task force of legal experts be authorized, similar to the current board of medical experts, to assist the department in navigating the legal issues involved with requesting an exemption for Iowa’s program from necessary Federal agencies.  This is related to a recommendation in the Board’s 2019 Annual Report and the passage of HF2589 in June, 2020.

It is hard to believe law makers are enacting laws that require violation of the law, but that is how bad this has gotten.  If federal law does not allow the medical use of a psychoactive plant or fungi, the legislature sets up federal racketeering scheme in the state to run it.

Something this extreme might seem justified if it was the only way to resolve the problem, but there is a much better way.  A federal exemption for the religious use of the psychoactive plant peyote is authorized by 21 U.S.C. § 822(d) which allows the Attorney General to waive registration requirements if “consistent with the public health and safety.”  The federal exemption for peyote, 21 C.F.R. § 1307.31, is an example of how Chapter 124E could be compliant with federal drug law.  The same is true for psychoactive mushrooms.

The last section of HF 978 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the use other psychoactive plants and fungi.

Sec. 34.  PSYCHEDELIC COMPOUNDS — STUDY.  The department of health and human services shall conduct a study regarding the use of psychedelic compounds other than psilocybin in the treatment of medical conditions.  The department shall submit a report to the general assembly, including the department’s findings and recommendations, by January 1, 2026.

Why can’t HF 978 be amended to include a study on how a church was granted a federal exemption to use peyote and what is required for the state to get the same exemption for the medical use of psychoactive plants and fungi?  Why would we want to promote organized crime in Iowa if we don’t need to?

Photo By Alan Rockefeller – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link