The Clarity Project
Expanding Legal Medical Psilocybin Access in Hawai'i
UPDATE 1/19/2021
How to Testify in the 2021 Legislative Session stay tuned for our resolution
UPDATE 1/14/2021
Veterans Healing Through Psychedelics
Register at http://bit.ly/clarityfeb
UPDATE 1/6/2021
Clarity Project presents Psychedelic Renaissance Talk Story
UPDATE 3/6/2020
Medical Psilocybin for Hawaii
Legislative Update
From House Bill 2567 to Concurrent Resolution
In late January, many of you received an email asking for testimonies in support of HB2567, Hawaii's first psilocybin-related bill, which would create a Working Group under the Department of Health to research medical psilocybin as a potential treatment modality for mental health patients in Hawaii. The bill went into its first hearing with overwhelming public support - for those who took the time to testify, thank you. We received an unexpectedly large number of testimonies - and the lawmakers noticed.
At that hearing, the recommendation by both the Department of Health and the House Health Committee members was to establish the Psilocybin Working Group through a concurrent resolution. Our concurrent resolution was filed today by Rep. Chris Lee, our legislative champion, and Senator Les Ihara! TO SUPPORT THE RESOLUTION AS IT GOES THROUGH LEGISLATION, PLEASE STAY TUNED AND BE READY TO TESTIFY IN STRONG SUPPORT. WE SHOULD BE GETTING NOTICE OF A HEARING EARLY NEXT WEEK!
Download Concurrent Resolution Draft
UPDATE 2/10/2020
Upon the recommendation of committee members and agency leads, we’re pursuing a concurrent resolution in the Hawai'i Senate. Stay tuned for bill # and hearing date. Make sure to join our email list to stay up to date.
UPDATE: PUBLIC HEARING 1/30/2020
The Clarity Project, a citizen’s initiative dedicated to expanding patient access to psilocybin-assisted therapy modalities in Hawaii, needs your help!
HB2567 is slated for a hearing THIS THURSDAY 1/30 at 9:00AM and WE NEED YOU TO TESTIFY IN STRONG SUPPORT. You can do so RIGHT NOW online. You have until Wednesday at midnight!
Supporter can also testify in person with us on Thursday.
House Conference Room 329
Hawaii State Capitol
Details on Testifying
SAMPLE TESTIMONY Letter
The Clarity Project is a citizen-driven initiative in Hawai'i that aims to expand patient access to include psilocybin-assisted therapy modalities.
Cutting edge research coming out of major research institutions like Johns Hopkins University, New York University, UCLA, and Imperial College of London is showing psilocybin to be a powerful tool for medical professionals working with mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Such research is now mainstream, popularized by NYTimes best selling authors like Michael Pollan (How to Change your Mind) and Johann Hart (Lost Connections).
Through community education, advocacy, and legislative action, the Clarity Project aims to create the necessary legal frameworks, regulatory bodies, and associated governmental mechanisms to help expand therapeutic access to psilocybin in Hawai'i.
Cutting edge research coming out of major research institutions like Johns Hopkins University, New York University, UCLA, and Imperial College of London is showing psilocybin to be a powerful tool for medical professionals working with mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Such research is now mainstream, popularized by NYTimes best selling authors like Michael Pollan (How to Change your Mind) and Johann Hart (Lost Connections).
Through community education, advocacy, and legislative action, the Clarity Project aims to create the necessary legal frameworks, regulatory bodies, and associated governmental mechanisms to help expand therapeutic access to psilocybin in Hawai'i.
Clarity Project - Resources & Documents
Check out our Medical Psilocybin White Paper (12 pages) which covers the current landscape of psilocybin research, national advocacy efforts, and recommendations for medical psilocybin in Hawaii.
Need something shorter? Our Key Findings Document summarizes the paper into a neat two pager for quick reading!
Highlights of the Project
The Clarity Project seeks to create a legislative framework for legally accessing psilocybin-assisted therapy in Hawai'i which includes:
An advisory, science-based, therapeutic modality including preparation, facilitation, and integration
Providing a nexus for an advisory board of experts from relevant disciplines
Risk assessment for contraindications
Creation of independent licenses for facilitators, service center operators, and producers of psilocybin mushrooms and products
Safety, practice, and ethical standards for trained
and competent facilitators
An extended development period to protect
successful roll out of the program
A public health education program on the benefits
of Psilocybin and assisted therapies.
The initiative includes an extended development period to protect successful roll out of the program.
Download the 2020 Hawai'i Legislative Bill
About
Inspired by Denver’s decriminalization of psilocybin, the Clarity Project was founded in 2019. We are comprised of doctors, therapists, medical professionals, advocates, and researchers interested in using or currently using psilocybin and related modalities in Hawai'i. Our network also includes patient advocates, members of the hospice/end-of-life care community, and cognitive liberty/consciousness community members.
We are a part of a growing global movement for the decriminalization of psilocybin.
What is psilocybin?
Psilocybin is a medicinal psychoactive component released when certain varieties of edible mushrooms are ingested. Research out of Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College in London, and other major research institutions has determined that when administered in a clinical setting, it has the potential to assist in the treatment of various issues related to addiction, depression, and anxiety.
National
The FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation of psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression in 2018.
State
Several states are currently taking measures to decriminalize psilocybin. Most notably, efforts in Oregon and California are being taken to get an initiative on the November 2020 ballot. In addition, Iowa GOP lawmaker Rep. Jeff Shipley has proposed bills to allow state regulators to approve the reclassification of psilocybin to be used in treatment and to remove it from the state’s list of banned substances.
Local
Denver was the first city to decriminalize the personal use, possession, storage, and cultivation of psychedelic mushrooms. Oakland subsequently became the second city, decriminalizing all entheogenic plants and psychedelic mushrooms. Currently, an organization in Memphis is working to increase literacy on the benefits of medicinal mushrooms and pushing for “common sense psilocybin laws”.
The available draft bills/initiatives are:
- Denver psilocybin mushroom decriminalization initiative
- Resolution supporting entheogenic plant practices and declaring that the investigation and arrest of individuals involved with the adult use of entheogenic plants on the federal schedule 1 list be amongst the lowest priority for the city of Oakland
- Oregon’s proposed initiative
- California Psilocybin Decriminalization Initiative 2020
- Iowa Bill “removing psilocybin and psilocybin from the list of 1 substances classified as schedule-1 controlled substances”
Psilocybin in Clinical Settings
While research is still young, the current clinical findings for the therapeutic use of psilocybin is promising. A series of small but rigorous studies suggest that a single psilocybin trip guided by trained professionals has the potential to relieve anxiety in cancer patients, bring relief to people struggling with depression, and break addictions to cigarettes, alcohol, and cocaine.
Based on clinical findings, psilocybin may have facilitated understanding about the origins of depression and other psychiatric disorders. Researchers at Imperial College studied fMRI brain scan images of participants experiencing ego dissolution during psilocybin therapy and found significant reduced brain activity in the default mode network, which is involved in “metacognitive” processes including self-reflection, mental time travel, theory of mind, and the self-narrative. It seems that psilocybin has the power to disrupt harmful mental habits. Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College of London, states, “taking the default mode network offline for a period of time [...] can, in effect, ‘reboot’ the brain, jog it out of its accustomed grooves, and open a space for new pathways to arise.”
As a result, these scientists suggest that the default mode network could be the source of the ego. Under psychedelics, the ego defenses relax and allow unconscious material and emotions to enter awareness and allow for the sensation of togetherness or oneness with the world. Mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and obsession all contribute to a lack of connection to other people and the outside world. This study suggests that these illnesses manifest as a result of an overactive ego.
Research Institutions
Research on psilocybin is being funded at the following institutions:
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine - Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research
- Imperial College London, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Brain Sciences - Centre for Psychedelic Research
- New York University Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Study
- Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Research
Press
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Partners List Coming Soo
Patient Resource
Resources for Patients
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Provider Resource
Resources for Therapists, Providers, Health Care, End of Life / Hospice Community Coming Soon.
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Contact
©2020 The Clarity Project
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