We are calling for the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and the Hawaiʻi Department of Health to create legal, safe therapeutic access to psilocybin for those who need it in our community.

Psilocybin is a safe, naturally-occurring, and non-addictive substance that continues to show groundbreaking results through scientific studies in the U.S. and beyond. These studies reveal that psilocybin has great potential to treat some of our most prevalent mental illnesses. One in five adults in the United States live with a mental illness such as PTSD or depression. The current treatments for these options are ineffective and fall short from providing much-needed relief to millions of people. 

Studies examining the efficacy of psilocybin and other plant medicines were ongoing in the 1950s and ‘60s, but when the federal government included psilocybin in its list of Schedule I drugs in the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, research into benefits of this plant-based medicine rapidly decreased. This classification created a long-lasting negative stigma around psilocybin and other plant medicines, which we are just beginning to recover from.

Rules governing the use of plant medicines have changed over the centuries, but the therapeutic value of psychedelic medicines - as well as the integrative practice essential to realizing their benefit - has remained constant.  

Recent research has been spearheaded in places like the Imperial College of London, John Hopkins University, New York University and Yale University, demonstrating the long-term efficacy of psilocybin as an effective treatment for the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, OCD, and other ailments.

The United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has twice granted psilocybin its breakthrough therapy designation in recent years. This greenlighted this medicine for more research, due to the groundbreaking results from existing studies showing psilocybin as a very effective therapy for depression, especially compared to current pharmaceutical options for patients.

Acting out of a deep sense of service to our community, Clarity Project joins an international community of medical professionals, researchers, advocates, veterans, patients, and more, who are calling for Hawai’i (among other states) to reconsider its governance of the therapeutic use of plant medicines, starting with psilocybin.

We all know someone who stands to benefit from safe, legal access to psilocybin. If we can reduce the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in our community, we must do what we can to ensure these people have access to the help that they need.

Follow our work at clarityproject.org or on Instagram at @clarityhawaii