New Mexico’s bold step: public funding brings psychedelic therapy into reach

Emerging therapies like psychedelics have shown promise in clinical research for relieving psychological distress and suffering experienced at the end of life. There is true cause for optimism around the potential of psychedelics to help patients, particularly when patients are guided in a supervised setting and the process is coupled with psychotherapy. The programs rolling out in Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico, as well as recent movement at the federal level are exciting developments, and policymakers are watching closely for data and results.

However, psilocybin-assisted therapy can be very expensive. The cost of guided and integrative therapy by a trained professional for these practices can render the treatments inaccessible for many patients.

Oregon has adopted a thoughtful regulatory approach in their first-in-the-nation program, where providers are developing and sharing best practices with each other. The research shows that working with a trained facilitator is most effective in treating anxiety, depression, and the existential distress associated with terminal illness. But this element of the treatment is costly, with some patients paying out-of-pocket costs of over $1000 per session. As a result, this breakthrough therapy remains inaccessible to most patients.

In an exciting development, New Mexico has opened a new path to increase accessibility. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the state’s annual budget into law last month. Included in that budget was a breakthrough in alternative mental health treatments — state funding for psychedelic treatments for patients with low incomes.

New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Act established a Psilocybin Treatment Equity Fund, in which the state can invest public money for low-income patients. This year’s budget allocated $630,000 into the fund, a first-in-the-nation investment that will make psilocybin treatments more accessible across New Mexico. The passage of this legislation reflects the advocacy and support of organizations like End of Life Options New Mexico, whose work is grounded in advancing equitable access to end-of-life care options. Compassion & Choices supports advancing emerging therapies (position statement), monitored the bill’s introduction, and worked with EOLONM to evaluate support for the bill.

Founding EOLONM Board member Barak Wolff says, “It’s commendable that the New Mexico legislature kept equity at the forefront of this innovative policy change. This state fund will ensure that more people in need have access to these emerging therapies.”

New Mexico joins Oregon and Colorado in adopting legalization for psychedelics and is the first state to develop a fully clinical, medicalized program. It is designed to provide supervised treatment for qualifying conditions, including specialized end-of-life care. The inclusion of state funding represents a true commitment to integrating psychedelic-assisted therapies into its existing behavioral health framework. Because New Mexico has adopted this medical model and included funding for its execution, psilocybin therapy is already on its way for end-of-life patients. Red Willow, a New Mexico hospice provider, is on track to become “one of the only, if not the first, hospice program in the country to incorporate psychedelics in end-of-life care.”

Compassion & Choices applauds New Mexico’s policies to make these emerging therapies accessible to all state residents regardless of income. Policymakers, providers, and advocates will be watching closely as states develop innovative programs in response to promising research and changing regulatory restrictions, and hopefully, more states will follow the examples of Colorado, Oregon, and New Mexico.