Plenty of Roles for Lawyers if New York Legalizes Medicinal Psilocybin, Advocate Says

Corinne Carey, a public-policy attorney, advocates for the medicinal benefits of psilocybin and testified before state lawmakers on Tuesday. Another advocate who didn't attend the hearing, Joshua Bauchner, said the prospect of legalizing psilocybin for medicinal purposes is “going to keep lawyers busy for quite some time, across many disciplines.”

Albany lawmakers are considering allowing psilocybin mushrooms for medicinal purposes, a possibility that could keep health regulatory lawyers and other practitioners busy helping New Yorkers navigate the federally banned, Schedule I substance.
 
Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin, a Westchester County Democrat who sponsors a bill that would legalize psilocybin for medicinal purposes, hosted a five-hour hearing Tuesday that set the stage for the legislature's 2026 deliberations, beginning in January.
 
Other New York bills would decriminalize possession or direct an assisted therapy pilot program for veterans and first responders. One would go so far as to regulate adult recerational use.
 
The lawmakers heard from a retired New York City firefighter who uses psilocybin to deal with debilitating cluster headaches and post-traumatic stress from his response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
 
They also heard from Corinne Carey, a public-policy attorney who advocates for its use as a founder and coordinator of New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives.
 
In the U.S., only Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado have legalized forms of psilocybin.
 
In an interview, Joshua Bauchner, the nationally known chair of Mandelbaum Barrett PC’s Cannabis, Hemp & Psychedelics Group, said the prospect of legalizing psilocybin for health purposes is “going to keep lawyers busy for quite some time, across many disciplines.”

An ardent advocate for psilocybin, Bauchner called it “as close to being a miracle drug as you can get,” particularly for veterans and emergency responders with stress.

Bauchner filed a pro-bono amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law. It was in support of administering psilocybin to a terminally ill patient. Ultimately, the court upheld the Drug Enforcement Administration’s interpretation that psilocybin remains inaccessible through the Right to Try law.

“It’s not a horrible pharmaceutical, which is what so many people have grown accustomed to believing,” said Bauchner, who did not testify at the hearing. “It is a plant. I’m a big believer in what Mother Nature provides.”

Bauchner said New York lawmakers would have to “create all kinds of mechanisms for distribution and access,” since pharmacists are licensed by the Food and Drug Administration.

"You do have to come up with the whole infrastructure at the state level, much like medical cannabis was, to provide for that access to use,” he said. “There’s probably going to be a lot of opportunity for intellectual property attorneys, because as the science develops, you’re going to see patents on medications that are predicated on the plant.”

Also, insurers might not cover doctors and others who would be engaging in therapeutic treatment, even if allowed by state lawmakers, the attorney said.

And if it ever got to point where mushrooms are available for general purchase, that is where cannabis and psychedelics attorneys such as Bauchner would get involved, helping businesses obtain financing outside of traditional banking systems, and collateral, since a lender isn’t likely to want mushroom crop for security, he said.

During the hearing in New York, Carey, the public-policy attorney, testified that she learned about the purported health benefits of psilocybin mushrooms through her advocacy for the terminally ill.

Carey said she knew people who had participated in clinical studies about the substance relieving end-of-life trauma, and organized a virtual statewide conference in 2022, “Ending the Prohibition of the Mind: A Mushroom Symposium.”

Before putting the conference together, she said she wanted to learn more firsthand. She obtained psilocybin from a trusted source and planned an out-of-state experience to test what an intentional “trip” might offer.

In the hours and days that followed, Carey said her stressors dissipated. She described feeling overcome by a feeling that everything she needed to be the person she wanted to become, in any given circumstance, is available.

“I need only remember that I possess inherent strength and resilience, and draw on that strength and resilience when I need it,” she said, recalling the experience.

Carey said it was also evident to her that “anyone who doubts the therapeutic value of these substances does not yet understand it.”

Carey said psilocybin helped her overcome her lifelong struggle managing weight: over the next 18 months she lost 80 pounds. She said she didn’t directly attribute the weight loss from psilocybin—rather, the changes in her mind helped her manage her diet, portions and cravings, as well as encourage her to get regular exercise.
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"This is the 'neuroplasticity' effect of psilocybin that many of the experts testified to during the day," she said afterward.