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April 24, 2025 |  By: Iowa News Service

Iowa is considering using psychedelic mushrooms to treat mental and emotional disorders

The Iowa Legislature is weighing a measure that would expand the use of psychedelic mushrooms to treat PTSD and other mental and emotional disorders. House File 978 has passed the House and awaits action in the Senate. Spirit Lake Republican Representative John Wills sponsored the measure, and says H-F 978 would create a board to oversee the use of psilocybin, including the one found in so-called "magic mushrooms."

"Right now there is data and proof that shows 82 percent of the time a person with PTSD will have symptoms reduced and or completely cured with as little as one treatment of psilocybin in a controlled enviornment, and so that's the key it has to be done in a controlled enviornment.", says Wills. 

Wills says the setting is important because mental health professionals counsel patients through a past traumatic event during the experience, and help them find a positive way to process it.

Wills, a military veteran himself, says mental health professionals can use psilocybin to help address the high suicide rate of US military vets who suffer from PTSD, but he adds using it in a controlled setting could benefit other people, too.

"Police officers, fireman, emergency room doctors, anyone who has suffered trauma at some point and has PTSD or suffers from PTSD symptoms are more liekly to commit suicide.", says Wills. 

Neighboring states, including Minnesota and Michigan, have decriminalized psilocybin possession in some cities, but it has not been fully legalized for therapeutic use. The National Institutes of Health has warned against unrealistic expectations, given that psilocybin use is still only in clinical trials.