{"id":795446,"date":"2026-10-08T02:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T02:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795446\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T02:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T02:08:09","slug":"push-to-increase-access-in-n-y-to-mental-health-treatments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795446\/","title":{"rendered":"Push to increase access in N.Y. to mental health treatments"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration \u201cannounced a request for information<\/a> describing approaches the agency is considering for the design of early-phase clinical trials of ibogaine drug products.\u201d It\u2019s now seeking public input on those approaches.<\/p>\n

The announcement is in the wake of President Donald Trump\u2019s April 2026 executive order<\/a> accelerating medical treatments for serious mental illness.<\/p>\n

In New York, advocates are pushing state lawmakers to approve a proposal that would \u201cmodernize\u201d the state\u2019s approval process for these types of treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that we\u2019ve been navigating a mental health crisis,\u201d said Win Thurlow, executive director of LifeSciencesNY. \u201cToo many New Yorkers are suffering and existing solutions just don\u2019t work for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thurlow says \u201cit\u2019s been several decades since we\u2019ve seen a new medication approved\u201d for mental health conditions including \u201cgeneral anxiety disorder and depression.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with encouraging developments with psychedelic compounds as treatment options, he says it\u2019s time for New York state to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re urging legislators in New York to ensure that once the FDA reschedules these drugs that they\u2019ll be available in New York as well,\u201d said Thurlow.<\/p>\n

LifeSciencesNY is part of a coalition of different agencies that sent a letter to the New York state Legislature in June urging lawmakers to pass the Access to Innovative Mental Health Treatments Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The measure was introduced in both the state Senate and Assembly.<\/p>\n

Democratic Assemblymember Patrick Burke is sponsoring it in his chamber.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe research is pretty clear,\u201d said Burke. \u201cFor PTSD, anxiety, depression, and several other issues, psilocybin and other psychedelic medicines help tremendously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burke says he\u2019s been working on this measure for six years in trying to get it across the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to do something is now,\u201d he said. \u201cI actually genuinely believe if the budget wasn\u2019t jammed up last year that we had a real, real good opportunity to pass this in last year\u2019s session.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to Spectrum News 1, state Senate sponsor Jessica Scarcella-Spanton said in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs our nation\u2019s healthcare and mental health treatment solutions evolve, New York\u2019s Public Health Law must follow suit. Once a treatment option is approved by the FDA and rescheduled by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New Yorkers who could benefit from it should have access to it. My legislation addresses the gap in state law that currently prevents people across our state from receiving the most innovative treatment options. As Chair of the NYS Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security, and Military Affairs, I\u2019ve seen how critical access to diverse treatment options is for our veterans \u2014 especially those dealing with mental health issues \u2014 and this will be a step towards helping them receive the most modern therapies available.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration \u201cannounced a request for information describing approaches the agency is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,1906,6623,9640,50,261649,59926,229,56,54,55,44330],"class_list":["post-795446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-nicole-neuman","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}