Florida: Moderate Democrat Michael Grieco to tackle psychedelic drug therapy in 2022 Session

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Grieco Background After having been accepted into the Florida Bar, Grieco began his career as an assistant state attorney of Miami-Dade County, serving under Katherine Fernandez Rundle.[3][4] In 2006, Grieco moved to Miami Beach and began his own private practice as a criminal defense attorney, founding the law firm Michael Grieco Law Center. Florida Politics website reports Grieco is sponsoring a bill (HB 193), joining Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, that would help clear the way for therapy using psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms.” The bill is something of a streamlined sequel to prior legislation he filed last January, and it’s almost a word-for-word copy of a bill Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in June. This version of the bill would also allow the state to look at ketamine, colloquially known as “special K”; and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as MDMA, “ecstasy” and “molly.” “All this bill does is create a framework for the state to expand potential treatments for mental health,” Grieco told Florida Politics. “Texas is already studying the use of psychedelics in treating mental health, specifically depression and PTSD. In my opinion, we could get even more specific and focus strictly on our veterans, because we have such a significant veteran population in Florida, but it’s a bill that should move.” The stigma around mind-altering substances and their utility in treating psychological ailments is outdated, Grieco said, citing a new wave of research that confirms past findings showing the substances can have mental health benefits. “Folks are either not as informed or they still (think of) Reefer Madness when discussing psychedelics, because things like LSD and magic mushrooms — they’ve been essentially vilified since the ’60s and ’70s,” he said. “People don’t realize they’ve been studying these substances for mental health treatment going back to the ’50s. It wasn’t crazy then, and it isn’t crazy now.” Source:    https://floridapolitics.com/archives/483938-michael-grieco-to-tackle-psychedelic-therapy-child-protection-and-animal-abuse-in-2022-session/

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Grieco Background

After having been accepted into the Florida Bar, Grieco began his career as an assistant state attorney of Miami-Dade County, serving under Katherine Fernandez Rundle.[3]

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