well first it was medicinal marijuana now it could be medicinal mushrooms state senators today heard testimony from Advocates who want to legalize the use of magic mushrooms or psilocybin it's a federally controlled substance that can be an effective treatment for a range of mental health issues if it passes New Jersey would join just a handful of other states that have approved or are now considering legalizing the substance Ted Goldberg has the story I can honestly say that suicide been healed me both physically and mentally and in my opinion it would be an injustice to deny access to this life-saving medicine retired firefighter Joseph McKay credits psilocybin for helping ward off cluster headaches telling State lawmakers that the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms shouldn't be illegal to have or sell in New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed a law two years ago easing up on penalties for possessing mushrooms and Senator Nicholas Qatari introduced to Bill last year that would make New Jersey the third state to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use McKay says his trouble with cluster headaches started about six months after working in New York on 9 11. we were not in a good place and I thought at that time that I had hit rock bottom and it couldn't get any worse then I got my first attack I woke up one in the morning feeling as if someone had just stabbed me in the eye with a burning hot ice pick I'd never experienced this much pain in my life I thought I was having an aneurysm and that I was going to die I thought I'd take up my whole life more than once but it was the love that I had for my family that kept me kept me hanging on McKay described to the Senate's health committee how other drugs didn't work as well as psilocybin did I had an interesting day but the next day my attacks were gone psilocybin gave me my life back at that point no more fear of the next attack I could travel again with my family not having to worry because about getting an attack on a plane or what have you and I had a giant Sledgehammer to beat the Beast that took my life away I was used to hearing people speak about taking substances as ways to check out to numb the pain or simply to have fun in contrast when people spoke about psychedelics they said that psychedelics did the exact opposite they did them to face their trauma they did them to go into their pain in order to heal it I thought the best case scenario with that would it would help me manage my cravings for alcohol however this therapy totally eliminated any and all Cravings I had for alcohol in that study they demonstrated that the vast majority of patients were biologically verified abstinent nicotine containing products for at least a year and a half afterwards which is remarkable the researchers pointed out that psilocybin isn't a cure-all but it can help with anxiety depression some addiction and even PTSD they answered questions from Senators about possible problems that could come with legalizing it is any of this shown any signs of being addicted there's no known case of a person being administered to psychedelic in a therapeutic environment um health committee chair Joseph Vitale admits there's a lot more to learn before the legislature legalizes mushrooms in the Garden State in Trenton I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association [Music] [Music]