The Arizona Department of Health Services will open a grant application window in about a month for research institutions interested in conducting studies which measure the efficacy of psilocybin mushrooms.

The Arizona Legislature appropriated up to $5 million during the current fiscal year to fund clinical trials which will study how the psychoactive component present in so-called “magic mushrooms” could be used to treat a variety of health disorders.

Those include: post-traumatic stress disorder, seizures, depression, anxiety and substance abuse.

The trials must meet Federal Drug Administration approval and authorization by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Grant monies will be distributed by the Arizona Biomedical Research Centre, a division of the state health department.

According to a release by Department of Health Services, "Any clinical trials that are funded pursuant to this announcement and subsequent grant solicitation shall prioritize: using whole mushroom psilocybin cultivated under a Schedule I license for research, issued by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration; and using veterans, first responders, frontline health care workers and persons from underserved communities as the research subjects.

Applications received will be reviewed by a team of peer reviewers who will forward their recommendations to the Psilocybin Research Advisory Council, established pursuant to Laws 2023, Chapter 139 (56th Leg 1st Reg),SB 1726, Sec. 6(F)², for consideration of the recommendations and to forward their award recommendation to the Director of ADHS by approximately Feb. 1, 2024."