Joseph McKay, a retired New York City firefighter, sat across from a panel of state lawmakers in Manhattan on Tuesday and told them how magic mushrooms helped save his life.
In his thick city accent, McKay told the legislators how he spent years suffering from painful cluster headaches — sometimes eight in a day — and post-traumatic stress disorder from responding to the 9/11 attacks. No treatment seemed to work and he was losing hope — until he tried psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms.
“The excruciating pain that I endured for over a decade was gone,” McKay said. “I was in remission. Psilocybin gave me my life back.”
McKay’s story played a key role in Tuesday’s hearing held by the state Assembly’s health committee, which is considering whether New York should become the fourth state to legalize access to psychedelic mushrooms for medicinal purposes.
The psychedelic properties of mushrooms have long been used for recreational purposes, albeit illegally in the United States. But a growing body of data and anecdotal evidence suggests psilocybin has shown promise in treating depression and other ailments, though researchers are quick to point out more research needs to be done.
Lawmakers have introduced a handful of bills in Albany that would allow access to psilocybin, though none have made it to a vote. Supporters of psilocybin legislation, including Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin, hoped the stories shared at Tuesday’s hearings could spur action on the issue when lawmakers return to the state Capitol in 2026.
“We’re interested in hearing the testimony to see what we can do about perhaps making it legal and appropriate for medical providers to to dispense a product that they, frankly, have been acknowledging is effective for their patients, but have been unable in New York to legally prescribe it,” said Paulin, a Democrat from Westchester County.
Psilocybin remains illegal under federal law, where it’s considered a Schedule I substance — meaning it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
But one by one, medical professionals, researchers, mushroom growers and psilocybin users spoke to the bipartisan panel of assemblymembers, telling them how the drug has shown promise treating a variety of ailments — everything from anxiety and depression to headaches disorders and physical illnesses. They shared proposals on how New York state could regulate it.
That includes McKay, who has been a vocal advocate for 9/11 first responders and is a board member of Clusterbusters, an organization that advocates for people who suffer from cluster headaches. He said he still takes low doses of psilocybin regularly to manage his attacks.
“The truth is that so many people in New York are already buying and using psilocybin, but they're doing so with no regulations on what they're purchasing and no education on how to safely use the medication,” McKay told the lawmakers. “New York needs a system where people can purchase safe and regulated psilocybin with law-abiding people, including first responders and health care professionals.”
Federal regulators have acknowledged psilocybin has shown some promise for treating depression and anxiety disorders. In 2018 and 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued “breakthrough” status to the drug, which is meant to expedite research into whether it can successfully treat depression and treatment-resistent depression. In 2023, the administration issued draft guidance for psilocybin clinical trials.
But some states have moved at a quicker pace. Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado have legalized psilocybin treatment in some form.
In New York, Paulin sponsors a bill that would legalize psilocybin for health purposes. It would allow anyone age 18 or older to get a permit to possess and ingest psychedelic mushrooms if they have any of a broad range of conditions, ranging from anxiety and insomnia to cancer and terminal illnesses.
The permit holder would have to submit to a health screening form where they would be able to self-report their symptoms or submit a certification from a health care provider.
The state Legislature, which is dominated by Democrats, is set to return to Albany in January for its six-month legislative session.
A handful of Republicans were at Tuesday’s hearing, where they didn’t tip their hands as to whether they would support legalization for medicinal purposes.
“Any chance we have to gather subject-matter experts and talk about some of the more nuanced aspects of policy we may take up in coming legislative sessions is critically important,” said Assemblymember Josh Jensen of the Rochester area, who is the top Republican on the health committee.
The hearing, which started at 11 a.m., continued late into Tuesday afternoon.
