Nevada's 2025 law establishing a legislative working group to study and recommend a regulatory framework for psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Nevada SB 242 is a study-and-recommend law, not an access law. Signed by Governor Joe Lombardo in 2025, it created the Psychedelic Medicines Working Group under the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. The group's job was to study psychedelic substances and hand lawmakers a plan for potential regulated access.
The bill did not decriminalize or legalize any substance. Psilocybin, MDMA, and the other substances the working group studied remain illegal in Nevada under both state and federal law. The law's only immediate effect was to stand up the working group and give it a mandate and a deadline.
SB 242 passed the Legislature with broad bipartisan support. The bill started with three supporters but gained nine co-sponsors before the final vote and cleared both chambers by wide margins. Its primary sponsors were Senators Rochelle Nguyen (D) and Edgar Donate (D).
The working group has 15 members and sits under the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. It is the only government body in Nevada with a formal mandate to study psychedelic medicine policy.
SB 242 names four required seats by office: the state attorney general, the DHHS director, the director of veterans services, and the president of the Nevada Board of Pharmacy — or their official designees. The remaining seats include health care providers, researchers, patient advocates, and a law enforcement representative.
The group was chaired by Marla McDade Williams, Administrator of the Division of Child and Family Services at DHHS. This is a detail most policy summaries skip: the chair is a child-welfare official, not a clinician or researcher — a sign of how broadly DHHS structured the membership to cover social and public-health angles, not just clinical ones.
SB 242 required the working group to review existing evidence on the therapeutic use of entheogens, examine relevant federal, state, and local laws, and produce an "actionable plan" for safe, accessible, and affordable access to psychedelic therapy in Nevada. Findings were due to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2024.
The group held public meetings throughout the 2023–2024 interim period. Meeting agendas, minutes, and exhibits are posted on the DHHS website. This transparency requirement — open public meetings with posted minutes — is built into the working group statute, giving advocates and researchers a way to track deliberations in real time.
The Nevada Psychedelic Medicines Working Group approved its final report on December 13, 2024, meeting the statutory deadline. The report recommended that the Legislature create a regulated access program for psychedelic- assisted therapy in Nevada.
Key recommendations in the report include:
The insurance recommendation is the most concrete policy step the report adds beyond other states' frameworks. Oregon and Colorado both launched legal programs without any insurance pathway; a single session can cost $1,000 to $3,000 out of pocket. If Nevada enacts access alongside an insurance mandate, it would be the first US state to require coverage from day one.
The 2025 Nevada Legislature adjourned without passing a psychedelic therapy access law. The session produced one major attempt: Assembly Bill 378, sponsored by Assemblyman Max Carter (D-Las Vegas).
AB 378 would have created the Alternative Therapy Pilot Program, allowing supervised psychedelic therapy for military veterans and first responders aged 21 or older who have been diagnosed with a qualifying mental health condition. The bill covered psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine, and mescaline and had 24 primary and co-sponsors — one of the broadest bipartisan coalitions on a psychedelic bill in Nevada history.
The Assembly Health and Human Services Committee advanced AB 378 on a voice vote in April 2025. The bill did not advance to a final floor vote before the session ended. The working group's recommendations now carry over to the 2027 session as the foundation for the next attempt.
Nevada and Utah both chose a study-first path to psychedelic policy rather than opening access immediately. Utah went further: its 2024 law created an actual pilot program with supervised therapy at approved research sites. Nevada's SB 242 only created a working group.
| Feature | Nevada SB 242 (2025) | Utah SB 167 (2024) |
|---|---|---|
| What the law created | 15-member studying working group under DHHS | Actual pilot program at approved research sites |
| Legal access today | None — substances still illegal | Limited — restricted patient population, capped sites |
| Substances in scope | Psilocybin, psilocin; report also covered MDMA, ibogaine, mescaline, 5-MeO-DMT | Psilocybin and MDMA |
| Patient population | N/A — no access yet | Veterans and those with treatment-resistant conditions |
| Report delivered | December 2024 — recommends regulated program | Program generates data for Legislature on an ongoing basis |
| Next legislative step | 2027 Nevada Legislature | 2025 session evaluated pilot results |
| Insurance coverage | Recommended in working group report | Not required under current law |
When Nevada's approach fits better: Nevada's broader substance scope and insurance recommendation may produce a more comprehensive access bill in 2027. When Utah's approach is ahead: Utah patients with treatment-resistant conditions can access supervised therapy now; Nevada patients cannot. See the Utah SB 167 guide for the pilot's current status.
SB 242 defined the study mandate to include entheogens, with psilocybin and psilocin named as the floor, not the ceiling. The working group interpreted this broadly and examined a wider range of substances in its December 2024 report.
The report includes dedicated sections on psilocybin, 5-MeO-DMT, mescaline, and ibogaine. It also calls for further data collection on MDMA and ketamine, which it describes as "non-traditional psychedelics" requiring more evidence before a firm regulatory recommendation. This is an important distinction: the working group's mandate included MDMA in spirit, but its final report stopped short of a specific MDMA access recommendation.
None of these substances are currently legal in Nevada. The report is a recommendation, not a regulation. For the current national picture of where MDMA sits legally, see our MDMA legal status guide. For psilocybin specifically, our guide to where magic mushrooms are legal covers the full US map.
All substances covered by Nevada SB 242 remain Schedule I under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Nevada's law created a study body, not an exemption from federal scheduling, so nothing in SB 242 creates a legal pathway today.
Nevada residents who want legal access to psychedelic-assisted therapy currently have three realistic options: enroll in a federally approved clinical trial, travel to Oregon or Colorado for a legal psilocybin session at a licensed facility, or access ketamine — the only psychedelic-adjacent treatment that is legal and widely available in Nevada today. See our ketamine therapy guide for what is available right now in Nevada clinics.
For the national picture of where every state stands, use the legal status by state tool or the psychedelic legalization tracker for the latest policy moves across the US.
Nevada SB 242, signed into law in 2025, created the Psychedelic Medicines Working Group under the state Department of Health and Human Services. The 15-member group was charged with studying psilocybin, MDMA, and related substances and delivering a regulatory framework recommendation to the Nevada Legislature by December 31, 2024.
No. Psilocybin remains illegal under Nevada state law for possession, use, or sale. Nevada SB 242 created a study-and-recommend process, not a legal access program. The working group's December 2024 report recommended a regulated access program, but no law creating that program has been enacted as of 2026.
The working group approved its final report on December 13, 2024. It recommended that the Legislature create a regulated access program for psychedelic-assisted therapy. The report also called for health insurance coverage of psychedelic therapy and further data collection on MDMA and ketamine alongside psilocybin.
SB 242 required a 15-member working group under the Department of Health and Human Services. Required seats include the state attorney general, the DHHS director, the director of veterans services, and the president of the Nevada Board of Pharmacy, or their designees. The remaining seats cover health care providers, researchers, patient advocates, and a law enforcement representative.
Nevada did not enact a psychedelic therapy access law during the 2025 legislative session. Assembly Bill 378, which would have created a pilot program for veterans and first responders, passed the Assembly Health Committee but did not advance to a final vote. The working group's recommendations from December 2024 are expected to inform future legislation in the 2027 session.
Both Nevada SB 242 and Utah SB 167 take a study-first approach rather than immediately opening access. Utah went one step further: its 2024 law created an actual pilot program allowing supervised therapy at approved research sites. Nevada's law only created a working group to study the issue and recommend a framework. Nevada has not yet enacted an access pathway.
There is no firm date. The Nevada Psychedelic Medicines Working Group submitted its recommendations in December 2024. The 2025 legislative session ended without passing an access bill. The next opportunity is the 2027 Nevada Legislature, which meets biennially. Any law passed in 2027 would then require additional rulemaking time before therapy could begin.
SB 242 defined the study scope as entheogens including at minimum psilocybin and psilocin. The working group's final report also examined 5-MeO-DMT, mescaline, and ibogaine, and recommended further data collection on MDMA and ketamine. The bill as originally introduced would have legalized psilocybin and studied MDMA, but those provisions were removed in committee before passage.
Nevada's law is one of dozens of active psychedelic policy moves across the US. The legalization tracker updates when bills move, sign, or stall — no legislative calendar needed.
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