By Dafna Michaelson-Jenet and Sean Camacho

Our country is in the midst of a mental health crisis. Nearly one in five adults in the United States is living with anxiety, depression, or another serious mental health condition. These are debilitating diseases that oftentimes go undiagnosed, significantly decreasing quality of life and carrying a heavy economic burden for patients and families. This sobering statistic underscores the need to provide clinicians with new tools so they can properly administer treatment to those who need it in a timely and effective way. Current treatment options are going stale, increasingly resulting in poor tolerability, low remission rates, and loss of efficacy.

Fortunately, fresh treatment options are now nearly within reach: psychedelic treatment is the portal into the new era of medical treatment for mental health and beyond. These types of treatments deliver new hope for rapid, lasting results. For example, the controlled usage of LSD is believed to increase connections between areas of the brain not usually connected, enabling changes with the potential to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and other brain-related conditions. Additionally, the controlled usage of MDMA has produced results that have pointed to a mechanism that can enhance social and communication skills. These promising treatment options are all well underway in the FDA drug development process, a multi-step approval system centered on balancing innovation and regulation.

For millions of those who are struggling with mental illness and find current treatments unsuccessful, this is incredibly welcome news, and the approval of these new options cannot come soon enough. Many of these people who continue to suffer under unresponsive treatments simply go without treatment at all. When you add in the problems of stigmatization, limited resources, and fragmented access to care, the result is a deepening crisis that leaves millions of Americans to suffer in silence.

And the crisis is unfolding within the walls of our own state. According to Mental Health America, 26% of Colorado adults struggle with mental illness. During the past 20 years, the suicide rate in Colorado has increased by 30%, placing it above the national average. We cannot let these statistics continue. Coloradans deserve access to innovative evidence-based new treatments. That’s why we’re introducing legislation — SB26-031 (“Use of Prescription Product with Controlled Substance”) — to allow for the lawful use of prescription drug products that contain Schedule 1 controlled substances.

The purpose of this bill is simply to ensure Colorado doesn’t fall behind and is ready to offer breakthrough treatments to patients once they are approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and rescheduled by Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The difference between rollout in two to three years versus five to 10 could be thousands of lives. This bill would ensure clinicians are able to utilize any FDA-approved, evidence-based options for treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and even other non-mental health illnesses.

As a service member, mother of a service member, and committed public servants, we both have a deep desire to improve mental health policy. Veterans are amongst the most at-risk groups in the United States; the statistics are jarring. The latest numbers show one in five U.S. veterans experience PTSD or major depression, and 38% had a medical record code for a common mental health disorder. The more concerning aspect? A 2024 study found nearly half of U.S. veterans with a mental health condition reported barriers to care. On top of that, nearly 40% cited instrumental barriers to care, like a lack of resources or excessive cost of treatments.

The most important step we must take — and can take as Colorado policymakers — is to shed the stigma affiliated with both mental illnesses, as well as these treatment methods, so they can be integrated into our existing health care infrastructure safely and efficiently.

Far too many have silently suffered in the hands of an outdated health care system. Colorado can be a leader in the mental health space and modernize our treatment regulations, so our drug scheduling tracks that of the Drug Enforcement Administration, setting the standard for other states to follow.

Sen. Dafna Michaelson-Jenet represents Adams County and has earned a national reputation for her legislative efforts to improve mental health care. Rep. Sean Camacho is an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, an attorney, and represents Denver’s House District 6.