From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Dem Gov. Tony Evers will use his State of the State tonight to announce plans to include $300 million in his upcoming budget to provide comprehensive mental health services in schools, including peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs.
Evers will call for “treating our state’s mental health crisis with the urgency it requires,” according to excerpts his office released ahead of the speech.
The Dem guv will note the $30 million included in the 2023-25 state budget for school-based mental health services and will say it was a “fraction” of what he requested from the GOP-controlled state Legislature. Evers will submit his budget plan to the Legislature on Feb. 18.
“The state of our kids’ mental health continues to be concerning for me, both as a governor and as a grandfather,” Evers will say. “A kid in crisis may be distracted or disengaged and may not be able to focus on their studies, if they are able to get to school at all.”
In addition, Evers plans to bemoan the cost of prescription drugs.
“No Wisconsinite should have to choose between paying bills and putting food on the table or getting their life-saving medication,” Evers will say. “Accessing healthcare and picking up basic prescriptions or insulin should not break the bank, folks.”
The speech, which starts at 7 p.m., will be livestreamed on the guv’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. WisconsinEye will also broadcast it live.
Check WisPolitics tonight for coverage of the speech and reaction.
— UW-Madison researchers will be studying the effects of the psychoactive chemical psilocybin in two clinical trials using a drug candidate from Filament Health Corporation.
This Canadian psychedelic drug development company recently announced it has shipped its PEX010 drug candidate to UW-Madison, for use in clinical trials slated to begin early this year. The chemical being studied, psilocybin, occurs in so-called “magic mushrooms” and is responsible for their hallucinogenic effects.
The university’s study will explore psilocybin’s influence on neuroplasticity, a measure of the brain’s ability to adapt and form new neural connections. Dr. Charles Raison, principal investigator for the trials and a professor at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, says a broader goal is to understand how this effect “may impact participants’ wellbeing and their ability to understand the world around them.”
One trial, under the ENHANCE study, will dose 100 healthy volunteers to evaluate strategies to “enhance” neuroplasticity from psychedelics and other factors.
The other, called the RECAP2 study, will focus on the idea that neuroplastic effects from psychedelics “underlie their long-term effects on wellbeing,” the release shows. The second study will include 60 physically healthy volunteers with “slight decline” in wellbeing.
Benjamin Lightburn, CEO and co-founder of Filament Health, notes UW-Madison is an internationally recognized leader in psychiatric research.
“We are proud that Dr. Raison and his team have selected Filament’s drug candidate for clinical trials of this calibre and we’re pleased to support their important research,” he said in a statement.
See the release below.
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– Filament Health: Announces shipment of botanical psilocybin to the University of Wisconsin-Madison
