HB 382: Controlled substances; Schedule I; psilocybin; revise a provision

Georgia currently classifies lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin as Schedule I controlled substances (O.C.G.A. § 16-13-25), meaning they have no accepted medical use under state law. This bill says that if the federal Food and Drug Administration approves a specific form of either drug (lysergide tartrate or crystalline polymorph psilocybin) and federal authorities schedule and list it under the Controlled Substances Act, that approved drug would no longer count as a Schedule I substance in Georgia. These two sections only take effect if and when that federal approval happens. The bill, titled the 'Prescription Drug Security, Supervision, and Return Act,' also rewrites several pharmacy rules. It lets pharmacy technicians work remotely on certain technical tasks without counting against supervision ratios, raises the number of technicians and interns a single pharmacist can supervise, adds a definition of 'closed-door pharmacy,' drops a certification requirement tied to technician count, and removes a one-year manufacture-date limit on which drugs wholesalers must accept as returns.

• Exempts a future FDA-approved LSD drug (containing lysergide tartrate) from Georgia's Schedule I list, but only once federal approval and scheduling occur.
• Exempts a future FDA-approved psilocybin drug (containing crystalline polymorph psilocybin) from Georgia's Schedule I list under the same federal-approval condition.
• Lets pharmacy technicians perform certain technical functions remotely without counting toward the pharmacist supervisory ratio, which stays at one pharmacist per four technicians physically in the pharmacy.
• Allows a pharmacist to supervise up to six pharmacy interns and externs combined, instead of the prior limit of one intern and one extern.
• Removes a rule requiring a set number of certified technicians once a pharmacist supervises three or more of them.
• Eliminates the requirement that wholesale drug distributors only have to accept returns of 'essential' drugs if those drugs expire within one year of manufacture.

Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy interns and externs, hospital and closed-door pharmacies, wholesale drug distributors, and the State Board of Pharmacy, which sets and enforces these supervision and return rules. It would also affect patients if a federally approved LSD or psilocybin medication ever comes to market.

If the FDA someday approves an LSD or psilocybin based medicine, doctors and pharmacies in Georgia would be able to handle it without state Schedule I restrictions. In the meantime, pharmacies would gain more flexibility to use remote pharmacy technicians and supervise more interns and externs, changing daily staffing practices.

• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 16-13-25(3)(I) so LSD does not include an FDA-approved, federally scheduled and listed lysergide tartrate drug.
• Section 3 revises the same Code section's subparagraph (N) so psilocybin does not include an FDA-approved crystalline polymorph psilocybin drug.
• Section 4 updates the definition of 'pharmacy technician' in O.C.G.A. § 26-4-5 to cover technicians working 'in the practice of pharmacy' rather than only 'in pharmacies.'
• Section 5 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 26-4-82 to require physical, on-site pharmacist supervision, exclude remote technicians from the 1-to-4 supervisory ratio, define 'closed-door pharmacy,' and raise the combined intern/extern cap to six.
• Section 6 removes from O.C.G.A. § 26-4-115(c) the requirement that exempted 'essential' drugs must expire within one year of manufacture to be excluded from mandatory wholesaler returns.
• Section 7 clarifies the Act does not limit the State Board of Pharmacy's authority or affect drugs already scheduled II through V.
• Section 8 makes the LSD and psilocybin provisions (Sections 2 and 3) effective only if the FDA approves and federal authorities schedule and list the specific drug forms described.

1. 2026-05-11Effective Date 2026-07-01
2. 2026-05-11Act 476
3. 2026-05-11House Date Signed by Governor (Cámara de Representantes)
4. 2026-04-10House Sent to Governor (Cámara de Representantes)
5. 2026-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted (Senado)
6. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senado)
7. 2026-03-25Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
8. 2026-03-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senado)

• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)Patrocinador principal
• Mark Newton (R, HD-127)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)

1. AprobadaVotación: Cámara de Representantes6 de marzo de 2026

   167 a favor, 0 en contra (2 sin votar, 8 ausentes)

   Passage: House Vote #676

2. AprobadaVotación: Senado31 de marzo de 2026

   38 a favor, 10 en contra (0 sin votar, 6 ausentes)

   Passage: Senate Vote #895

• controlled substances
• psilocybin and LSD
• pharmacy regulation
• drug scheduling
• pharmacist supervision