California's AB 113 budget sets aside $4.7 million for veteran psychedelic therapy research

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 113, the Budget Act of 2026, on September 18, 2026. The budget includes $4.7 million for psychedelic-assisted therapy research focused on veterans, to be administered by the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM). Veterans advocates called it the state's first-ever investment of this kind.

What AB 113 does

The funding carries language from SB 1224, a separate bill, into the budget. Its purpose is research: studying psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans, with CIAPM administering the money.

The $4.7 million figure and the signing date come from a press release by the advocacy group VETS, published September 21, 2026, and were corroborated by KPBS and Psychedelic Alpha. We have not reviewed the budget's legislative text directly. As of October 20, 2026, we haven't seen details on how CIAPM will award the money or which institutions will run the studies.

What AB 113 doesn't do

AB 113 legalizes nothing. Psilocybin is still illegal under California law, and it remains a Schedule I drug under federal law. The budget doesn't create a therapy program, licensed centers or any legal way for veterans or anyone else to buy or use psilocybin. Any treatment funded by this money would happen inside a research study.

California lawmakers have tried broader reform before. Gov. Newsom vetoed SB 58, a psychedelics decriminalization bill, on October 7, 2023. Since then the state has moved only on research. AB 1103, signed October 10, 2025, fast-tracks Research Advisory Panel review of psychedelic research. AB 113 adds funding on top of that.

Where California cities stand

Some California cities have gone further on their own by making psychedelics a low police priority. Seven have passed measures like this:

• Oakland (June 2019)
• Santa Cruz (January 2020)
• Arcata (October 2021)
• San Francisco (September 7, 2022)
• Berkeley (July 11, 2023)
• Eureka (October 17, 2023)
• Nevada City (August 26, 2026)

These measures don't legalize psilocybin either. They lower its enforcement priority, but possession is still a state crime. We found no such measure for Los Angeles or San Diego in any source we reviewed. Our guides for Los Angeles and San Diego explain the local picture.

How this compares with other states

California isn't alone in funding veteran-focused research while keeping psilocybin illegal. Utah's HB 390, signed March 19, 2026, funds a $1 million state study of psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans with treatment-resistant PTSD at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, and University of Utah Health says the law "does not legalize psychedelic therapy or open public access." At the federal level, the Department of Veterans Affairs launched a five-site psilocybin trial for veterans with treatment-resistant depression on August 5, 2026. Its sites are in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa (Alabama), Portland (Oregon), Philadelphia and the Puget Sound area of Washington, so none is in California.

For California veterans, that means the new state money won't change access right away. Research takes time to fund and set up, so for now the legal options are the same as before the budget passed. Our guide to psilocybin therapy near you explains how to look for trials and other legal options.

For the full rundown of California psilocybin law, see are magic mushrooms legal in California?