# Plain Language Summary: The VISIONS Act of 2023

This bill prevents the federal government from using taxpayer money to stop states and local governments from making their own decisions about psilocybin—the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms. Right now, psilocybin is illegal under federal law, but some states and cities have started passing their own laws to allow it for medical research, therapeutic use, or other purposes. This bill says that federal agencies can't spend money trying to block or interfere with those state and local laws.

In practical terms, if a state decides to legalize psilocybin for medical treatment or research, the federal government couldn't use federal funds to prosecute people under that state law or to prevent the state from running its program. This doesn't change federal law itself—psilocybin would still be illegal at the federal level—but it creates a hands-off policy where states get to experiment with their own rules without federal interference funded by taxpayer dollars. It's similar to how the federal government has handled marijuana in recent years, allowing states to set their own policies even though it remains federally illegal.

The bill applies to all states, territories, and local governments like counties and cities. It covers any state or local law that allows the use, distribution, sale, possession, research, or cultivation of psilocybin. This could matter to people in states considering psilocybin therapy programs, researchers studying the substance, or anyone interested in how much power states should have to make their own drug policy decisions separate from federal rules.