A Year of Progress
I’m proud to share with you Healing Advocacy Fund’s just-released year-end Impact Report for 2024. This report is an opportunity to review the work HAF has been doing over the past year to support the safety and effectiveness of the world’s first state-regulated psychedelic therapy programs in Oregon and Colorado.
As I write this, regulators, advocates, and field experts are working together to finalize the rules of Colorado’s program, which HAF helped inform based on lessons learned from our work in Oregon. On January 1, the state’s first licenses will be issued, and the first clients are expected to move through the program by summer. In Oregon, we expect more than 8,000 clients will have been served by the end of this year.
HAF has been wrapping up the year with critical work to educate the media and the public about the progress in these two ground-breaking programs. Just today, the New York Times shared the story of Barry Blechman, a cancer patient who found transformative relief from despair through facilitated psilocybin therapy in Oregon. HAF helped connect Barry and the Times reporter, so that he could share his powerful story.
We also held year-end briefings for media in both Oregon and Colorado. Read on below for a series of great local articles that came directly out of that work.
We are tremendously excited by the progress happening in these two states, and by what’s to come in 2025, as tens of thousands of people will soon be helped by both these programs. We will continue to push for advancement, including more closely integrating psilocybin care into our mental health care system, improving outcomes reporting across both states, and launching our first Community Impact Pilot research into the benefits of psilocybin for clients with alcohol use disorder.
As the year winds down, we’re so grateful for all of you supporting this new healing modality for people in need. We look forward to doing even more with you in 2025.
Read the 2024 Year-End Impact Report
Taylor West
Executive Director
COLORADO MEDIA BRIEFING: 2025 PROGRAM LAUNCH
On December 5, the HAF Colorado team held a media briefing to discuss the launch of Colorado’s state-regulated psychedelic therapy program, part of our work to educate the broader general public about the benefits of psychedelic healing. The briefing resulted in nearly a dozen news stories on the launch of Colorado’s psychedelic therapy program, including these:
Colorado Finalizing Plans for Psilocybin Therapy Program as Healing Centers Prepare to Open
9News
The state is putting the final touches on regulations governing the new program, including a comprehensive patient screening process. Following this, individuals will be matched with licensed therapists who design personalized treatment plans. The therapy will involve a three-to-five-hour session at one of the state’s licensed centers, where therapists will help administer psilocybin and provide support throughout the experience.
> Watch the Full Story
‘A New Hope’: Colorado Prepares for Launch of Psychedelic Therapy at Year-End
Steamboat Pilot & Today
On Thursday, both Vogt and Erica Messinger, a doctoral and psychiatric nurse practitioner candidate at Johns Hopkins University based in southwest Colorado, spoke about how psilocybin will add another tool to tackle the mental health crisis.
“Psychedelic therapy, to me, presents a new hope for Coloradans who continue to suffer from debilitating conditions, treatable conditions, despite our best efforts to help them find relief,” Messinger said.
> Read the Full Story
Psychedelic Therapy Community Excited for Colorado Mushroom Program to Begin
Westword
Executive director Taylor West said that the HAF's research aims to bring more treatment opportunities for people struggling with mental health issues such as depression, end-of-life anxiety, addiction and post-traumatic stress.
“In Colorado, we know that we're dealing with a mental health crisis, much like we are in the rest of the country,” said West, who believes that the introduction of psychedelic treatments will fill in the gaps where other medications have previously failed.
> Read the Full Story
OREGON MEDIA BRIEFING
The HAF Oregon team also held a media briefing last week, sharing 2024 program progress and a preview of 2025, resulting in several stories. By the end of 2024, over 8,000 clients will have gone through Oregon’s program—of those clients served, just .06% required a call to emergency services, indicating that the program’s safety guardrails are yielding appropriate results. During the briefing, the Healing Advocacy Fund team discussed its support of safety, access and outcomes throughout 2024, including advocacy for changes to rulemaking advisory boards, creating and sharing a client safety guide, and holding regular meetings among service providers to share best practices and offer new skills.
Next year, those interested in Oregon’s psilocybin program will begin to see information on program outcomes, thanks to Healing Advocacy Fund’s 2023 legislative bill to create a de-identified outcomes measurement and reporting system. In 2025, the Healing Advocacy Fund will advocate for significant new program changes in the Oregon Legislature, including seeking a change to create legal protections for licensed health care providers to use their skills within the psilocybin program.
Highlights resulting from the HAF Oregon briefing include:
At OHSU, New Research Study and Legislation Related to Psilocybin are on Tap for '25
Portland Business Journal
Nearly 8,000 people have legally used psychedelic mushrooms since Oregon launched the
first regulated psilocybin program in the U.S. in the spring of 2023. That’s three times the number who have taken part in clinical trials, which have shown that psilocybin can help address depression, anxiety, addiction and PTSD.
> Read the Full Story
Psilocybin Industry Will Focus on Fine-Tuning First-in-the-Nation Program in 2025
Capital Chronicle
Advocates of psilocybin treatment say 2024 was the year when Oregon’s psychedelic program started to stand on its own. This was the first full year of the program. Hundreds of specialists are now trained to guide patients in supervised psychedelic trips in Oregon. And thousands of people have gone through treatment with few ill effects.
> Read the Full Story
Oregon Psilocybin Advocates Push for Bill to Improve Facilitator Licensing
KPTV
Oregon was the first state to legalize psilocybin in 2020 with Measure 109, but now, advocates and practitioners are pushing for a law to improve the current adult-use model. The Healing Advocacy Fund and psilocybin facilitators are pushing for a bill to allow for dual licensure. Currently, a psilocybin facilitator who also holds a medical or therapy license is not allowed to use those skills while working with their psilocybin patents.
> Watch the Full Story