Big Policy Wins + New Tools for Facilitators & Advocates

Written By HAF

What's Inside:

Dear Supporter,

Whenever you work to create and support innovation, you have to be ready to problem-solve too. It’s one of the most important and rewarding parts of HAF’s work – working with the psychedelic care community to identify challenges as they emerge, develop solutions to address them, and execute a collaborative strategy to put those solutions in place. This month we’re celebrating significant successes responding to identified program needs in both Oregon and Colorado.

In Oregon, our work to develop what became House Bill 2387 started with conversations with more than 100 healthcare providers both inside and outside Oregon’s psilocybin program, as well as regular discussions with most of the state’s service center operators and with regulators within the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the program. This bill improves the integration of state-regulated psilocybin therapy into the broader healthcare community, by ensuring that licensed healthcare professionals can use their training and skills in the delivery of psilocybin therapy without risk to those state-granted healthcare licenses. It also explicitly allows any licensed healthcare professional to discuss psilocybin services with clients or patients, without any risk to their license. Thanks in part to the extensive stakeholder engagement by the HAF Oregon team, the bill was signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek this past Friday, May 23.

In Colorado, HAF was instrumental in helping organize support for Senate Bill 25-297, which creates a robust, responsible, and privacy-protected outcome measurement framework for the state’s psychedelic therapy program. Measuring the usage and outcomes in the program supports its long-term success, safety, and efficacy, while enabling healing centers, facilitators, and state regulators to adapt, refine, and improve care over time. It will also mark a major contribution to the overall understanding of psychedelic care, providing insights at a scale that is unprecedented in psychedelic research.

Innovation must always be combined with evaluation and evolution. HAF’s engagement with provider communities, with field expertise, and with state policymakers is how we problem-solve and fulfill our mission to support the success of state-regulated psychedelic therapy programs. Thank you for your support in this important work.

 

Taylor West

Executive Director

UPDATES

Colorado: Up to Date Numbers on Natural Medicine Program Licensing

View DOR's list of licensed healing centers in Colorado. You can also search for DORA-licensed facilitators online by selecting "Natural Medicine" from the dropdown menu.

Colorado Psilocybin Therapy Program Set to Go Live in June!

This month, a testing lab was licensed and certified in Colorado’s regulated psilocybin therapy program. With this last piece of Colorado’s psilocybin therapy ecosystem in place, the state’s first healing centers expect to begin serving their first clients in June. After more than two years of thoughtful community engagement and rulemaking, we can truly celebrate the beginning of a new path to healing in the Centennial State!

 

EVENTS

Join Us at Psychedelic Science 2025!

The HAF team is excited to participate in #PS2025 taking place in Denver, Colorado, June 16-20. The conference brings together peers and friends in science, politics, and society, in shaping the future of healthcare and the field of psychedelic study.

HAF will participate in several panels at the conference, including:

The State of Psychedelics in the U.S.: Legal Pathways, Emerging Models & What Comes Next
June 18, 2025 | 12:30 PM MDT

Colorado’s Legal and Cultural Psychedelic Landscape
June 20, 2025 I 9:30AM MDT

Beyond Passing a Bill - Iterating and Adapting
June 20, 2025 | 09:50 AM MDT

The Challenge of Building Public Awareness and Buy-In
June 20, 2025 I 10:30AM MDT

Building a Thriving Ecosystem in State-Regulated Programs
June 20, 2025 | 03:15 PM MDT

The conference will feature a full day of programming diving into the state-legal psychedelic frameworks on Friday June 20!

> Learn more & register

JUNE 16, 6:30pm MT: Celebrating the Launch of Colorado’s Natural Medicine Program During Psychedelic Science 2025

Co-hosted by Healing Advocacy Fund and the National Psychedelics Association, this event offers an opportunity to reflect on all that coalesced to bring us to this moment in Colorado, while stepping into a regenerative vision of the future as we set a strong ethical foundation for our collective efforts to take root and grow. The event will feature live music with Sage & Aera, art and refreshments at an indoor/outdoor venue in Denver’s River North Art District (RiNo).

> Learn more & register

JUNE 10, Noon MT Webinar: Working with Veterans in Psychedelic Therapy

Healing Advocacy Fund is partnering with Heroic Hearts Project and Althea to promote this critical training for psychedelic facilitators who want to deepen their understanding of working skillfully and compassionately with veterans.

This free two-hour training, led by Jared Rinehart and Ken Weingardt, will explore the landscape of trauma in the veteran population—including combat trauma, military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and substance use disorders—and how these experiences intersect with the healing potential of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT).

> Register

RESOURCES

Portland Psychotherapy Launches “Portland Institute for Psychedelic Science”

The recently launched Portland Institute for Psychedelic Science (PIPS) is dedicated to advancing the field of psychedelic research and therapies through rigorous scientific inquiry, evidence-based psychedelic harm reduction and integration, and specialized provider training programs. PIPS offers a comprehensive set of services including:

  • Psilocybin Wraparound Services - Clients receive comprehensive consultation and assessment to come to an informed decision about utilizing psilocybin to address mental health problems. They are then matched with a trusted licensed facilitator in the Oregon model. Afterwards, they receive evidence-based integration services to promote long-term growth.

  • Psychedelic Consultation and Integration - Clients receive evidence-based information and a safe place to talk about psychedelic use with a nonjudgmental and knowledgeable clinician. This program also helps people integrate psychedelic experiences from a variety of contexts.

  • Research - PIPS recently completed Project SAMATI, a clinical trial investigating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder, underscoring their commitment to pioneering research and translating findings into innovative treatments. New clinical trials and other psychedelic-related studies are in various stages of planning.

  • Training - PIPS provides education and training opportunities for providers to counteract misinformation in the psychedelic space and allow therapists (and other healthcare professionals) to be able to best support their clients.

To explore their services or subscribe to the PIPS newsletter, visit PIPS online.

Enthea Offers New Insurance Benefit for Psilocybin Therapy in Oregon

Enthea is the nation’s first and only third-party administrator (TPA) enabling employers and unions to offer innovative mental health benefits, such as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and stellate ganglion block. With its recent expansion to include psilocybin services, Enthea is revolutionizing how organizations provide access to breakthrough treatments that go beyond traditional mental health care.

Enthea’s new medical tourism benefit allows employers and unions to cover all or part of the costs for employees or members to receive psilocybin services in Oregon where the medicine and treatment is legally available through licensed, state-regulated service centers. This approach helps individuals access care that may not be available locally due to state regulations. Enthea’s growing network currently includes several service centers, such as Odyssey PBC, Chariot Psilocybin Service Center, Drop Thesis, Gather Psilocybin Services, Bendable Therapy, and 7 Gates Sanctuary. The network will continue to expand in Oregon and into other states as licensed service centers are added in other states where psilocybin is legal, like Colorado and New Mexico.

Employers and unions are significantly impacted by the costs associated with mental health conditions like PTSD, anxiety, depression, and addiction, especially as conventional treatments fail to help 30-60% of those struggling with these conditions. Recent studies for psilocybin-assisted therapy showed a 75% response rate and 58% remission at 12 months for major depression -and, according to NYU Langone, two doses of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy reduced heavy drinking by 83% among people with alcohol dependence, with nearly 50% stopping drinking altogether eight months after treatment. Given that employers and unions cover over half of the U.S. population through job-based insurance, they are uniquely positioned to drive a paradigm shift in mental health care by offering benefits that address root causes and deliver lasting results.

> Learn more about Enthea's new benefits

 

IN THE NEWS

What Psychedelic Critics Get Wrong about Colorado’s Mental Health Crisis: A Psychiatrist’s Case for Psilocybin

Colorado Newsline

“In his recent commentary ‘Psychedelic centers create a danger to kids and exacerbate Colorado’s mental health crisis,’ Luke Niforatos argues against the legal use of psilocybin and the emerging infrastructure surrounding it. While his concerns span topics from facilitator qualifications to federal drug scheduling to child safety, his argument leans heavily on fear-based rhetoric and misinformation.

“As a psychiatrist and licensed psilocybin facilitator, I offer a different view — one grounded in research, clinical experience, and a commitment to truth over alarmism…”

> Read the full article

Stroke Inspires Denver Man to Become Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator

Denver 7

After using psychedelic mushrooms to heal from a stroke, a Denver man is studying to become a psilocybin facilitator so he can help others.

> Watch the full story

Oregon’s Legal Psilocybin Industry: Growing Pains, Healing Gains

Lucid News

When Oregon voters approved Measure 109 in 2020, they made history by creating the first state-regulated psilocybin services program in the U.S. Unlike clinical psychedelic trials or decriminalization measures, Oregon’s approach offers psilocybin for personal development without a prescription—itself a leap into the unknown. Interest in psilocybin—recreational and therapeutic—is growing rapidly nationwide. But two years after the first service centers opened, the results are mixed: transformative healing for many, steep challenges for providers, and hard-earned lessons other states are now studying closely.

> Read the full article

Lawmaker ‘Reborn’ Through Psychedelic Therapy Wants the GOP to Embrace It

Wall Street Journal

Morgan Luttrell says he had never smoked anything, let alone tried drugs in his life. So the retired Navy SEAL had to ask a nearby nurse for guidance on how to inhale a psychedelic drug that was part of the final step of an intense three-day experimental therapy.
Luttrell had traveled to Mexico in 2018 to take ibogaine, a drug that is illegal in the U.S. but is gaining a reputation within the veteran community as a potential treatment to address complicated conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. Inhaling a separate drug, called DMT, was the final step in the process.

> Read the full article

Oregon Bill Would Let Some Therapists, Doctors Oversee Clients' Psilocybin Therapy

KLCC

The Oregon Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would allow some therapists, doctors and other care providers to lead psilocybin treatment for their clients. House Bill 2387 would prevent state healthcare boards from punishing care providers for obtaining psilocybin therapy licenses, or discussing the treatment option with their patients.

> Read the full article

HAF
Next

Momentum for state-regulated psychedelic therapy programs is building