CO Releases Draft Rules on Healing Centers
First, I want to start with top line news: Colorado recently released draft rules on their psychedelic healing centers. This is a major milestone for Colorado’s program, and I suggest you take a look at the updates below for more information, and how to get involved.
I also want to set the scene for a larger update to come. For now, we’ll set the context, and share more updates soon about an exciting initiative we’re launching in Oregon.
The implementation of the world’s first state-regulated psilocybin therapy program in Oregon continues to bring hope and healing to people on a never-before-seen scale. Despite the fact that over 2500 clients have gone through Oregon’s psilocybin services program, barriers to affordable access remain.
Affordability and access in the psilocybin services program require a pragmatic approach to identify and execute short term solutions to pave the path towards long-term sustainability for the program. In other words, we need proof of concept, data and safety to demonstrate efficacy and maintain sustainable growth for this program.
We’ve spent much of the last year unpacking what’s needed for the psilocybin therapy program in Oregon to be successful. In the coming weeks, we’re excited to announce our next phase of work, which will highlight solutions to many of these short-term challenges, and will create an on-ramp for a thoughtful approach to long-term sustainability in the model for state-regulated psychedelic therapy in Oregon, Colorado, and beyond.
We look forward to continuing this fight for accessibility and affordability, in the name of continuing to protect and expand state-regulated psychedelic healing for all who need it.
UPDATES
Up to Date Numbers on Oregon Psilocybin Services Program Licensing
The following information has been compiled through the OHA’s Psilocybin Services website.
These numbers are updated on a weekly basis and are subject to change. Last updated 4/8/24.
Hoping to Facilitate Psilocybin Therapies or Open a Healing Center in Colorado? Now is the Time to Make Your Voice Heard!
The Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) released a set of draft rules last week that have significant implications for structure and access in Colorado’s natural medicine program. For those considering licensure, now is the time to make your voice heard, through written comment or speaking at DOR’s next Work Group Meeting on April 10 from 9am-12pm MT (hosted over Zoom).
Some of the draft rules align with Oregon’s program, such as detailed requirements for alarm systems and video surveillance systems for all licensed businesses, including healing centers. The draft rules require healing centers to include an Administration Area, where natural medicine sessions take place, and a separate Restricted Area where natural medicines and surveillance recording equipment are stored.
The draft rules allow healing centers to share a location with a healthcare facility, and there is some allowance for shared common areas such as lobbies, hallways and bathrooms.
Notably, the rules include some significant restrictions around transport and transfer of natural medicines. Only someone with a Employee License or Owner License could transport natural medicines, precluding an independent facilitator transporting natural medicines, for instance, to a rural health clinic for an administration session. Conversely, the rules appear to restrict healing centers from transferring or selling directly to a participant, which is problematic from a tax liability perspective under 280e.
Read a more detailed summary and analysis of the latest draft rules from DOR here.
Several therapists in private practice have already reached out to HAF raising concerns that many of the requirements will be expensive and difficult to implement in the context of a therapy office, favoring investor-backed larger operations and clinics over private practitioners. We plan to recommend adjustments to support a more flexible, accessible program in Colorado and urge you to raise your concerns directly with DOR.
> Comment on the Latest Set of Rules
Have You Received Services Through Oregon's State-Regulated Psilocybin Therapy Program? Share Your Story!
Are you interested in sharing your story as a psilocybin therapy client in Oregon? Did you have a unique experience, or are you inspired to help others find their path to healing, or did you have an experience that you feel warrants system improvements?
In order to learn more about the nation’s first state-regulated psilocybin therapy program, the Healing Advocacy Fund would like to hear your story as a client of the Oregon Psilocybin Services program. As we await real-time data reporting to begin in 2025, these on-the-ground experiences will inform future programmatic changes, and share narratives that help the public understand the risks and benefits of psilocybin therapy.
If you are a prospective psilocybin therapy client and you are looking for more information about Oregon’s Psilocybin Services program, we recommend you review our Oregon Psilocybin Services Guide before accessing services.
> Share Your Story
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Fireside Project Partners with HAF on Development of Client Education Guide
From our friends at the Fireside Project:
Fireside Project is a non-profit that operates the Psychedelic Support Line, which provides free support by phone and text message to people integrating past psychedelic experiences or in the midst of current ones. Our name was inspired by the feeling of sitting around a fire, experiencing a sense of community, connection, and openness. That’s how we want people to feel when they reach out to us! In our three years of operating, we’ve supported over 20,000 people, 97% of whom tell us they’d recommend us to their loved ones.
Fireside Project is delighted to be partnering with the Healing Advocacy Fund on this important guide. Let’s be blunt here: there are unscrupulous practitioners operating in Oregon. Our shared goal is to empower our community to spot and avoid them before hiring them. As we like to say at Fireside Project, the line between healing and traumatizing is seldom thinner than during a psychedelic experience. We hope that our guide can help you find someone to keep you on the right side of the line.
If you take nothing else away, here are Fireside’s Top 5 from the Client Education Guide:
Finding a good psilocybin facilitator is like finding a good doctor.
Apply at least the same level of scrutiny to a facilitator as you would to a therapist, doctor, or nurse. You're entrusting someone with your health and safety. Do your due diligence!
Understand your needs and ensure your facilitator meets them! Perhaps you're trans and you'd only feel comfortable with a trans facilitator. Pick your facilitator accordingly!
If something feels off about a potential facilitator, it probably is! Trust your instincts!
The only good facilitator is a humble facilitator.
> Read the Client Education Guide
IN THE NEWS
Michael Pollan Discusses the Rollout of Psilocybin in Oregon
Democrat Herald
> Watch the Video
Missouri Budget Bill Would Fund Psilocybin Research with $10 Million in Opioid Settlement Money
Marijuana Moment
Lawmakers in Missouri’s House of Representatives have given preliminary approval to a budget bill that would spend $10 million from state opioid settlement funds on research grants to study the use of psilocybin to treat opioid use disorder.
> Read the Full Article
Many Users of Oregon's Legal Psilocybin Program Aren't Oregonians at All
Oregonian/OregonLive
One day this winter, K. traveled from her home outside of Oregon to Portland and then to Hood River. She spent the night in a hotel and the next day, she became one of the growing number of people who have used Oregon’s legal psilocybin program.
> Read the Full Article
After Psilocybin Service Center Closes in NE Portland, Experts Say it Doesn’t Reflect Industry
KPTV
A psilocybin service center in northeast Portland became the first to close in Oregon, just six months after opening. The Journey Service Center on Northeast Wasco Street was one of more than 20 service centers operating in the state. They revealed in a Facebook post on March 26 that they were closing down the next day, and they confirmed to FOX 12 that it was due to a lack of clients. The center served more than 100 people during its time in business.
> Watch the News Segment
Massachusetts Group Pushes Use of Psychedelics in Therapeutic Settings
Rhode Island Current
With legal cannabis sales now widespread in Massachusetts, advocates are mounting a ballot campaign aimed at a new frontier: legalizing mushrooms and other psychedelics.
Promoted by a group called Mass. for Mental Health Options, the proposed ballot measure would establish a bureaucracy similar to the Cannabis Control Commission to make “naturally occurring” psychedelics like magic mushrooms (psilocybin), peyote (mescaline), and ibogaine available for consumption in “therapeutic settings through a regulated and taxed system.”
> Read the Full Article
Ashland Psilocybin Center Encourages Use for Treating Veterans with PTSD
Ashland News
An Ashland psilocybin service center wants to collaborate with a nonprofit organization that advocates the use of psychedelic mushrooms to treat post-traumatic stress disorder to bring free or reduced cost “psilocybin experiences” to help heal local veterans.
> Read the Full Article