Regulations Matter: The Unseen Work of Advancing Psychedelic Healing
What's Inside:
Colorado’s Psilocybin Therapy Program opens its doors in 2025! The first facilitator licenses are now approved, and Healing Centers are expected to open by Spring.
With HAF support, State Representative Dacia Grayber introduced HB 2387 in Oregon to improve psilocybin therapy safety, access, and labeling requirements.
Heroic Hearts Project offers psychedelic retreats for veterans in Oregon, with 80% reporting reduced PTSD symptoms.
Oregon’s psilocybin program reports only 0.15% adverse event rate among 8,500+ clients served.
The Oregon Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus is researching psilocybin-related adverse events to improve program safety– report your adverse event here to help further psychedelic research.
Training programs in Colorado are certifying graduates, with license applications increasing.
Dear Supporter,
There’s an old saying about laws and sausages—that it’s better not to see either being made. We at Healing Advocacy Fund beg to differ.
So much of our work is the painstaking, incremental, and high-touch work of helping shape the psychedelic therapy programs in Oregon and Colorado towards greater safety and accessibility. Yet the sausage of rules and regulations aren’t decided in one fell swoop—our state directors Heidi Pendergast (Oregon) and Tasia Poinsatte (Colorado) and their teams have spent months and years partnering with policymakers, advocates, and providers to analyze and suggest improvements.
In 2024, HAF Oregon recommended key program improvements to regulators, extending the time period for the reporting of adverse events, allowing clients to bring a support person to their administration sessions, and allowing the reporting of aggregated, de-identified information that will guide us towards an even better program in the future. In 2025, HAF is supporting a legislative bill to further improve the program, including better connecting our program to the mental health system through dual licensure.
HAF Colorado has also been an active participant for the past two years in the development of rules governing Colorado’s newly-launched program. One key win: successfully advocating for more provider flexibility than is currently possible in Oregon, leading to innovations like micro-healing center licenses to reduce costs and burden for small operators, simpler opportunities for co-location with related services, and tiered licensing to recognize facilitators with additional relevant licensure, like licensed therapists and social workers.
The work of shaping these programs through legislative and regulatory processes will continue, and our Oregon and Colorado teams will continue to organize, analyze, and speak up throughout. It might not be glamorous work, but it is important work, as we build a new way to meet the mental health needs of Americans.
Taylor West
Executive Director
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Heroic Hearts Project Domestic Psychedelic Programs: Oregon Recruitment
In 2017, the nonprofit Heroic Hearts Project (HHP) created the first veteran psychedelic program in the country, which revolutionized how veterans can access life-saving mental health treatment. Since then, HHP has supported over 1,200 veteran families seeking psychedelic therapy internationally—and is now at the forefront of making this care accessible to veteran families on home soil. They currently have applications open for two psilocybin retreats in Portland, OR for March and April 2025 open to Veterans and First Responders.
HHP’s Domestic Psychedelic Program is aimed at not only providing direct care to veterans in the U.S., but also creating scalable systems and providing education that allow communities to implement these treatment options for their local veterans.
If you are a veteran dealing with the impacts of military related trauma such as PTSD, TBI, anxiety, or depression, consider applying for this psychedelic retreat program designed by veterans, for veterans. Over 80% of program participants experience significant reductions in PTSD symptoms as well as positive increases in their overall quality of life.
> Learn More
UPDATES
Oregon: Up to Date Numbers on Psilocybin Services Program Licensing
These numbers are updated periodically by OHA and are subject to change. Last updated January 27, 2024.
Colorado's First Facilitator Licenses Are Approved
Less than a month after Colorado opened the license application portal, the first natural medicine facilitator licenses have already been approved! So far, just two facilitator licenses have been approved (both Oregon licensed facilitators applying through Colorado’s portability program) along with seven training licenses. Training licenses allow the licensee to begin facilitating with psilocybin while completing their required 40 consultation hours.
However, in order for any facilitation to occur, facilitators and training licensees must have access to regulated natural medicine that has been tested for potency and contaminants—which is why it’s good news that the state has already received at least one license application from each of the business types needed for psilocybin therapy to become a reality:
The Department of Revenue will continue updating these license stats on their natural medicine webpage.
Training programs are currently finalizing certificates for graduates, and we expect to see license applications pick up as those are sent out. Depending on application processing times, we could see the first healing centers become operational in Colorado as early as this spring.
Healing Advocacy Fund Supports Program Improvement Legislation in Oregon
As the first state in the nation to pass a state-regulated psilocybin therapy program, the Oregon Psilocybin Services program has served over 8,500 clients seeking healing from mental health issues including anxiety, depression, and addiction.
However, there are improvements to be made as we learn more about how to create a safer, more accessible program. That’s why the HAF Oregon team is now supporting a psilocybin therapy improvement bill in the Oregon Legislature, HB 2387.
Currently, Oregon’s healthcare providers—including nurses, doctors, and mental health professionals—cannot use their professionally licensed skills when facilitating psilocybin therapy, which includes preparation, administration, and integration. In addition, many providers do not know if they can even discuss psilocybin therapy with their patients without jeopardizing their healthcare license. The Psilocybin Advisory Board, which makes program improvement recommendations to the OHA, does not currently include members from the psilocybin service provider community. Finally, the true potency of a psilocybin product – which includes psilocin, a compound that is 40% more potent than psilocybin – is not required on product labels, nor is this information required to be communicated to clients.
Safety and access improvements are needed to provide the highest level of care to Oregonians seeking psilocybin services. The Psilocybin Program Improvement Bill addresses these issues with the following important changes:
Creates legal protections for licensed healthcare providers to discuss Psilocybin Services with their patients.
Allows licensed healthcare providers who are also licensed psilocybin facilitators to bring their skills to preparation and integration of psilocybin services.
Establishes seats for licensed providers on the Psilocybin Advisory Board to have an informed board for an evolving industry.
Requires the OHA to maintain confidentiality through complaints investigation to encourage reporting and allow for a fair investigation.
Requires that psilocin be labeled on all psilocybin products, and requires facilitators to notify clients of potential increased potency of the product before their administration session.
RESOURCES
Report an Adverse Event in Oregon's Psilocybin Therapy Program, Support Future Research
According to the Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus, a research entity exploring Oregon’s psilocybin services program, adverse events are known as “a harmful or negative effect that happens when a person takes psilocybin”.
While the Oregon Psilocybin Services Program was designed to create safe experiences and safety parameters for clients and service providers throughout its regulatory framework, not every psilocybin therapy experience can be positive. And in some cases, clients will require medical attention after consuming psilocybin. These instances can range from vomiting and nausea, to increased anxiety, or in severe cases, paranoia or psychosis. And while Oregon’s psilocybin therapy program has seen a 0.15% adverse event rate reported from the over 8,500 clients served, these potential risks are important to understand to help prospective clients decide whether psilocybin may be right for them.
The Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus (OPEN) program, as a part of its work, is researching adverse events occurring in Oregon’s Psilocybin Services program. OPEN is an interdisciplinary, community-wide, non-commercial research and evaluation effort. They aim to measure the impact of state legal psychedelic services. OPEN is housed at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU): Its members are clinicians, teachers, and researchers who are dedicated members of the community.
Individuals who have experienced an adverse event through Oregon’s psilocybin therapy program are encouraged to participate in OPEN's anonymous research on psilocybin-related adverse events to improve the safety of Oregon’s psilocybin program. This information helps researchers compare results, identify themes, and may help the community of psilocybin providers change, or improve their service offerings. Your experience matters, and helps create important lessons learned for people seeking psilocybin therapy in the future.
Submit your adverse event, or review Healing Advocacy Fund's client education guide for additional Oregon Psilocybin Program resources. Additionally, you may contact the Fireside Project, a 501c3 organization dedicated to offering meaningful support before and after your psychedelic experience.
> Submit an Adverse Event
Oregon Residents: Do You Struggle with Alcohol Use?
Do you struggle with alcohol use or binge drinking? Curious about psilocybin services? You may be eligible for participation in future research studies.
The Healing Advocacy Fund has partnered with research groups and Oregon-based psilocybin therapy service centers to study the impact of psilocybin services on alcohol use.
If you are 21 or older, live in the Portland area, and struggle with alcohol use, you may be eligible to receive subsidized psilocybin services and participate in future research studies.
The psilocybin services would include preparation, administration, and integration sessions at a licensed psilocybin service center in Oregon.
You May Qualify If You:
Are over 21 years of age
Live in the Portland area
Struggle with alcohol use, binge drinking, or addiction
IN THE NEWS
Psychedelic Therapy in About to Become More Common in Colorado. Here's How it Works
KUNC
We wanted to understand what psychedelic therapy looks like before it becomes more widespread. Dr. Scott Shannon founded the Wholeness Center in Fort Collins, which offers an array of treatments for mental health, including for anxiety and depression. He’s offered psychedelic therapy for eight years and treated thousands of patients. (He’s worked with psychedelics while following the old laws that existed until this year.)
> Read the Full Article
First Psilocybin Therapy Center Applications Roll in as Colorado Prepares for Industry Launch this Spring
Denver Post
Regulators recently began accepting applications from those interested in getting in on the ground floor of the state’s nascent industry, and while it’s too soon to know how widespread businesses offering psilocybin-assisted therapy will be in Colorado, the applicant pool so far indicates interest is concentrated along the Front Range.
> Read the Full Article
Psychedelic Entrepreneurship
The Trip Report by Beckley Waves
Gabe Charalambides’ journey began in the world of aerospace engineering, where he spent years designing cutting-edge technology. However, his personal experiences with meditation, Buddhism, and psychedelics opened a new path—one focused on exploring the human mind and fostering healing through intentional psychedelic experiences.
> Listen to the Full Episode
Health Workers are Still Traumatized by the Pandemic. Could Magic Mushrooms Help?
KNKX Public Radio
In spring of 2020, when Seattle was at the epicenter of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, Rachel Drayer was a physician assistant in emergency medicine at Kaiser Permanente. Her memories from that period are dominated by helplessness and fear: people dying in isolation, patients getting X-rays through glass doors – all while wondering whether she could be the next one on a ventilator.
> Listen to the Full Story
Tripping Over Trump: Will the New Administration Embrace Psychedelic Exceptionalism or 'Just Say No'?
Psychedelic Alpha
As the psychedelics field licks its wounds after a string of defeats in recent months, many believe they have found a silver lining in the form of an incoming Trump administration. But while there are several prominent psychedelics advocates in the President-elect’s orbit, it’s not yet clear whether, or how, the new administration would catalyse psychedelic drug development or policy reform.
> Read the Full Article