Oregon Update: Psilocybin Therapy Services Implementation, From Concept To Reality

Oregon’s Measure 109 provides the state with the first comprehensive legal psilocybin therapy program in the U.S.

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has begun receiving applications on behalf of training programs and service centers as well as labs and manufacturing businesses.

By the second week of January, the OHA was reviewing six applications, while several psilocybin producers and service center operations have already been approved for business development in Jackson County, as spotted by Dave Hodes.

See Also: Oregon Psychedelics Companies Set The Stage For Future Regulations Of Natural Medicine Centers

The upcoming Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board (OPAB)’s gathering in February would create subcommittees to help with the implementation of the program.

Recall the November ballot’s opt-out results and final rules approved in December.

Member nominations are expected to open by May, after the advisory board considers feedback from licensees and tribal communities.

One of the most hot-button topics is therapy training and facilitators’ licensing. 

Psilocybin therapy facilitators are not required to be medical or mental health professionals but can apply for a license with a high school diploma or GED once graduating from a state-approved facilitator training program.

These programs, of which almost 20 have already been approved, are regulated by the OHA as well as a state’s education commission.

On the other hand, a facilitator’s license is for the individual, so people don’t need to buy or lease property in order to obtain it. But the new law does require that psilocybin be administered in a service center, so facilitators will resort to licensed facilities in the long run. The concern raised here is that the ratio between licensed facilitators and licensed service centers might be too unbalanced.

Another issue is timing. The legal psilocybin services program officially began on Jan. 2, and while people might be completing the mentioned facilitator training programs, service centers working through the land use compatibility process, and labs getting their corresponding accreditations, the state currently has no licensed facilities working and there no estimated date in which they will start to.

Oregon officials said there’s actually been a low number of applications. Of those, most were for worker permits, following manufacturers’, service centers’, labs’, and lastly, facilitators’ licenses.

See also: In Oregon You Can Get Trained To Be A Licensed Psilocybin Therapy Provider

Measure 109 does not require insurance. Companies could decide not to contract one should the price be too high, lawyer Kaci Hohmann told Lucid. She does foresee, though, that psilocybin insurance will probably have higher premiums and deductibles and some unique exclusions.

On local land use requirements, the new law typically requests service providers aiming to lease to get the landlord’s consent for the license application. 

And there’s also the issue of a reduced territory in which psilocybin services may be provided: only 11 out of 36 counties, and a bit over half of Oregon’s 241 cities, have approved their immediate start. One of them is Portland.

There are other considerations spanning across the state, such as tax codes and the impossibility of performing business deductions because of psilocybin’s federally illegal status. How each business will eventually roll this out remains to be seen.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Krakenimages.com and Cannabis_Pic on Shutterstock.