PORTLAND, Ore. — Drug reform advocates called Oregon a progressive leader when it became the first in the country to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms.
But four years later, voters in a growing list of cities have banned the substance.
Four cities, spanning Portland’s suburbs and rural and coastal towns, added new voter-approved bans on the federally illegal complex in the Nov. 5 election. A dozen other communities that passed a two-year moratorium in 2022, when a majority of Oregon counties and more than 100 cities voted to temporarily or permanently ban psilocybin, voted in this election to make the restrictions permanent.
In the wake of the fentanyl crisis, the rejection of drug liberalization measures in Oregon and states across the country this election has led some experts to wonder whether voters are reconsidering their interest in such policies.
In Massachusetts, for example, voters a measure rejected that would have allowed residents over the age of 21 to grow and use plant-based psychedelic drugs under certain conditions. All three states had measures to legalize recreational marijuana voted against it.
Oregon voters in particular appear to have soured on drug law reform. A law passed by voters four years ago that decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine, was reversed by the state Legislature earlier this year after a heated debate over whether it played a role in a spike in public drug use and deaths.
“Perhaps the fact that the drug reform pendulum appears to be swinging back toward prohibition is part of a broader trend toward a law-and-order bias among American voters,” said Josh Hardman, founder from Psychedelics Alpha, a consultancy firm. newsletter on psychedelic research, business and policy. “Oregon is mainly touted as an example of a failed liberal drug policy.”
Despite local bans, psilocybin remains accessible at more than 30 licensed centers in the state’s most populous cities, such as Portland, and a handful of small towns. Some rural counties have also voted to remain in the program.
However, access to therapeutic psilocybin is further complicated by its high costs: one session can cost up to €2,000 out of pocket. This is largely because center owners and facilitators have to pass on licensing costs to consumers to stay afloat.
MJ Wilt, who just opened a licensed center in the Portland suburb of Gresham, spent tens of thousands of dollars of her own savings to get licensed and establish her center. It’s been difficult, she said, because her own experience with psilocybin changed her life for the better and she wants to bring that experience to others.
“The costs for the program have been astronomical and are not accessible to people across the socio-economic spectrum,” Wilt said. “It’s certainly not the cash cow that people think or imagined it would become.”
In 2020, approximately 56% of Oregon voters approved Measure 109, which allowed the production and controlled, therapeutic use of psilocybin in licensed facilities for people over 21. But the measure allowed counties and cities to vote to opt out, resulting in a patchwork of regulations across the country.
To add to the complexity, some cities have voted to allow psilocybin despite being in counties where it is banned. After all, cities control the land within their borders, while counties control unincorporated land.
The patchwork of regulations is similar to that of cannabis law. Half of the 24 states that have legalized recreational cannabis, including Oregon, allow localities to opt out of most types of cannabis businesses, said Kate Bryan, criminal and civil law policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Colorado became the only other state to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use in 2022. It will begin accepting license applications for “healing centers” in late December, a spokesperson for the state’s natural medicine department said in an email. The law allows municipalities to establish certain rules regarding the operation of the centers, but does not allow them to ban such centers completely.
Multiple cities across the country have also voted to decriminalize psilocybin, meaning someone cannot be arrested or prosecuted for possessing limited amounts of plant-based hallucinogens.
Psilocybin, found in several types of mushrooms, can cause vivid hallucinations that last for hours. Indigenous peoples have used it in healing rituals, and scientists are exploring or it can help treat depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. Researchers and military veterans are among those who have advocated the study of the substance for therapeutic use.
Kat Thompson, the founder and CEO of Fractal Soul, a licensed psilocybin center in the Portland suburb of Beaverton, said her center has served 400 people in its first year and that the “vast majority” have had positive results. Many come seeking help for depression, anxiety, trauma and addiction after years of trying talk therapy and medication, she said, while others come to process their grief or explore their spirituality.
But she said a lack of public awareness about the state’s psilocybin program has led many to confuse it with Measure 110, the separate ballot measure also passed in 2020 that decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs. The law’s botched implementation — also a first of its kind in the country — and the rising number of overdose deaths during the fentanyl crisis have fueled resistance. has prompted state lawmakers to backtrack on this earlier this year.
“We actually got a lot of calls from people who had booked sessions with us and they heard about the 110 rollback and thought that meant we were closing,” Thompson said. “So we had to explain and educate the public that Measure 110 was really just about decriminalization for personal use. It has nothing to do with the professional therapeutic model.”
Some people also confuse the psilocybin center model with cannabis dispensaries. People buy cannabis at pharmacies and leave to consume it elsewhere. People who want to use psilocybin, meanwhile, must consume it at an authorized service center under the supervision of a licensed facilitator who will administer it to them and stay with them throughout the trip, Thompson said.
“This is essentially a mental health clinic where someone is with us all day,” she said. “Overall it is extremely safe.”
Of the more than 16,000 doses administered since the first accredited center opened in June 2023, staff at such centers have called 911 or taken a patient to a hospital five times, an Oregon Health Authority spokesperson confirmed in an email mail. There are about 350 licensed facilitators and a dozen psilocybin manufacturers in the state, according to agency data. most recent figures.
Joe Buck, the mayor of Lake Oswego, a Portland suburb that just passed a psilocybin ban, said he was not surprised by the outcome, even though a majority of the city’s residents supported Measure 109 in 2020.
“Oregon really hasn’t managed its drug policy well,” he said. “So I can understand why some people are wary of the promises that are now being made around psilocybin.”
But he believes further research into psilocybin could change voters’ perspectives in the future.
“It’s really up to state leaders, leaders in the federal government, to make these drugs work through a good system that builds community trust.”