The State of Psychedelics

Now that Colorado voters have approved the Natural Medi cine Act (Prop 122) and decriminalized psilocybin mush rooms, what’s next?

The state most likely won’t see a psilocybin healing center for a few years; however, work to regulate the use, distribution, and sale at these healing centers has begun. It starts with the 15 appointed members of the Natural Medicine Board.

On the board are doctors, therapists, a sheriff, and people fa miliar with the use of natural medicine in Indigenous cultures. An Arizona doctor has also been appointed to the board, as she is the only federally licensed professional in the country allowed to conduct psilocybin studies using whole mush rooms during controlled trials.

“I got to know the world of plant medicines at a cursory level initially and got to meet professionals, the therapists, the un derground workers, the clinicians, the scientists. I was really blown away by what was possible,” Natural Medicine Board Member Skippy Upton Mesirow of Aspen says.

According to the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), those wishing to open or operate a healing center should be able to begin submitting applications by September 2024. The board has been tasked with the following:

• Accurate public health approaches and the content and scope of educational campaigns

• Research related to the efficacy and regulation of natural medicine

• Proper content of training programs, educational and ex periential requirements and qualifications for facilitators

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• Affordable, equitable, ethical and culturally responsible access to natural medicine

• Appropriate regulatory considerations for each natural medicine.

• The addition of natural medicines to the program All rules to be promulgated

• Requirements for accurate and complete data collection, reporting, and publication of information related to im plementation

Though prospective consumers may be excited by the concept of legally ingesting magic mushrooms, those working behind the scenes have their concerns. According to a recent budget document submitted to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee by DORA, the agency feels unprepared to take on this new role.

“This is an area completely outside the scope of any existing expertise or regulatory history within the department. This is unlike anything else the department regulates. The department has no resources or expertise to begin implementation of this expansive new program involving substances with agricultural, controlled substance, chemical/scientific, and facility issues,” the document reads.

DORA typically oversees sectors like insurance and banking, but will have to quickly adopt a regulatory structure under which psychedelic mushrooms can be legally consumed by people 21 and older at licensed facilities, if they are to meet the 2024 expected deadline. According to DORA spokesperson Katie O’Donnell, the psychedelic regulatory board could have gone to any host of departments. For instance, the Colorado Department of Revenue, which oversees the cannabis industry, or the Department of Agriculture regulates the hemp industry. So why DORA?

Tasia Poinsatte, leader of one of the groups that supported Prop 122, says that they felt DORA was the right choice to oversee psychedelic regulation due to its licensure work. “Proposition 122 was designed to provide breakthrough therapies to Coloradans for mental health and wellness,” Poinsatte says.

“At the heart of this new regulated program are the licensed facilitators who supervise the preparation sessions, the natural medicine administration session, and the integration sessions. We believe it’s appropriate for the agency that regulates other health professions, such as therapists, addiction specialists and nurses, to also regulate this new profession of licensed facilitators.”

Still, Poinsatte says she recognizes DORA may need help creating a “program that works for all Coloradoans and is a model for the rest of the country.” Colorado is only the second state after Oregon to decriminalize psilocybin.

In the Department’s latest budget request to the legislature, it proposed that the department would spend $700,000 to contract resources and expertise for this new regulatory challenge. It says the speed at which it’s expected to implement rules is unprecedented, and it’s still figuring out the fee structure for legal-use facilities under which it will fund its work. Psilocybin regulations are only the beginning.

Proposition 122 gives the Natural Medicine Advisory Board the option to similarly legalize and regulate a number of other naturally derived psychedelics, including dimethyltryptamine (known as DMT), ibogaine, and mescaline, which is found in the San Pedro cactus.