As a “laboratory of democracy,” Oregon’s experiment with decriminalizing all drugs—including hard drugs like heroin and meth—has run its course and come to an end. The Oregon law was reversed on April 1 under new legislation signed to impose misdemeanor charges for crimes involving hard drugs.

On Monday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed House Bill 4002, which reverses the first-of-its-kind, voter-approved drug decriminalization law that was enacted three years ago.  HB 4002 was approved by the state Senate 21-8 after the House approved it 51-7.

In 2020, nearly 60% of Oregon voters passed the state’s drug decriminalization law, Measure 110, which in a radical move, decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs and was designed to direct drug addicts to rehab instead of doing time. The bill made the personal use possession of illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth punishable by a mere ticket and a maximum fine of $100. 

But critics claim the law created a hellscape of drug addicts on the streets of cities like Portland. The New York Times called it a “deluge of overdose deaths.” How true are these claims? Oregon ranked 17th for the highest drug-related deaths last year, with 30 fentanyl overdose fatalities for every 100,000 people—up from 36th out of the 39 states (including Washington, D.C.) that reported fentanyl overdose deaths in 2019. This was too high of a climb amid the state’s experimental drug law, some analysts said, however it was still lower than the rates seen in other states. 

Fast forward to August 2023, and 56% of Oregonians said they disapproved of the drug decriminalization law, and lawmakers—Republicans and Democrats included—introduced legislation to reverse the bill. Liberal commentators, however, said the state is reigniting a police state.

Statesman Journal reports that beginning on Sept. 1, Class E violations, which were created under Measure 110, eliminating criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of illegal drugs, will be repealed under the new law. The new law means that people caught with small amounts of illegal drugs will face a new “drug enforcement misdemeanor.”

HB 4002, raised the punishment for personal use possession to a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. It gives cops the green light to confiscate the drugs and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks. 

It also establishes ways for rehab treatment to be offered as an alternative to jail time by encouraging law enforcement agencies to create “deflection programs” that would divert people to addiction and mental health services instead of the criminal justice system.

In a letter to Senate President Rob Wagner and House Speaker Julie Fahey, Gov. Kotek wrote that the bill still encourages law enforcement to prioritize “pre-arrest deflection.”

“Implementation of House Bill 4002 will be complex, but committing to clarity and coordination is one way to improve its likelihood of long-term success,” the governor stated. “Therefore, I direct the Criminal Justice Commission to leverage their full authority for deflection programs to use a standardized certification document that is easily identifiable as evidence of a person’s successful completion.”

“Committing to this approach is one strategy to reduce collateral consequences of justice system involvement and can help mitigate the racial and ethnic disparities this legislation is projected to create,” Kotek stated in her letter. “For example, pre-arrest deflection for all standalone PCS charges can support a simplified sealing process later by reducing the number of records created and, based on historical data, could potentially reduce the disparate impact of criminalization of communities of color.”

Republican leadership responded to the governor signing HB 4002.

“Republicans stood united and forced Democrats to do what Oregonians demanded: recriminalize drugs,” said House Leader Jeff Helfrich. “Make no mistake, this bill is not enough to undo the disaster of Measure 110. House Republicans are ready to continue the work we started and bring real change to Salem in the next session.”

Rep. Tim Knopp, a Republican, said that the bill ends a crisis that the state was grappling with. 

“Make no mistake, this bill is not enough to undo the disaster of Measure 110,” Knopp said in a statement. “House Republicans are ready to continue the work we started and bring real change to Salem in the next session.”

“Now that the Governor has given the recriminalization bill her stamp of approval, we can finally end the chapter on Oregon’s experiment with decriminalizing hard drugs.”

“HB 4002 is not a perfect solution; legislators will have much more work to do in upcoming sessions. But it sets a standard for how the state should approach the drug addiction crisis: by empowering law enforcement and our behavioral health systems to work together to help Oregonians struggling with chronic addiction seek life-saving treatment.” 

The changes under the new law take effect Sept. 1.

A lawsuit has accused an Oregon nurse of replacing a patient’s fentanyl IV with tap water, leading to a bacterial infection that killed him.

Horace Wilson, known to his family and friends as “Buddy” was a founding member of an award-winning Oregon cannabis company called Decibel Farms. He fell off a ladder in January of 2022, which ruptured his spleen causing him to be hospitalized. He underwent several surgeries after which he started experiencing complications, including sepsis. A blood test revealed a bacterial growth later identified as Staphylococcus epidermidis, according to the Oregonian. Wilson died on February 25 from treatment-resistant sepsis related to this infection.

At the time of Wilson’s death, his family and business partner passed it off as basic incompetence on the hospital’s part mixed with bad luck, but two years after Wilson’s death, some shocking new developments began to unfold implicating that a nurse working for Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center where Wilson was receiving care may have been siphoning fentanyl out of IV bags and replacing it with tap water, leading to the bacterial infection that ultimately killed him. His estate filed a lawsuit against the nurse in question this past Monday. The Medford Police Department released a statement about the matter on January 3.

“In early December 2023 the Medford Police Department was contacted by officials from Asante in regard to a former employee that they believe was involved in the theft of controlled substances prescribed to patients. Additionally, there was concern that this behavior resulted in adverse patient care, though the extent of the impact on those patients is yet to be determined. MPD is actively working on investigating these claims,” a Medford Police Department Facebook post said. “MPD has received numerous calls from individuals asking if they or a family member have been impacted by the suspected actions of the former Asante employee. Asante has informed MPD that they have identified the involved patients and have notified or are in the process of notifying them or their families.

It is unclear exactly how many patients may have been affected by the nurse’s alleged actions but a lawyer representing the estate of Horace Wilson told the Oregonian he has at least nine clients whose medications may have been swapped out for tap water. The nurse in question was named in the $11.5 million lawsuit as Dani Marie Schofield, though Medford police have not confirmed that she is a suspect nor has Asante released a statement about her. 

Shaun Bishop of Decibel Farms and Horace Wilson’s business partner before he passed told High Times that his friend Buddy has been dearly missed, and the recent news about the possibility that his death may have been avoidable has “added insult to injury.”

“When it came to the time of his death, we all just kind of threw our hands up and we’re like, yeah, hospitals suck, you know. That’s a good place to go if you want if you wanna die,” Bishop said. “We just saw through it and figured it was incompetence just from modern medicine and hospitals and the way they operate. But finding out that it was from criminal activity brings a whole ‘nother source of pain to the situation for me and primarily his children.”

Bishop stressed that Wilson was a great business partner, great friend, lover of cannabis and loved his kids more than anything else in the world. He left behind five children, one of whom, Bishop told High Times, was at his side the entire time he was in the hospital. To Bishop’s knowledge, that same child wrote a letter of complaint to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center regarding Schofield and her perceived incompetence at the time, though none of them necessarily suspected criminal activity at the time.

“[Wilson’s daughter] spent the month he was in the hospital. She was there primarily by herself for most of that time except when the other kids or I would come visit. So she was the closest to the nurse,” Bishop said. “She knew that nurse on a daily basis and had really weird feelings about her since the beginning. She voiced it early, early on that there’s something wrong with that nurse. We were like, yeah, we know, [name redacted] It’s frustrating being in the hospital, but we didn’t know it was a criminal vibe she was picking up.”

The child in question whose name I’ve left out of this out of an abundance of respect for the privacy of the family declined to comment for this article because it could affect the integrity of the lawsuit. No criminal charges have yet been announced against Schofield. The business Wilson left behind is a multiple award-winning cannabis producer that helped pioneer the very early days of Oregon’s legal market. Bishop told High Times that Wilson dying was incredibly hard on the company but also that he helped lay down a solid framework so Decibel Farms could continue on without him.

Oregon has been at the forefront of new movements before, often encouraging other states across the country to follow in its footsteps. The state is now gearing up to usher in a new chapter, but this time rather than taking steps forward, Oregon is attempting to backtrack a landmark piece of legislation passed just over three years ago that decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs.

On Friday, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill recriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs. In a 21-8 vote, the Oregon Senate approved House BIll 4002 after the House passed it 51-7 on Thursday. Now, Gov. Tina Kotek will have the final sign off as the bill heads to her desk. The Senate passed House Bill 5204 with a 27-3 vote on Thursday as well to approve the $211 million in funding, which also heads to Kotek’s desk.

About Oregon Drug Decriminalization Measure 110

“With this bill, we are doubling down on our commitment to make sure Oregonians have access to the treatment and care that they need,” said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber, of Portland. Lieber, who also co-authored the bill, said that passing the legislation will “be the start of real and transformative change for our justice system.”

In 2020, nearly 60% of Oregon voters passed Measure 110, which decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. While drug sales and manufacturing remained illegal under the legislation, it lowered the penalty for possessing small amounts of drugs to a $100 fine, which could be avoided if an individual agreed to participate in a health assessment.

Additionally, the measure aimed to fund health assessments, addiction treatment, harm-reduction efforts and more services for Oregonians with addiction disorders.

One of the main goals was to treat drug use as a health issue, and advocates also expected the legislation to generate savings in the criminal justice system due to fewer drug arrests, prosecutions and incarcerations. 

However, there’s no predicting how a first-of-its-kind law may pan out in practice or what other variables could come into play.

A Failed Effort?

Despite the intent behind amping up harm reduction resources in Oregon, funding was slow to take effect. In 2021, only 1% of those who received possession citations actually sought health via Oregon’s new hotline. As time went on, many supporters and opponents argued that the measure’s incentives for individuals to enter treatment weren’t strong enough or well enforced.

Additionally, Oregon saw a 1,500% rise in overdose deaths since the start of the pandemic — the steepest increase in the nation — largely due to the broader fentanyl crisis, according to records from the Centers for Disease Control. 

While researchers have argued that it’s too soon to determine whether or not Measure 110’s passing was correlated to the surge in overdoses, the ongoing shortage in affordable housing and uptick in fentanyl use has led to an increase in more visible drug use in public.

Recriminalizing Drugs in Oregon: An Unfamiliar Road Forward

HB 4002 makes the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and enabling police to confiscate drugs and crack down on their public use. Drug treatment could be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties as part of a deflection program.

The bill would also make it easier to prosecute people selling drugs, though it aims to maintain some harm reduction measures like increasing access to addiction medication and helping folks to obtain and keep housing despite use of these medications.

However, the bill leaves it up to each individual county to decide the details of these deflection programs. Counties would also have the option, not a mandate, to set up state-funded deflection programs. It also includes a provision to allow the district attorney to argue before a judge that a person is not a candidate for diversion.

So far, 23 of Oregon’s 35 counties have signaled their intent to set up these programs.

Critics have argued that the reversal isn’t going to curb drug use, rather that it will make it harder for people to quit. Some have also questioned whether the state’s limited criminal justice system was equipped to handle the changes.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon said that the state was rushing the bill and hasn’t undergone the necessary vetting by medical and addiction professionals who could adequately assess the potential drawbacks of such a massive public policy shift.

Opponents have also suggested that the changes will disproportionately affect Black and Latino people. Additionally, a study by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission similarly concluded that the changes would disproportionately impact Black Oregonians specifically, though it noted disparities would be significantly less than before Measure 110 was passed.

“I’m concerned that it (the bill) will attempt to use the same tactics of the past, and fail, only to reinforce the punishment narrative that has failed for 50 years,” echoed Democratic Sen. Lew Frederick of Portland, one of four Black senators.

While Measure 110’s final fate is uncertain, Kotek said in January that she would be open to signing a bill reversing the state’s previous decriminalization measure.

Psilocybin treatment centers in Oregon have administered magic mushrooms to over 700 people in 2023, the inaugural year of the program.

Numbers reported by the Seattle Times who cited the Healing Advocacy Fund, a non-profit organization which supports the advancement of psychedelic therapies in Oregon and Washington, tally the total number of people who have accessed psilocybin therapy this year in Oregon at 715. Over 100 people have accessed the services in the last 20 days alone, as the Healing Advocacy Fund reported on Dec. 7 that the total number was just over 600. The Healing Advocacy Fund could not immediately be reached for confirmation on the latest numbers. 

“Last week, the psychedelic community came together for a celebration around the progress we’ve made on safe and affordable psychedelic access,” a portion of a Healing Advocacy Fund press release said. “Now, this small but mighty program has been able to build a solid foundation of healing that has served over 600 clients to date. We know that in short order, this number will surpass the number of those who’ve undergone FDA clinical trials, and the nascent Oregon psilocybin community will be leading the way nationally for access to psilocybin therapy. What an honor and a privilege it is to be a part of this work, and to get to see so many people invested in psychedelic healing.”

Oregon Ballot Measure 109, better known as the Psilocybin Services Act, was voted into law in November, 2020 and allowed for the Oregon Health Authority to “license and regulate the manufacturing, transportation, delivery, sale, and purchase of psilocybin products and the provision of psilocybin services” to adults over the age of 21. The state took two years to develop regulations and framework for psilocybin services as allotted by the language of the bill, and the first psilocybin service centers were permitted to open in May of this year.

Since that time 20 psilocybin service centers have opened their doors offering a range of services for a range of symptoms and mental disorders that psilocybin treatments have shown promising results for, most prevalently depression and anxiety but psilocybin has also been studied as a potential treatment for PTSD, addiction and dozens if not hundreds more potential ailments. 

Courtney Campbell and his wife, also named Courtney Campbell, opened a psilocybin treatment center in Northwest Portland called Chariot. According to an article in the Seattle Times, Chariot opened about two months ago and has been administering psilocybin ever since. The male half of the Courtney Campbells told the Seattle Times it was his own experience using psilocybin to get off his long-utilized medications for depression and anxiety that inspired him to throw his own hat in the ring of some of the first state-sanctioned psychedelic treatments in the continental United States.

“I don’t know what it does,” Campbell said. “But what I know is that it helped me with my depression and anxiety. It’s the only substance that makes me not want to do any other substance.”

As of now, psilocybin service centers in Oregon do not report patient data to the state but Senate Bill 303, which was signed by Governor Tina Kotek this last June, will allow for certain data to be collected and reported to the Oregon Health Authority. The requirements of the bill go into effect in 2025. 

SB 303 would require service centers to report “the number of clients served, the average number of sessions per client, and the average dose of psilocybin per client,” according to the text of the bill. This information would be submitted quarterly to the Oregon Health Authority along with other basic identifying information found on most forms for any kind of healthcare like race, ethnicity, language, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, income, age, and county of residence. 

Other information submitted would include the quantity of people denied care and the reasons for doing so as well as any adverse reactions that may take place during treatment. One of the main reasons the bill was passed was to prioritize social equity in the course of distributing licenses and determining proper regulations for such a novel and relatively untested program. Angie Allbee, who manages Oregon Psilocybin Services told the Seattle Times these matters are a top priority for her. 

“As we continue working toward eliminating health inequities in Oregon,” Allbee said, “we look to the coming year as a time to deepen our commitment to equity and access, to community partnerships, and to safe, effective, and equitable psilocybin services.”

Oregon cannabis producers grew too much weed again this year, according to a new report, continuing the glut of marijuana that has plagued the state’s regulated pot industry for years. 

For much of this year, analysis of Oregon’s production of cannabis showed that the state was on a downward trend compared to last year, leading to a modest increase in prices. But a new report from state economists Mark McMullen and Josh Lehner that was released on November 20 shows that this year’s fall harvest of outdoor weed pushed this year’s total crop beyond production levels posted in 2022.

“Through the first nine months of the year, the marijuana harvest was nine percent lower than a year ago, and 15 percent lower than the record crop back in 2021,” the economists wrote. “As the market appeared to be adjusting, prices were stabilizing. That changed with the large October outdoor harvest which is 15 percent larger than last October.”

Oregon’s cannabis cultivators have been growing more weed than the state’s consumers can smoke for at least five years. Mark Pettinger, a spokesman for the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC), said last year that the problem is caused in part by the difficulty operators and regulators have in predicting weed production. Because much of the state’s weed is harvested at the same time, the industry can be slow to adjust to changing market conditions at the wholesale and retail level.

“It’s because about 85% of the crop is grown outdoors, comes down in October during harvest time, but planting planning is made the following April — which there really hasn’t been enough time to really gauge how the harvest from the previous fall is impacting the market,” Pettinger told a local television news outlet in 2022.

Weed Oversupply Challenges Industry

The glut of weed in Oregon’s regulated market has wreaked havoc on the industry for years. Because of the oversupply, prices on wholesale cannabis and retail products have plummeted. While the decline in prices is welcomed by most consumers, cannabis companies have been left with dwindling margins and falling, or nonexistent, profits. As a result, producers, wholesalers and retailers throughout the state are having a difficult time making ends meet.

Beau Whitney, a Portland-based economist who monitors cannabis prices in Oregon and throughout the United States, said that more than one-third of respondents to a cannabis industry survey said that they are having difficulty paying their taxes. Even more said that managing debt is a problem. 

Whitney said that the latest report of Oregon’s abundant fall harvest “couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

“People are walking away from cannabis licenses or selling them for pennies on the dollar,” Whitney told Willamette Week.

The slump in cannabis prices has also been reflected in the collection of Oregon’s weed taxes. Throughout the state, tax delinquencies are up and cannabis tax revenue has fallen short of estimates for four of the past five quarters.

Whitney noted that Oregon regulators could spur an increase in cannabis prices with a curb in production, which could be accomplished by limiting the number of licenses or their capacity. But Pettinger of the OLCC said that the current oversupply conditions are the result of intentional policy decisions coupled with the federal government’s continued refusal to legalize cannabis, which would open up markets across the country for Oregon’s weed growers.

“The state and the industry and elected officials envisioned Oregon becoming a net exporter under federal legalization,” Pettinger says. “The oversupply we’re seeing underscores the dilemma in all states where marijuana is legal—it’s the equivalent of an Iowa corn farmer only being able to sell his crop within Iowa.”

Falling Prices Lead Trade Groups To Merge

Falling weed prices and the resulting instability of Oregon’s cannabis industry led two industry groups to join forces in a recent merger. The two groups, the Oregon Cannabis Association and the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon, announced the merger last month following unanimous votes by the boards of directors of each organization. 

“There’s a lot of knowledge, there’s a lot of passion, there’s a lot of really educated folks within the cannabis industry in Oregon,” said Hunter Neubauer, board member of the combined trade group. “Those folks need one place to go to, where they can take a little bit of money that they have, and hopefully become members, and show up with us in Salem and advocate for reasonable regulations and future opportunities for the industry.”

The newly merged group is named the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon and represents more than 500 member businesses in the state’s licensed cannabis market, which generates about $1 billion in sales annually.

“It’s a community that we all really value and we want to see survive and thrive,” Mike Getlin, the board chair of the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon, told local media. “We want something more than a bunch of minimum wage jobs owned by out-of-state and potentially even overseas financial interests. So that’s what this fight is really about for us.”

Two cannabis industry groups in Oregon have decided to join forces in a merger that comes amid a downturn in the state’s market for legal marijuana. The two groups, the Oregon Cannabis Association and the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon, announced the merger last week following unanimous votes by the boards of directors of each organization.

The newly merged group is named the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon and represents more than 500 member businesses in the state’s licensed cannabis industry, which generates nearly $1 billion in regulated sales per year.

“There’s a lot of knowledge, there’s a lot of passion, there’s a lot of really educated folks within the cannabis industry in Oregon,” said Hunter Neubauer, board member of the combined trade group. “Those folks need one place to go to, where they can take a little bit of money that they have, and hopefully become members, and show up with us in Salem and advocate for reasonable regulations and future opportunities for the industry.”

Oregon legalized medical marijuana in 1998 through a ballot initiative that received more than 54% of the vote. That was followed by the legalization of adult-use cannabis in 2014, the same year the Oregon Cannabis Association was founded to serve as a lobbying and networking group for the state’s cannabis businesses. The Cannabis Industry Alliance was formed in 2022 through a separate merger of three groups representing regulated cannabis industry retailers and cultivators. 

“It’s a community that we all really value and we want to see survive and thrive,” Mike Getlin, the board chair of the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon, told local media. “We want something more than a bunch of minimum wage jobs owned by out-of-state and potentially even overseas financial interests. So that’s what this fight is really about for us.”

Oregon Has Too Much Weed

Neubauer noted that since the launch of adult-use cannabis nearly a decade ago, the regulated industry has experienced two boom and bust cycles. Currently, an oversupply of recreational marijuana has depressed prices, resulting in the first contraction of the market since legalization. 

“The overabundance of supply throughout 2021 and 2022 resulted in historically low wholesale and retail prices for both usable marijuana and concentrate/extract products,” the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission wrote in a report released in February of this year. “The declining prices, in combination with a tempering in the growth of quantities purchased, resulted in the first-ever decrease in annual sales (from $1.2 billion in 2021 to $994 million in 2022).”

The oversupply and drop in weed prices at the wholesale and retail levels came at a time of steep inflation throughout the economy as a whole, putting further pressure on operators in the troubled cannabis industry.

“It’s been … really tough because as you look at budgets in a really constrained market –less than 30% of businesses are profitable,” said Marianne Cursetjee, owner of Alabi Cannabis.

The challenging market has led to the failure of many businesses and the consolidation of others. The owners of the remaining firms hope that the merger of the two trade groups will help align the industry toward common goals. In addition to the troubled market, operators face other challenges including high taxes and regulatory fees as well as competition from a persistent unlicensed industry.

“If I look through my phone of all of my close friends and colleagues from 2017, very few are still in business,” said Mike Getlin, the board chair of the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon and a leader at Nectar. “It is more important now than it’s ever been to speak with one unified voice and to work as one unified body with regulators and legislators to try and figure out a way to carve out a better future for our businesses.”

Oregon’s troubled cannabis industry has also had to weather the fallout of a scandal surrounding the cannabis brand La Mota earlier this year. According to data reported to the state, the company had failed to pay some taxes and was facing legal action from vendors. With attention on the company, it was revealed that then-Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan had signed a pricey consulting contract with La Mota. Fagan resigned in May in the midst of the scandal, which Neubauer said has led to a rift in communication between the state legislature and the regulated cannabis industry.

“It’s been really tough since something’s surfaced surrounding one of the companies in Oregon and Shemia Fagan,” said Neubauer. “Our goal with the merger is to take the industry’s leaders and advocates that are still here and combine our resources so that we can show that was one bad apple.”

State-of-the-Art Facility to Offer Access to Psilocybin Treatments

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 28, 2023 / Kaya Holdings, Inc., (“KAYS” or the “Company”) (OTCQB:KAYS) announced today that it has secured premium space for its planned psilocybin treatment center, The Sacred Mushroom.

Seen above, the almost 11,000 square foot space on the top floor of Portland Oregon’s iconic Falcon Building offers the Company the opportunity to implement its proprietary and innovative approach to psilocybin treatments.

The Sacred Mushroom, a one-of-a-kind Psilocybin Production and Facilitation Center in Portland, Oregon will be designed to provide visitors with access to its microdosing café, private treatment rooms and group session areas, as well as activity zones that include yoga, listening stations, journaling chairs, and expression through art – delivering a comfortable and relaxing environment for psychedelic treatments.

“This space is ideal for the delivery of effective psilocybin experiences for people with a wide array of treatment resistant mental health disorders,” remarked KAYS’ CEO Craig Frank. “We intend to reach out to people with PTSD, addictions, eating disorders, and depression to provide access to affordable relief, making The Scared Mushroom a center for healing.”

In 2014, KAYS became the first US public company to own and operate a medical cannabis dispensary in the United States and is again seeking to break ground with the planned opening of The Sacred Mushroom Psilocybin Treatment Center. KAYS plans to operate The Sacred Mushroom as part of its Fifth Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. subsidiary (“FDT”), which also plans to work cooperatively with select pharmaceutical companies to maximize the curative potential of psilocybin.

“We believe that the executed lease with the Falcon Building is a significant milestone in our efforts to launch this first location,” said W. David Jones, KAYS Sr. Advisor for Business Development and Financial Operations. “The Sacred Mushroom intends to file its Oregon health Authority (“OHA”) Licensing application within the next 30 days, as we have already confirmed zoning approval with the City of Portland (through approval of the requisite Land Use Compatibility Statement), and Bryan Arnold (a KAYS employee and vice president of FDT) has already received his OHA Psilocybin Facilitator license which will allow him to oversee the operation at The Sacred Mushroom. ” The launch of “The Sacred Mushroom Psilocybin Treatment Center is dependent, among other matters on final OHA licensing and receipt of final financing from our investors.

KAYS SHAREHOLDERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES – PLEASE UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION
We routinely receive calls and emails from shareholders asking us questions about KAYS, so we are asking all KAYS shareholders to email us and confirm their contact info. Please email info@kayaholdings.com with “KAYS shareholder update” in the subject line and include your name, address, phone number and number of shares you own so that we may make sure you receive all updates and can respond to any shareholder inquiries. If you would like to speak to someone at the Company, please call or text 954-480-3960 and someone will get right back to you.

About Kaya Holdings, Inc. (www.kayaholdings.com)
Kaya Holdings, Inc is a “mind care” company with operations in medical/recreational cannabis and pending operations in the emerging psilocybin sector. KAYS is a fully reporting, US-based publicly traded company, listed for trading on the over-the-counter market under the symbol KAYS.

In 2014 KAYS became the first US public company to own and operate a medical cannabis dispensary (in Portland, Oregon). The Company still operates the original Kaya Shack cannabis dispensary while seeking to shift our cannabis operations to serve the European Union. KAYS has interests in three medical cannabis licenses (2 in Greece, 1 in Israel) to advance this effort.

Resuming its role as innovator and trend setter, the Company is again breaking ground in the United States with the planned introduction of psilocybin treatment centers through our majority-owned subsidiary, Fifth Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. (“FDT”).

KAYS subsidiaries include:

Fifth Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. serves as the Company’s operating branch in the psychedelic treatment sector, including operation of mushroom cultivation facilities and The Scared Mushroom treatment centers.

Marijuana Holdings Americas, Inc. owns the Kaya Shack brand of licensed medical and recreational marijuana stores (www.kayashack.com) and the Kaya Farms brand of cannabis production and processing operations in the United States.

Kaya Brands International, Inc., serves as the vehicle for the Company’s non-U.S. operations including cultivation activities under development in Greece and Israel.

Kaya Brands USA, Inc. owns a wide range of proprietary brands of cannabis extracts, oils, pre-rolls, topicals, edibles and beverages, cannaceuticals and related accessories.

Important Disclosure
KAYS is planning execution of its stated business objectives in accordance with current understanding of state and local laws and federal enforcement policies and priorities as it relates to psychedelics and cannabis. Potential investors and shareholders are cautioned that KAYS and subsidiaries including FDT will obtain advice of counsel prior to actualizing any portion of their business plan (including but not limited to license applications for the cultivation, distribution or sale of marijuana and psychedelic products, engaging in said activities or acquiring existing production/sales operations). Advice of counsel with regard to specific activities of KAYS, federal, state or local legal action or changes in federal government policy and/or state and local laws may adversely affect business operations and shareholder value. Additionally, the launch of The Sacred Mushroom Psilocybin Treatment Center is dependent, among other matters, on final Oregon Health Authority (“OHA”) licensing and receipt of final financing from our investors.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements, usually containing the words “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “expect” or similar statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, acceptance of the Company’s current and future products and services in the marketplace, the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive regulatory approvals of such products, competitive factors, dependence upon third-party vendors, and other risks detailed in the Company’s periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

SOURCE: Kaya Holdings

This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.

About Ryan Allway

Mr. Allway has over a decade of experience in the financial markets as both a private investor and financial journalist. He has been actively involved in the cannabis industry since its inception, covering public and private companies.

A national provider of workplace insurance for psychedelic therapy recently partnered with two new companies to expand their network and offer ketamine-assisted therapy as a health benefit nationwide.

“Nationwide availability represents a pivotal moment in accomplishing Enthea’s mission of helping employers with workplace mental health challenges,” said Sherry Rais, chief executive officer and co-founder of Enthea. 

Enthea is a company that focuses on providing psychedelic assisted therapies for employee health plans and ketamine is the first and only such drug with known psychedelic and/or hallucinatory effects to be approved in any fashion by the FDA for use in mental health treatments. Enthea recently announced a partnership with two companies: Skylight Psychedelics and Innerwell. Both companies help facilitate remote and in-person psychedelic-assisted experiences.

“Skylight Psychedelics is thrilled to join forces with Enthea,” said Scott Bienenfeld, MD, Co-Founder. “Through our collaboration, we will help people overcome a variety of mental health conditions by expanding access to cutting-edge, often life-saving treatments, such as ketamine-assisted therapy and other emerging psychedelic medicine modalities.”

This partnership allows certain eligible employees to potentially take advantage of ketamine therapy without paying exorbitant fees often associated with the blossoming field of psychedelic assisted therapy, with session prices for a single psilocybin experience exceeding $2,000 in places like Oregon. Estimates for an average price of a ketamine session are all over the place depending on where you look but the most common estimate of an uninsured patient’s cost is $400-$800 per session.

Very few people are currently eligible to take advantage of these benefits, 1,500 nationwide by the estimate Enthea gave to Vice but they hope to get those numbers up to 200,000 by the end of next year.

“Investing in the mental health of employees is critical. Innerwell is proud to partner with Enthea to help future-thinking employers offer ketamine and other medication-assisted treatments that have lasting, transformative outcomes,” said Lisa Kennedy, CEO of Innerwell. “Our team of specifically trained clinicians delivers compassionate care while our data-driven approach will help accelerate the adoption of these new treatments by proving the efficacy of these innovative modalities.”

The FDA first approved ketamine-assisted therapy in 2019 via a nasal spray under the brand name Spravato in conjunction with an oral antidepressant. Since then, a large number of clinics and physicians have begun offering the somewhat controversial practice. Some estimates put the number of clinics between 500 and 750 nationwide but there’s not a national registry so it’s hard to say. In 2022 the market for ketamine clinics was estimated to be around $3.1 billion.

Enthea has been offering coverage for ketamine therapy since last year and touted data from a year of offering ketamine-assisted therapy to the employees of Dr. Bronner’s soap company, saying that employees who took advantage of the service experienced drastic reductions in symptoms related to mental health disorders. Depression symptoms were reduced by 67% and PTSD by 86%, according to data in an Enthea press release. 

“The health and wellbeing of our employees is the primary driver in how we think about benefits and compensation. Offering coverage for ketamine-assisted therapy is in the interest of providing tools to our workforce to have the best quality of life and best options for mental health care,” said Michael Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s in a prepared statement about the program’s launch in 2022. “Our family and company are no strangers to depression and anxiety. We are deeply concerned about the mental health crisis society is facing, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Considering all our advocacy on this issue, this employee benefit is the next logical step.”

Due to the positive data from Dr. Bronner’s case study and the new partnerships with Innerwell and Starlight, Enthea’s provider network has increased significantly enough for them to now offer these services to employers nationwide. Enthea’s benefits packages can be added onto existing health, dental and vision plans according to the press release. 

“The providers in Enthea’s Network are critical to our mission of ensuring access to high quality and affordable ketamine-assisted therapy,” stated Andrew Ninnimann, Enthea’s Director of Networks and Strategic Initiatives. “We remain committed to working with companies at the forefront of innovation as it pertains to developments that are changing the mental health industry.”

Any employers who wish to offer Enthea’s services need only contact them at this handy-dandy little hyperlink to find out more.

An estimated 3,000 people are now on a waitlist for Oregon’s first legal and operating psilocybin service center. EPIC Healing Eugene opened in June but is one of many psilocybin service centers that are still working on beginning operation.

“Our services focus on deep healing work, mindfulness, empowerment, spirituality, and transformation through psilocybin facilitation and integration,” EPIC Healing Eugene states on its website. “We teach self-help strategies that support self-directed personal development and brain change. We help you prepare for a healing shift that will help you get the most out of your experiential journeys. Our skilled and supportive staff offer preparation sessions, followed by integration sessions to help you better recognize and incorporate the gems of insight from your psychedelic experiences into your daily life.”

While patients don’t need a prescription or referral in order to take advantage of EPIC Healing Eugene’s services, their insurance also won’t cover such an experience. AP News stated that the price to try this new experience can exceed more than $2,000, which covers the business cost of the service center, as well as facilitators who assist participants through their experience, and lab-tested psilocybin. However, group pricing reduces the overall price.

According to Angela Allbee, Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS) Section Manager, patients appear to be enjoying their experiences since EPIC opened. “So far, what we’re hearing is that clients have had positive experiences,” she told AP News. Allbee also mentioned that they’ve received inquiries from across the world.

In November 2020, Oregon voters pass Measure 110 officially became the first state to decriminalize hard drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine, and also legalized the use of psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic use. By December 2022, the state was training facilitators to care for participants experiencing their psilocybin journey.

It took until May 2023 to approve the first license, which belonged to EPIC Healing Eugene. “We want to congratulate Cathy Jonas of EPIC Healing Eugene on being the first licensed service center in the state,” Allbee said at the time. “This is such a historic moment as psilocybin services will soon become available in Oregon, and we appreciate the strong commitment to client safety and access as service center doors prepare to open.”

As of September, there are 10 licensed service centers (a few of which are not yet operational), four growers, two testing laboratories, and “dozens of facilitators,” according to AP News. 

EPIC Healing Eugene states on its website that it specifically offers macrodosing, ranging between 10 mg to 35 mg (although the state allows these service centers to offer up to 50 mg). However, the service center hopes to include microdosing in the future. Once it has been verified if participants are ready for such an experience, they must undergo two one-hour sessions (or one two-hour session) for preparation. A single psilocybin administration session takes approximately six hours. Once the session has completed, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) requires that all forms and documentation be kept for five years. 

According to EPIC Healing Eugene owner Cathy Jonas, she’s not expecting to turn a profit anytime soon. Instead, it’s more of a calling to help others. “The plant medicines have communicated to me that I’m supposed to be doing this thing,” she told AP News. 

One of Jonas’ first clients took a 35 mg dose, which they described as “… kind of infinite-dimension fractal that just kept turning and twisting.” “It was kind of mesmerizing to watch, but it got so intense,” explained the unnamed individual. “I started to have this experience of dying and being reborn. And then I would kind of see large portions of my life going by in a very rapid way.”

Additionally, another psilocybin service center called Omnia Group Ashland opened in September in southern Oregon as well. So far, it has approximately 150 people on its waitlist. Another center in Bend, Oregon, called Lucid Cradle, is already booked through December 2023, but plans to serve one client per week.

Mushroom cultivation differs quite a bit from cannabis cultivation. One of Oregon’s licensed mushroom growers, Gared Hansen of Uptown Fungus, is the sole person cultivating psilocybin for his business. He grows mushroom varieties such as Golden Teacher, Blue Meanies, and Pink Buffalo, with an average cost of $125 for a 25 mg dose.

Hansen emphasizes the importance of purchasing mushrooms for legal sources, because mushrooms often look similar, and some may be an incorrect and poisonous variety to the untrained eye. “Sometimes part of the healing could be a negative experience someone has to go through, to kind of flush negative emotions out or reexperience some trauma in a healthier way,” said Hansen. “I’d hate to have someone that’s never tried it before take it home, have a bad trip and hurt themselves.”

According to a recent report from Willamette Weekly, Oregon Psilocybin Services have not yet yielded a groundbreaking amount of money from fees, noting that it currently costs more to run the program. “Backers of Measure 109 said the program would cost far more—$3.1 million a year—to run,” the outlet stated. “To fill at least part of that gap, Oregon lawmakers appropriated $3.1 million from the taxpayer-supported general fund for the two-year period that started July 1. OHA is betting that shroom fee revenue will pick up as the biennium proceeds, making up the rest of the shortfall,”