Oregon and Psilocybin: Does the Approved Ballot Measure Language Stand a Chance?

Back in August, I covered the landmark Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug trial approval for psilocybin, the naturally occurring, psychedelic ingredient found in around 200 species of mushrooms. I speculated that if everything goes well, we could see an approved psilocybin drug hit the market sometime in the next 5 to 10 years. I also mentioned that it’s possible that psilocybin could be legalized in certain states before that, including Oregon. Last month that came one step closer to happening, when Oregon Attorney General approved ballot measure language to legalize psilocybin statewide.

Initiative Petition 2020-12 (the “Initiative”) can be found here, and a link to the Official PSI 2020 Campaign Website can be found here. If you just want to see a summary of the Initiative ballot title as it would appear in 2020, though, we’ve got you covered:

Currently, federal/state law prohibits the manufacture, delivery, and possession of psilocybin (hallucinogen from fungus). Initiative amends state law to reduce most criminal penalties for unlawful/unlicensed psilocybin manufacture, delivery, possession to violations or misdemeanors; retains felonies for large weight of psilocybin and/or some convicted felons. Initiative amends state law to require Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to establish Oregon Psilocybin Services Program to allow licensed/regulated production, processing, delivery, possession of psilocybin, and administration of “psilocybin service” (defined) by licensed “facilitator” (defined) to “qualified client” (defined). Grants OHA authority to implement, administer, and enforce program. Establishes fund for program administration and OHA appointed advisory board to advise OHA director. Preempts local laws inconsistent with program except “reasonable regulations” (defined). Other provisions.

That’s a fair bit to digest, but if you’ve been around this stuff for a while you might observe that the Initiative offers a structure similar to Oregon’s early-stage medical marijuana program. That program also: 1) was borne of an initiative back in 1998; 2) was solely administered by OHA (through its predecessor); 3) reduced criminal penalties, and 4) created a doctor-patient-caregiver program similar to the facilitator-client concept on offer for psilocybin. So, the Initiative’s chief petitioners are wisely working off the model.

The steep and imminent challenge for the petitioners is the requirement to gather 140,000 signatures over the next 18 months in order to get the Initiative onto the ballot. If that somehow happens, an even steeper challenge will be convincing 51% of everybody to vote “Yes” to legalizing psilocybin. All in all, it feels like a bit much, even for Oregon. Our guess is that the signatures hurdle will sink the initiative, as recently occurred with a similar effort in California.

Still, you never know. Oregon can boast a history of progressive action on controlled substances, dating back to 1973 when it became the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis. That action was taken against the strong headwinds of the recently enacted federal Controlled Substances Act. Today, the zeitgeist is quite a bit different.

If you want to get involved in legalizing psilocybin in Oregon, the landing page for volunteers is here. Otherwise, we will keep you posted on any major developments as they arise.