Next year’s ballot may include the choice to make the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms legal for therapeutic use.
This week the measure received a draft ballot title, the Oregon Psilocybin Service Initiative, after the petitioners turned in over 1,000 signatures. The next step requires getting over 100,000 signatures so the matter can be referred to voters.
If voters approve, patients would not be able to make a purchase and leave a dispensary like they can with cannabis. Instead, doctors could send patients to a licensed facility to be guided through their trip by a facilitator. In recent trials psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms. has been shown to be helpful treating patients that have not responded to other treatments for certain kinds of anxiety and depression.
The measure requires the Oregon Health Authority to research the effects of psilocybin on mental health over a two year period. OHA would then structure a regulatory framework for implementation in 2023, and then oversee the manufacture of psilocybin medications and facilities after that.
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