It’s been over one year since Oregon’s first psilocybin therapy license was approved, and updated news reports are sharing that there aren’t enough customers to go around.

Vital Reset, owned by Heidi Venture, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle that it’s just a matter of time for people to become aware of the opportunity. “We think everybody knows that psychedelics can help them because we’re in this little bubble. But 99% of people have no idea what they could get out of a journey,” Venture said.

The Psilocybin Assisted Therapy Association hosted a one-day conference in May, called “Collaborence,” which was held in Portland, Oregon. Venture, along with more than 100 local psilocybin business owners, gathered together to attend panel discussions on the topic of the mental health crisis both in Oregon and throughout the country. Panelists also spoke about the current issues of their businesses, but also the benefits that they saw their patients.

Voters passed Measure 109 in November 2020, making Oregon the first state to legalize licensed psilocybin treatment centers. The first license was approved in May 2023 for EPIC Healing Eugene, which opened just a month later in June 2023. As of last September, there were 10 licensed service centers (not all of which were operational at the time, as well as four growers, and two lab testing facilities.

Between June 2023-December 2023, an estimated 700 people had taken part in an experience at a psilocybin treatment center. Between June 2023-June 2024, approximately 3,500 people have taken part in a psilocybin therapy session throughout the state’s 25 licensed centers. According to the Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit organization that prioritizes safe and affordable psilocybin access, projects that the number of people who will take part in psilocybin therapy will increase to 7,000 by the end of 2024.

However, in March 2024, one licensed center called The Journey was already forced to shut down due to lack of customers. “I’ve absolutely loved doing this,” said founder Jenna Kluwe. “The numbers just weren’t where they needed to be.”

Commenting on the recent closure, Satori Farms PDX owner Tori Armbrust explained her concern for the Oregon psilocybin industry. “Unfortunately we’ve seen one service center close down. I imagine there will be more, because very quickly it’s going to get over-saturated,” Armbrust said, adding that competition will increase in 2025 when out-of-state businesses will be allowed to open psilocybin therapy centers in Oregon. “Overall, marketing seems to be a big challenge. But places are doing well, and there’s product going out to a lot of people,” Armbrust said.

Chariot owner Courtney Campbell said that her business isn’t profiting, but a reliable number of customers are keeping them in business. 

The Entheogen Institute, which trains students to be licensed facilitators, graduated about 70 people within the last year. However, institute owner Coeli Dwivedi told the Oregon Capital Chronicle that she has only had one paycheck. “I’m looking forward to having a real salary as well,” Dwivedi said.

Many therapy center operators are trying to bring in new customers through discounts, but are limited by rules that prevent psilocybin services from being advertised online. Oregon state law requires that a licensee can’t advertise through TV, radio, billboards, print media, or internet unless they can prove that the ads won’t reach more than 30% of an audience that is under 21. Due to these restrictions, psilocybin centers are primarily focusing on word of mouth and open houses to allow curious customers to learn more.

Facilitators are also running into problems where there aren’t enough openings to allow all of them to work. Currently, there are 325 licensed facilitators in Oregon, but some are finding their own clients and conducting facilitation illegally in homes or in Airbnb rentals. Facilitator Marlin Hofer said that he carries business cards around wherever he goes to promote the opportunity.

Another facilitator, Matthew Wissler, added that he would make his services free for low-income people in need, but Oregon’s law mainly attracts tourists or out-of-state or out-of-country patients instead.

Many service center operators are just pushing through the challenges in hopes that the future will bring more success. “If we just hang in there, stay positive, it will evolve into something we can all be proud of,” said Brain Brew PDX owner Mary Nielsen.

Recently, Gov. Tina Kotek signed Senate Bill 303 into law, which requires psilocybin service centers to collect and submit data to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). The law is expected to take effect sometime in 2025 in an attempt to collect information about exact numbers of clients served, numbers of those who refused service, total numbers of adverse or severe reactions, and dosing averages, according to an Oregon Public Broadcasting report. “It’s important to remember that our administrative rules are a minimal requirement, and they’re not the best practices,” said OHA Psilocybin Services head Angela Allbee. “They’re there to create guidelines and protect public health and safety, and protect equity and access. It’s up to licensees to create best practices and inform us, so we can evaluate every year.”

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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.

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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.

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Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek recently rejected a bill that would have created a State Public Bank Task Force. The 19-person team would have studied the pros and cons related to a cannabis business banking solution in the form of a public bank and would have proposed recommendations for implementation. 

Chief sponsors included Rep. Mark Gamba, Rep. Jules Walters, and Sen. Jeff Golden, who introduced House Bill 2763 in January. The bill steadily made its way through the House and Senate and was passed by both by the end of June before it was vetoed by Kotek on Aug. 4.

In a press statement published on July 28 to cover her thoughts on “potential vetoes,” Kotek said that she took issue with HB-2763. “Reason for possible objection: While the Governor supports exploring the creation of a state bank, this bill has several logistical challenges, including directing the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD), which already manages over 80 programs, to manage a new task force, establish an RFP process, and finalize a substantive report on an abbreviated timeline,” the notice stated.

Had HB-2763 been approved, it would have explored “potential benefits and harms from the bank to state and local jurisdictions and private industries,” as well as “governing and corporate structures for the bank” and other goals. Ultimately, the task force’s research would have served as a way to create a publicly controlled bank that would save public dollars, and “spur greater economic activity within this state.” The task force would have also provided a detailed report of its findings on or before September 2024.

Furthermore, both committees sought to “…analyze challenges and barriers to providing banking services to legal adult-use cannabis businesses and examine pathways to allowing banking services to the burgeoning cannabis industry in New York.”

Banking access for cannabis businesses is an issue nationwide, and other states have attempted to pass legislation to ensure the safety of cannabis business owners as well as further legitimize the industry.

In March 2022, Pennsylvania legislators Rep. John DiSanto and Rep. Sharif Street proposed a cannabis banking bill. “Access to financial and insurance services is essential for operating any business, and it is against the public interest to relegate a multi-billion-dollar industry to deal in piles of cash,” said DiSanto. “Banking this cash safely in Pennsylvania provides certainty for businesses, is a huge opportunity to grow our economy and should ultimately lower costs for medical cannabis consumers.” Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed the legislation in July 2022.

Last October, Rep. Dan Donovan and former Indiana Pacers NBA athlete David Harrison proposed a banking solution called Token HiFi which would have offered a safe and reliable solution for cannabis banking services.

In December, the most recent attempt to get the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act was introduced again, but it was left out of the National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). The Senate Majority Leader has led many efforts to get the bill passed, and although it has been met with opposition, progress continues to be made. “It’s a priority for me,” Schumer said about the bill last year. “I’d like to get it done. We’ll try and discuss the best way to get it done.”

At the time, Republican opponents such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of including “unrelated” items in the defense bill. “Even now, House and Senate Democrats are still obstructing efforts to close out the NDAA by trying to jam in unrelated items with no relationship to defense,” said McConnell. “We’re talking about a grab bag of miscellaneous pet priorities—like making our financial system more sympathetic to illegal drugs, or the phony, partisan permitting-‘reform’-in-name-only language that already failed to pass the Senate this year.”

Earlier this year in May, the New York Assembly Standing Committee on Banks and the Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce, and Industry held a hearing to discuss its benefits. “Operating a cash-only business raises challenges including security, payroll, access to loan products, and recordkeeping,” the public hearing memo stated. “These challenges impact both the legal cannabis-related businesses and the banks seeking to provide services.”

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Former Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) director Steve Marks led the agency for almost a decade but was fired in January. Now Marks is fighting back and claiming that Gov. Tina Kotek fired him because of the influence of a cannabis business owner.

According to the Willamette Week, Marks recently filed a tort claim notice (or a notice of claim against a specific agency to address wrongdoing and announce plans to sue) in Oregon, claiming that Rosa Cazares, CEO of La Mota, and her partner, Aaron Mitchell, who contributed to Kotek’s gubernatorial campaign, had a part in the decision that led to his firing. “Marks was summarily forced out of office by Gov. Tina Kotek in early 2023 because Rosa Cazares, prominent owner of one of Oregon’s largest dispensary chains and an opponent of cannabis regulations, wanted him gone,” the claim states, as submitted by attorney William Gary. “Cazares placed herself in close orbit to the governor and to then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.”

Cazares and Mitchell gave $68,000 to Kotek when she was running for governor (she took office in January). They also had a monthly $10,000 contract to fund Fagan—an arrangement that led to Fagan’s resignation in May.

Willamette Week added that Kotek has denied having any partnership with Cazares and Mitchell, but Marks’ tort claim challenges that statement. The case also points to a 2018 event where Cazares and Mitchell were accused of contributing 148 pounds of cannabis to the black market. The case was settled from 2020, which was the same year that records show Cazares and Mitchell were contributing funds to various politicians.

“In short, because Marks supported and carried out regulations that Cazares saw as onerous, she bought his ouster through financial graft,” the claim stated. “It was under Marks’ leadership that OLCC adopted and enforced the regulatory framework that Cazares sought to dismantle…Accordingly, Cazares turned her sights to removing Marks from office.”

In a letter written by Gary, there was no explanation for why Kotek fired Marks. “Governor Kotek did not provide—and she still has not provided—any reason for having pushed Marks out of his position, and Marks was provided no other notice or opportunity to contest the reasons for that action,” Gary wrote.

In May, Kotek told OregonLive that she fired Marks because she wanted to see new leadership at the head of the OLCC, but alleged that Cazares and Mitchell “…had no bearing on the decision I made,” Kotek said. She claimed that replacing Marks was one of many changes she made when she took office. She also added that she wasn’t supportive of a new state liquor warehouse in Canby, Oregon planned by the OLCC, which would cost millions of dollars. Under Marks’ leadership, the OLCC spent $84 million on bonding authority for that warehouse, but eventually made a deal to pay $40.7 million for 33 acres for the warehouse to be paid by the state.

“The freshest thing in my mind was the issue around the new warehouse because when I was on the campaign trail I remember having quite a few expletives about the deal on that warehouse and I was like, come on, you’ve been at this for eight years and we got a bad deal on that warehouse?” Kotek said. “He was on a list that was like I think we need a new direction here.” But she also said she had made the decision to fire Marks prior to her knowledge of the warehouse deal.

In 2022, six OLCC managers (Marks included) were caught setting aside Pappy Van Winkle bourbon from Kentucky for themselves in an investigation. All of them were reprimanded, and eventually they were all either fired or resigned from their positions.

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If cannabis growers in Oregon don’t clean up their act, literally, soon landowners will pay the price as their migrant workers risk deportation. Oregon is an oasis for cannabis growing. According to AP News, a leader of the state’s cannabis and alcohol regulatory agency has said southern Oregon is to marijuana what Bordeaux is to wine. 

However, some folks with less-than-ideal ethics risk ruining the land for everyone. The state is facing a crisis of illicit growers who offer large amounts of cash upfront to lease or buy land. However, giving cannabis a bad name, it seems they are only growing for profit and not considering other factors such as the fate of the land or their workers. Such growers are leaving behind a drained water table, pollution, and garbage scattered everywhere. Now, Oregon Legislature is trying to pass a new bill to curtail such adverse effects by making the landowners themselves directly responsible. 

If passed, the bill would stop using groundwaters and rivers — and seize documents of the migrant workers who take care of the plants, thereby reporting them for deportation, AP News reports. And, if the landowner, regardless if they caused it, does not pay for any cleanup, then the government would be allowed to file a claim of lien against property used for illicit cannabis. 

So far, the bill has passed in the Senate and House, with Speaker Dan Rayfield signing the measure on Wednesday, despite protests from some Republicans. “This is just an assault on property rights here in the state of Oregon,” GOP Sen. Dennis Linthicum said on the Senate floor. 

If all goes as planned, Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek will sign the bill next week. “The governor supports cracking down on illegal cannabis operations that have been prevalent in southern Oregon,” said Elisabeth Shepard, Kotek’s spokesperson.

In this economy, it’s understandable why some landowners transferred their land to sketchy buyers or leasers. AP News describes buyers handing over backpacks with thousands of dollars in cash and, sometimes, more than one backpack of bills to choose from. “We pay CASH and offer a fast close,” says one letter received by a landowner last year in one of three offers.

But not everyone is sympathetic to the appeal of fast cash. Democratic Sen. Jeff Golden said property owners should know something wrong if they are “approached at the beginning of the growing season with requests to lease their property for tens, sometimes hundreds of thousand dollars for a single year.”

According to Oregon police, part of the problem is that the lush land brought in an influx of foreign criminals from everywhere, from Russia to Mexico, looking to profit in America’s cannabis market. So many hoop houses (cheaply built greenhouses) began popping up that local authorities didn’t have the workforce to shut them all down. The farms in question are known for putting up their workers in horrid conditions, with open latrines, and will often dock their pay. 

And, according to Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler, when the growers wrap up, no one bothers to clean up any of the waste, whether it’s from an outhouse or greenhouse. “Frankly, it’s an eyesore for our community, with no means to deal with it,” Sickler said.

While the prospect of the bill stresses many landowners out, others welcome it, AP reports. At least most of the landowners knew what they were doing was wrong. I believe this measure will help to stem the tide,” said Jack Dwyer, a homeowner near Selm, Oregon. Back in 2021, Dwyer said a large illicit nearby grow siphoned all the water from a creek that runs through his property, causing it to run dry. And Christopher Hall, whose job it is to engage the public in water stewardship, believes the bill will finally address the problem. Hall says that these cash-bought illegal grow farms “not only turn streams into gravel roads but also lead to serious human rights violations and dumping of trash, sewage, chemicals, and other waste into ditches, riparian areas, and streams.” 

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