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The number of places Oregonians can seek therapy using psilocybin shrank substantially this election.
Oregonians voted to allow psilocybin therapy in 2020.. Since then, several dozen communities have voted to ban the service.
Arya Surowidjojo / OPB
Psilocybin bans passed in all but one of the 17 Oregon jurisdictions that floated the idea. The list: Lake Oswego, Warrenton, Seaside, Oregon City, Estacada, Hubbard, Amity, Sheridan, Mt. Angel, Jefferson, Lebanon, Redmond, Sutherlin, Rogue River, Brookings and unincorporated Clackamas County.
Nehalem rejected a measure that would have banned psilocybin-related business by three votes.
When Oregon voters established the country’s first state-regulated psilocybin program in 2020, they included the ability for cities and counties to opt-out. Two years ago, 25 counties and 26 towns banned psilocybin in the 2022 election.
“It’s really limiting an important mental health resource,” said Jason Burdge with the Psilocybin Assisted Therapy Association.
Burdge is a former police officer who said psilocybin therapy has given him huge relief from his job-related PTSD.
He thinks the bans don’t make sense because people are not being forced into psilocybin therapy. And he’s worried they make people who could benefit from psilocybin treatment travel long distances.
“If you have PTSD and you go into the city, that’s not exactly the environment that is conducive for you to be nonreactive,” he said. “Having it more local is important because you could go in, have a session and then go back home.”
Lake Oswego voters approved a ban on psilocybin-related businesses with 66% of the vote. Mayor Joe Buck said the city floated the ban because state regulations dictating how far away psilocybin businesses must be from schools and day care centers meant there were really only a couple of possible locations in town.
“The regulations we had put in place were really tantamount to a ban,” Buck said. “So instead of putting those regulations in place, we felt it would be right to ask the voters ‘What do you want?’”
Buck said he personally is a proponent of psilocybin treatment for people who have no other options. Psilocybin is being used to treat various issues, from PTSD to addiction, depression and anxiety.
“It’s kind of a shame when something like psilocybin becomes the bogeyman when its aim is to really improve those conditions,” Buck said. “But it’s totally understandable why voters in our community and all these other communities decided they weren’t quite sure about it because it is so unknown.”
Buck hopes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will continue studying psilocybin to get a better understanding of its benefits and issues.
The new bans come at a tough time for Oregon’s fledgling psilocybin therapy sector.
Cost remains high, from $1,500 to $3,500 a session.
Jason Burdge with the Psilocybin Assisted Therapy Association said supply and demand are out of balance.
“We have an abundance of service centers, and there’s just not that many people that need it,” he said.
Many service centers are struggling, Burdge said, and a few have recently closed.
Compounding the problem is the fact that service centers are prohibited from advertising because psilocybin remains a Schedule I federally prohibited drug. Consequently, there are few ways centers can differentiate themselves and build niche markets.
Counties that banned psilocybin in 2022 include Wallowa, Union, Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam, Sherman, Baker, Grant, Wheeler, Jefferson, Linn, Clackamas, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Clatsop, Crook, Malheur, Harney, Lake, Klamath, Douglas, Coos, Curry and Josephine.
Cities that banned psilocybin in 2022 include Philomath, Clatskanie, St. Helens, La Pine, Redmond, Cascade Locks, Central Point, Eagle Point, Jacksonville, Rogue River, Shady Cove, Coburg, Cottage Grove, Creswell, Dunes City, Junction City, Toledo, Banks, Cornelius, Amity, Carlton, Dundee, McMinnville, Newberg, Sheridan and Willamina.