What Oregon Psilocybin Services Is - and Isn’t

Even for locals there is confusion about Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS), the new state-legal program for taking psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”). You may not have heard about the program and its potential for addressing mental health concerns, but it is an up-and-coming topic because psychedelic therapies of all kinds are gaining attention once again.

This hasn’t gone well in the past (remember the “war on drugs”?) so this time around we need to make this attention positive. Psilocybin has received the FDA’s “breakthrough therapy” status for depression and has evidence supporting treatment of other issues like anxiety and addiction, so we need psilocybin to continue on its current path in order to have another viable option to address our national mental health crisis. Oregon is the first state to approve a psilocybin program, but the program is not without issues. The following are five things to keep in mind when you or someone you know has a mental health concern and are considering OPS to address it.

1. Oregon Psilocybin Services is NOT therapy. You may have heard people calling OPS “psilocybin therapy” or “mushroom therapy,” but that doesn’t make it therapy. In fact, the program’s regulating authority, Oregon Health Authority (OHA), has explicitly prohibited OPS from providing medical services, and that includes mental health therapy or treatment. OHA licenses facilitators to provide supported adult (21+) use in a licensed facility, and that is it.

2. OPS support is provided by facilitators, not therapists. A facilitator’s role is to advise potential consumers of psilocybin of the program rules, including providing informed consent, and to be there to supervise use of psilocybin. Anyone age 21 and over with a GED can qualify to take the 120-160-hr facilitator training to be an OPS facilitator. While a licensed therapist (or nurse, naturopath, chiropractor, etc.) could choose to become dually trained and licensed as a facilitator, they are expressly prohibited from providing therapy (or whatever their own medical service or expertise is) while engaged in psilocybin services and/or while present in a licensed service center.

3. OPS is going to be expensive. OPS is required to be self-sustaining and not dependent on taxpayer dollars, so that money is going to have to come entirely from the consumers of psilocybin. While there are a handful of funds offering financial help for those who qualify (based on donations or demographic status, so funds are limited and variable), accessing services is a true out-of-pocket expense. Facilitators and service centers cannot accept medical insurance. In fact, because they’re engaged in a business that promotes a federally illegal substance and do not qualify for banking privileges, they can’t even take a credit card. While mental health therapy ranges in price from $50-250/hr, often covered in part by insurance, the cost for a 6-8 hour OPS private session may be $3500-$5000 or more. Not only that, but if you want to be a facilitator or have a service center, training programs average a $6,000 - $10,000 cost plus $2000 annually for a facilitator license, and service centers pay for initial approval and annual licensure fees of $10,000. Yes, that’s every year.

4. OPS is composed of many different business entities with different agendas. Business entities involved in OPS include: the Oregon Health Authority, facilitator training centers, licensed facilitators, licensed facilities, psilocybin growers, and psilocybin transporters. In addition, there are lawyers, pharmaceutical companies, health agencies, politicians, and psychedelic service companies around the world who may make it their business to be involved in this new drug business/tourism opportunity. For many people who want help with mental health, psilocybin can mean the difference between feeling emotionally and mentally burdened and feeling healthy and on the road to recovery. But psilocybin is still a drug, and we all know for many people and businesses, drugs equate to money.

5. OPS is not well understood, even by those in the business. OPS may be misunderstood at any point along the way, from local news articles claiming that “Oregon has legalized psilocybin therapy,” to Oregon politicians proposing bills, SB 303, in congress aimed at requiring service centers to release data from consumers. People who want to use the service may misunderstand what OPS is offering, and there may or may not be an ethical response to questions asked. For that reason, the Psilocybin Assisted Therapy Association (www.pata-us.org) was created to help clarify what OPS is, and provide potential consumers of psilocybin some help in making choices about whether and how to use psilocybin. This includes a free electronic Guidebook for Consumers, an online self-assessment tool, live seminars and presentations, and other resources and information.

Psilocybin is one of several psychedelics with therapeutic value, but psilocybin has particular, significant potential for healing, especially when its use is preceded by adequate education and preparation. Let’s work together to ensure that happens for all people, and that we clear up misinformation and disinformation so more people can pursue wellness and recovery from issues like depression and anxiety that, up to now, clearly don’t have enough effective treatment options.