BREAKING: Oregon Health Authority Drops Proposed Psilocybin Services Fee Hikes

BREAKING: Oregon Health Authority Drops Proposed Psilocybin Services Fee Hikes

Industry outcry fuels reversal of potentially catastrophic licensing cost increase

By Jack Gorsline

Image Source: Oregon Capital Chronicle

Following significant industry pushback, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced today that the agency has officially dropped their efforts to double licensing fees for the state's psilocybin services program.

In a September 22 email to industry stakeholders, the agency wrote that, ‘based on feedback OHA has received through the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board (OPAB), rule advisory committees (RACs) and rulemaking public comment period, the agency will not adopt final rules as a result of this rulemaking process”

The initially proposed changes came amidst a multi-billion dollar statewide budgetary shortfall in Oregon, and per the OHA’s own language included in the now-dropped rule change acknowledged that if implemented, the fee hikes “may reduce the overall number of licensees and create a more significant program budget shortfall.”

In the wake of the initial proposal, industry stakeholders across the Beaver State spoke out in force, arguing that such a substantial fee hike could potentially cripple the first legal, state regulated psychedelic access program in the United States.

In response to news that the OHA was dropping the rule change altogether, Center for Psychedelic Policy Founder Sam Chapman noted that while psilocybin services are yielding positive results with few adverse effects, the work to refine the system’s financial structure will continue.

“We asked Governor Kotek to give the legislature time to get this right, and now they have it,” said Chapman in a statement provided to Psychedelic State(s) of America.

State-licensed psilocybin facilitator, Rulemaking Advisory Committee member, and military veteran Amy Charlesworth echoed Chapman’s sentiments, while highlighting future concerns over freedom of speech based on other rule changes previously proposed by the OHA.

"OHA dropping this rulemaking is a win, but it does not mean we've won” Charlesworth said in a statement to Psychedelic State(s) of America

“Proposed OAR [regulations] would have restricted licensees from 'promoting' or 'encouraging' unlawful or unregulated activity,” Charlesworth noted, “including by 'providing information or instruction related to home cultivation.'

“That is not regulation of what happens inside a licensed service center.” Charlesworth added, “It reaches what we write, teach, publish, and say in public.”

“Under that language,” she expounded, “a facilitator could reasonably fear losing their license over a book, a class, a podcast, a harm-reduction conversation, or a social media post.”

“If OHA brings these provisions back,” Charlesworth vowed, “we will be ready to challenge them."

As for the long game, Chapman noted in a press release that while “the program is working. The fee structure isn't.”

“Between now and the 2027 session,” Chapman added, “the Center for Psychedelic Policy is conducting an independent economic analysis to answer a simple question: can psilocybin therapy be just as effective as the treatments Oregon already pays for, if not more so, at a fraction of the cost?”

“If the answer is yes,” Chapman concluded, “the question stops being how Oregon pays for this program and starts being why we aren't investing more in it.”

“Better outcomes for less, and real access for Oregonians who are struggling. Now we have the time to prove it.”