On Jan. 1 of this year, Oregon became the first state in the country to legalize the adult use of psilocybin, and earlier this month, the state reached another landmark in psilocybin medical treatments. More than 100 Oregonians completed training for the state’s first psilocybin facilitator training program, KOMO News reports.
Tom Eckert, the program director of InnerTrek, which is licensed to perform the training, called it a “special day” when speaking to the outlet.
“These medicines have been suppressed or repressed in our culture for a long time,” Eckert said. “These medicines can reexamine and reshape how we approach mental health and wellness more generally, and Oregon is taking the lead.”
Graduates must also complete a final test at InnerTrek, along with an exam by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), before they can become a fully licensed psilocybin therapy facilitator. According to InnerTrek, graduates took the OHA exam last weekend. After cohort members are officially licensed, they will be authorized to administer psilocybin treatments to patients.
It’s been a years-long process, after Oregon voters first approved Ballot Measure 109 in 2020, which legalized the use of psilocybin for medical treatment as administered by licensed personnel. Since then, other U.S. cities and Colorado have similarly decriminalized psilocybin and other psychedelics and legalized the therapeutic use of the compound found in “magic mushrooms.”
The news also comes after another Oregon facilitator training effort, led by Netherlands-based company Synthesis Institute, was declared bankrupt earlier this month. According to Willamette Weekly, the training program is still accepting Oregon students through its online portal and prompting them to pay.
The company’s liabilities totaled around $850,000 by February, and it could not afford to pay its U.S. and Netherlands employees, Psychedelic Alpha reported. The company’s website also showed tuition as $12,997, with some students trying to get refunds.
“Synthesis really just has ripped the rug out from under us, for a lot of people,” student Cori Sue Morris told Psychedelic Alpha.
Canadian company Retreat Guru took over operations and said it expects as much as 90% Synthesis Digital’s 220 former students to continue their coursework and join this initial group of psilocybin facilitators, Jefferson Public Radio reports.
“The Psychedelic Practitioner Training program team is working to resume classes in the next two weeks for those who are ready and will be creating options for those who may need some adjustments,” Retreat Guru spokesperson Devin Irvine told Jefferson Public Radio in an email earlier this week.
Irvine indicated that the next steps are “unclear,” though the primary focus is to resume training among the current cohorts.
The Synthesis saga remains a bit of a hiccup as Oregon continues its journey into uncharted territory, though students among the graduating cohort still expressed their excitement and gratitude to be part of this new frontier of psychedelics.
“It’s not something that’s been done anywhere else in the world so there’s going to be lots for us to learn,” graduate Scott Kloos told KGW8.
Fellow grad Tracy Townsend said, “I’m moving forward with an immense amount of humility and also carrying a lot of responsibility, I think, in terms of being the first students out.”
Late last year, OHA also approved its final rules for the Oregon Services Act, specifically sharing dosage amounts, rules addressing client data confidentiality, applicant limitations, rules for translated materials and more. Officials have also indicated that they will continue to evaluate and evolve this framework moving into the future.
This initial cohort signals that psychedelic therapies will soon be available to Oregon residents, even though a number of counties and cities in the state have already opted out of hosting the services. Psilocybin-assisted therapy is expected to officially launch later in 2023.
