Oregon PSI 2020 initiative summary

Published: March 2019


Background:

The Psilocybin Service Initiative of Oregon (informally "PSI 2020") is a ballot initiative intending to legalize psilocybin therapy in Oregon. The initiative is currently collecting signatures to qualify for the 2020 ballot.

Here's the PSI 2020 campaign website. Here's the initiative's ballotpedia page.

Our purpose here is to summarize the full text of the initiative, and to offer light commentary on each section of the text.

The motivation for this report is exploratory – we're continuing to learn about the PSI 2020 initiative. We hope this report will contribute to our understanding as well as that of other interested stakeholders.

With that in mind, the below should be considered as preliminary exploration, not solid judgment.

Also, a necessary disclaimer: we aren't lawyers. We are reading & interpreting the PSI 2020 initiative text as lay people trying to understand the implications of a legal document. Very likely we have made oversights & other errors due to our lack of legal background.


How it works:

The basic intent of the PSI 2020 initiative is to introduce a change in Oregon law such that administering & receiving psilocybin therapy becomes legal under state law. A host of concomitant behaviors (e.g. growing mushrooms) would become legal as well, in limited contexts.

To accomplish this, the initiative introduces a framework for how psilocybin would be legally produced, processed, distributed, and administered in Oregon. It introduces a taxonomy of legal psilocybin business roles, and a process for becoming licensed in each role. It also empowers the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to license & regulate the new industry, and creates an advisory board to help guide the OHA in this new mandate.

Notably, the PSI 2020 initiative changes the law such that psilocybin therapy would be available to most citizens, not just people with a medical diagnosis. As the PSI 2020 website says:

The measure doesn’t limit services just to individuals with medical or psychiatric conditions. We did that because, according to the research, psilocybin services are safe and enhance a general sense of well-being, openness, creativity, and spiritual connectedness. Why would we limit access to these services?

The initiative text does not discuss how the change in state law would interact with federal law, under which psilocybin remains a Schedule I substance (a). The initiative does task the advisory board with "monitor[ing] and study[ing] federal laws, regulations, and polices related to psilocybin."

It's unclear how this will be operationalized in practice – how the state-level regulatory framework would interact with federal law remains one of our biggest open questions about the PSI 2020 initiative.


Our biggest open questions:


Section-by-section:

Full text here.

Section 1: Definitions.

Section 2: Oregon Psilocybin Services Program – Establishment of program.

Section 3: General Powers and Duties – Duties; rules.

Section 4: Qualified Clients – Eligibility; fees; rules.

Section 5: Application Process and Licensing – Application process for all licenses; rules.

Section 6: Application Process and Licensing – Grounds for refusing a license.

Section 7: Application Process and Licensing – Authority to require fingerprints of applicants and other individuals.

Section 8: Licensees In General – Lawful production, delivery, and possession of psilocybin products for regulated psilocybin services.

Section 9: License to Produce Psilocybin – Production license; fees; rules.

Section 10: License to Produce Psilocybin – Duty to submit production and delivery data to OHA.

Section 11: License to Process Psilocybin – Processor license; fees; rules.

Section 12: License to Process Psilocybin – Duty to submit production and delivery data to OHA.

Section 13: License to Operate Psilocybin Products Center – Operator license; fees; rules.

Section 14: License to Operate Psilocybin Products Center – Duty to submit data to OHA.

Section 15: License to Operate Psilocybin Services Center – Operator license; fees; rules.

Section 16: License to Operate Psilocybin Services Center – Duty to submit data to OHA.

Section 17: License to Facilitate Psilocybin Services – Lawful administration of psilocybin products at psilocybin services centers.

Section 18: License to Facilitate Psilocybin Services – Facilitator license; fees; rules.

Section 19: Powers and Duties of the OHA with Respect to Licenses – Authority to inspect.

Section 20: Powers and Duties of the OHA with Respect to Licenses – Authority to limit quantity of psilocybin products delivered and issuance of licenses.

Section 21: Powers and Duties of the OHA with Respect to Licenses – Minimum standards and guidelines.

Section 22: Powers and Duties of the OHA with Respect to Licenses – Code of ethics and professional conduct.

Section 23: Powers and Duties of the OHA with Respect to Licenses – Psilocybin services training course curriculum.

Section 24: Database and Confidentiality of Information – Duty to establish and maintain system for tracking, production, processing and delivery of psilocybin products.

Section 25: Database and Confidentiality of Information – Use of this database to verify information.

Section 26: Database and Confidentiality of Information – Confidentiality of information.

Section 27: Authorized Employees and Other Personnel - Permit required to perform work for or on behalf of psilocybin licensees.

Section 28: Psilocybin Control & Regulation Fund.

Section 29: Advisory Board on Psilocybin Services.

Section 30: Advisory Board on Psilocybin Services – Duties of the board.

Sections 31 & 32: City and County Government.

Sections 33 to 36: Prohibited Conducted.

Section 37: Protection from Criminal Liability – Criminal exemption.

Sections 38 to 41: Conforming Amendments.

Sections 42 & 43: Dates.


~fin~