![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1f3f3-fe0f-200d-1f308-1.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Last week, the board proposing rules for Oregon\u2019s nascent psilocybin industry held a second-to-last meeting before making final recommendations to state regulators. The meeting was contentious, and for the first time in its fourteen-month history, the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board started with a closed-door executive session.<\/p>\n
For one hour, board members and Oregon Health Authority officials met privately with attorneys from the state\u2019s Department of Justice (DOJ). Journalists were permitted to attend if they vowed not to report what they saw, but the public was excluded. The topic was a proposed ruleset\u00a0called \u201cPrivileges and Duties of Entheogenic Practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Oregon attorney named Jon Dennis drafted the proposal, which he presented to the board\u2019s Health Equity and Licensing Subcommittees this spring. Each committee approved the proposal before sending it for consideration by the full board.<\/p>\n
(Disclosure: The author of this article served on the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board for one year and chaired its Licensing Subcommittee before resigning to move out of state.)<\/p>\n
Dennis told Marijuana Moment he drafted the proposal for non-profit communities, including churches and spiritual groups, who hope to become licensed psilocybin businesses. Specifically, it calls for rules tailored to communities that utilize psilocybin, which have historically been spiritual or religious. In public comment sessions throughout the past year, members of the public expressed concerns that corporate interests have dominated the rule-making process to the exclusion of these communities.<\/p>\n
Oregon\u2019s psilocybin industry originated during the 2020 election, when state voters passed ballot Measure 109<\/a>, also known as the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act. The initiative required Gov. Kate Brown (D) to assemble the advisory board<\/a> and triggered a two-year development period in which members propose rules to the health authority. But while the health authority has until December 31 to publish final rules, the board\u2019s recommendations are due on June 30, and only one meeting remains.<\/p>\n Multiple sources told Marijuana Moment they were surprised by last Wednesday\u2019s closed-door session<\/a>. \u201cThe board has never done this,\u201d said Dennis in a phone interview. \u201cThe board had only six hours left to discuss its recommendations, and they decided to spend an hour of that time hidden from public view. When the board emerges from that meeting and summarily rejects the proposal without substantive discussion, it challenges public trust in the rule-making process.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Andr\u00e9 Ourso, a state health official and non-voting member of the board, the closed-door session allowed members to receive confidential legal advice from DOJ attorneys regarding Dennis\u2019s proposal<\/a>. However, Ourso acknowledges that the board has previously sought DOJ guidance on various matters,\u00a0and in those cases, attorneys conveyed the information publicly.<\/p>\n In this case, DOJ guidance came moments before the board discussed and voted on Dennis\u2019s proposal, which appears to have garnered<\/a> significant public support. Over 500 people signed a petition<\/a> drafted by the Entheogenic Practitioner\u2019s Council of Oregon, which urged the board and health authority to adopt the proposal. Entrepreneur and philanthropist David Bronner drafted a public letter<\/a> of support.<\/p>\n At an April hearing called by the health authority, members of the public urged the agency to adopt the proposal. Some felt the agency had over-medicalized the psilocybin rules, turning what was intended to be an open and inclusive program into a form of psychotherapy.<\/p>\n Though Measure 109 ostensibly created a non-medical<\/a> system, most board members have healthcare backgrounds. The fifteen-member body includes five physicians, two nurses, an epidemiologist, an addiction medicine specialist and a licensed psychologist.<\/p>\n Some have criticized the board and health authority for excluding Indigenous and religious perspectives in the rule-making process. When the board\u2019s Research Subcommittee produced a review of evidence regarding psilocybin use<\/a>, it pulled data almost exclusively from clinical trials despite Measure 109\u2019s mandate to consider other sources.<\/p>\n At the April hearing, Peter Addy, a licensed professional counselor from Portland, told regulators, \u201cI fully endorse Jon Dennis\u2019s entheogenic practitioner\u2019s framework\u2026and I would be very disappointed if it\u2019s just this \u2018therapy-light\u2019 version [of the rules] that you currently have.\u201d<\/p>\n One anonymous commenter expressed concern that the rules released so far favor medical professionals. \u201cAs a founder of a sacred mushroom church, I\u2019ve been following this for several months\u2026 I found it extremely problematic that the religious organizations are being treated the same as therapeutic organizations,\u201d said the caller. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of offensive to me that we are subject to medical protocols and regulations when the medical establishment got the mushrooms from the spiritual practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n Measure 109 requires the facilitators who will administer psilocybin in Oregon to hold only a high school diploma. However, emerging training programs are often geared toward healthcare professionals, and some exclude those without medical backgrounds.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very offensive that in order to use what we have already been using, I have to go to somebody, pay ten to twenty thousand dollars [for training], and get permission,\u201d said Elan Hagens, a member of the board\u2019s Health Equity Subcommittee, at the April hearing.<\/p>\n According to Hagens, \u201cIt\u2019s been very hard for me to serve on these boards, and even these types of meetings because\u2026we\u2019re hearing from a lot of doctors and a lot of lawyers. And to sit in these meetings, it\u2019s like a whole different type of language, and this language doesn\u2019t transfer well to our community. And the reason we\u2019re speaking these different languages is to separate and say, \u2018I\u2019m the one who is doing this,\u2019 and they are down there doing that\u2026and I want us to think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n The morning before Wednesday\u2019s closed-door meeting, Rebeca Rocha, a Brazilian-born psychotherapist and member of the Health Equity Subcommittee, sent a letter to the health authority and the board\u2019s leadership. \u201cI have some concerns regarding racial justice and equity of Oregon Psilocybin Services,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI was excited to learn about Jon Dennis\u2019s entheogenic proposal which can address some of my concerns relating to racial justice, equity and accessibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Rocha says candidates for board membership were asked about their understanding of racial issues and how to promote diversity and racial equity. However, \u201cracial equity was not represented in the selection\u201d of members. \u201cThe board does not include an individual from Mexico or Central America,\u201d regions whose people contributed to \u201cwhat we know today about psilocybin.\u201d<\/p>\n Ourso and Jeff Rhoades, a policy assistant to Gov. Brown, interviewed prospective board members. Two out of three questions on the membership application asked candidates to describe their experience and ideas for promoting racial equity. Marijuana Moment asked Ourso if the governor\u2019s office received applications from candidates who openly identified as Indigenous or religious. \u201cI mean, I don\u2019t recall,\u201d said Ourso. \u201cThat was over a year ago, and [we received over] two hundred or so applications.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Measure 109, \u201cthere\u2019s supposed to be a person from one of the nine federally recognized tribes,\u201d Ourso explained. And the agency has gone through a lot of effort to identify an individual that would be willing to take that position with some hope that that would be filled very soon. And we\u2019ve identified some candidates in the past, and it just didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n It seems unlikely that the board will find an Indigenous member prior to making its final recommendations next month. In a phone interview, Hagens told Marijuana Moment that the board should have involved the voices of affected communities from the start, \u201cnot just scholarly communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Immediately after last Wednesday\u2019s meeting, the health authority published a legal memo<\/a> that contains four questions it posed to DOJ attorneys regarding Dennis\u2019s proposal. The first asks whether the health authority can exempt psilocybin practitioners from licensure under Measure 109. A second asks whether the authority can exclude practitioners from all psilocybin rules.<\/p>\n According to Dennis, these questions have little apparent connection to his proposal. Instead of exempting practitioners from licensure or all administrative rules, it asks the health authority to create a parallel set of rules, which largely overlap with existing rules, but are tailored to non-profit communities such as religious and spiritual groups. If the framework was adopted, community practitioners would still be licensed, and like other practitioners, they would be subject to rules created by the health authority.<\/p>\n A third question in the DOJ memo asks whether the health authority can adopt less restrictive standards for religious practitioners. According to Dennis, this question appears to \u201creflect a misunderstanding of the proposal,\u201d which is really geared toward non-profit communities.<\/p>\n Ourso declined to comment on the content of the DOJ memo. But several sources told Marijuana Moment they were baffled by how poorly it represents the proposal.<\/p>\n Dennis says the board\u2019s refusal to review and understand the proposal reflects\u00a0either laziness or a bad faith refusal to address the needs of minority communities. \u201cThey owe the public a duty to understand and meaningful discuss the issues. By refusing to do that, they\u2019ve breached the public\u2019s trust and their duty to advise. Studies show that when presented with evidence and information that challenges one\u2019s beliefs, a common reaction is to become more convinced that one\u2019s beliefs are correct instead of being open to new information. That appears to be what happened here.\u201d<\/p>\n Dennis recounted several attempts to educate the board and health authority on the proposal\u2019s purpose and content. For instance, representatives of the Religious Use Committee of the Psychedelic Bar Association, an organization for attorneys and legal professionals, requested a meeting with the agency to discuss the proposed rules.<\/p>\n (Disclosure: The author of this article is member of the Psychedelic Bar Association.)<\/p>\n The Entheogenic Practitioners Council of Oregon, founded and chaired by Dennis, also requested a meeting.<\/p>\n Emails provided by Dennis show that the health authority rejected both requests. \u201cWe just need to let the process run,\u201d said Jesse Sweet, a health authority policy analyst, in emails to Dennis declining to meet. Meanwhile, the health authority reportedly meets regularly with at least one outside organization.<\/p>\n Health authority spokesman Jonathan Modie told<\/a> Willamette Week the agency meets monthly with a political group called the Healing Advocacy Fund to discuss rulemaking and other aspects of Measure 109\u2019s implementation. Executive Director Sam Chapman added that the meetings occur behind closed doors instead of during public meetings because the board\u2019s time is limited.<\/p>\n In phone and text conversations with Marijuana Moment, Chapman declined to comment on these meetings or Dennis\u2019s proposal. The health authority\u2019s Jesse Sweet also declined to comment.<\/p>\n At the board meeting last Wednesday, most members ultimately voted against the proposal following a brief discussion. They offered few reasons for rejecting it, but chair Dr. Atheir Abbas described the proposal as untenable in its current form.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue with this framework is that it is counter to equity, said Dr. Atheir Abbas. \u201cIt is unfair to people who are not entheogenic practitioners, and so we need to develop a framework that is really comprehensively fair.\u201d Abbas did not respond to Marijuana Moment\u2019s request for clarification.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want us to risk throwing out the baby with the bathwater,\u201d said Dr. Rachel Knox, who chairs the Health Equity Subcommittee, which approved Dennis\u2019s proposal. \u201cThere is nothing that says we have to recommend this framework in its totality. There are several components that are rich and that are tenable and that might make sense for a non-profit organization or community-based organization or organizations that identify with Indigenous cultural practices.\u201d<\/p>\n Some board members questioned Dennis\u2019s motives. \u201cI would like to know the origins of this document and where it came from,\u201d said Dr. Todd Korthuis, who declined Marijuana Moment\u2019s request for further comment. \u201cI\u2019ve received I think five emails from the lawyer promoting this, lobbying me\u2026trying to inform me on this. I would just love to know where the funding is coming from and who\u2019s paying the bills for this effort.\u201d Two board members responded that Dennis had acted on his own accord without any financial support, which Dennis also later told Marijuana Moment was the case.<\/p>\n Korthuis added, \u201cI\u2019m not honestly sure what it [the proposal] adds to the hard work we\u2019ve been doing for a year\u2026 This feels like something tacked on at the end.\u201d Knox responded that the proposal was put in front of the board\u2019s subcommittees at the top of the year and had been under consideration for months.<\/p>\n \u201cOn many occasions, I have asked our board to review four subcommittee meetings, to go back and either watch or review the minutes of those meetings \u2026where subcommittees really scrutinized the content and context of this framework,\u201d said Knox. \u201cSo, I\u2019m a little bit surprised that you\u2019re uninformed on this matter, and I think that\u2019s unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n After rejecting the proposal at the Wednesday meeting, the board spent over an hour reviewing an unrelated set of licensing recommendations. \u201cThe difference between that discussion and the previous discussion about the proposal was striking,\u201d said Dennis. \u201cBoard members thoughtfully engaged with the licensing recommendations while the community proposal had been summarily dismissed. From the outside, it appeared like they were just raising technical objections and hiding behind them as pretext to avoid a thoughtful discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n Toward the end of the meeting, Knox urged the board to revisit the proposal next month and sincerely evaluate its elements instead of glossing over the details. \u201cThe reason it\u2019s important for this to happen by the June deadline is that\u2019s the deadline we have been given to have all of our recommendations in,\u201d said Knox.<\/p>\n FINALE: After bitter disagreements re: the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board’s failure to pass a vote to recommend the implementation of Jon Dennis’ entheogenic service center proposals, Jon Dennis ended the meeting with a bold statement. His statement was cut short. Video below. pic.twitter.com\/LyOSAyC58r<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sasha Sisko Before voting on the matter, Abbas urged all board members to oppose further discussion. \u201cWe can do a vote, but I would advocate for folks voting no.\u201d Five members subsequently voted in favor of further discussion, but six members voted against it.<\/p>\n In a perhaps fitting end to a contentious meeting, Jon Dennis offered concluding remarks during a brief public comment period. Before he could make his final point, the health authority cut him off and abruptly ended the meeting.<\/p>\n Read the letter<\/a> from Rocha below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n FBI Marijuana Arrest Data May Be Critically Flawed, And DOJ Is Being Asked To Investigate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Oregon Officials\u2019 Rejection Of Rules For Spiritual And Religious Psilocybin Use Called Into Question<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Last week, the board proposing rules for Oregon\u2019s nascent psilocybin industry held a second-to-last meeting before making final recommendations to state regulators. The meeting was contentious, and for the first time in its fourteen-month history, the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board started with a closed-door executive session. For one hour, boardContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":54940,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54941,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54939\/revisions\/54941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"🏳️🌈\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1f3f3-fe0f-200d-1f308.png\")
(They\/Them) (@SashaSisko) May 25, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\n
\nRead More: Oregon Officials\u2019 Rejection Of Rules For Spiritual And Religious Psilocybin Use Called Into Question<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"