Despite risks and uncertainty, psilocybin service centers in Oregon open for business

In 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 109, a ballot initiative that made Oregon the first state in the nation to legalize the use of the psychedelic drug psilocybin. It directed the Oregon Health Authority to create a framework to regulate and issue licenses for the manufacture, testing, sale and use of psilocybin in supervised settings. Clients 21 years and older can now buy and consume psilocybin in the first new licensed service centers in Oregon without a doctor’s prescription.

Despite the risks and uncertainties, licensed service centers began seeing this summer customers willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a supervised session of using the drug derived from psychedelic mushrooms. Among them is EPIC Healing Eugene, which in May was awarded the first psilocybin service center license in Oregon.