A Denver-based psilocybin purveyor filed a federal lawsuit against the state for trying to shut down his operation.
Darren Lyman is one of Colorado’s early adopters of the unlicensed psilocybin space, operating since 2023 out of his studios at 800 W. Eighth Avenue. Colorado decriminalized psilocybin in 2022, though state law requires screening and post-facilitation meetings. Patients also must have supervision while they experience the psychoactive effects of psilocybin.
Lyman’s business, Lyman Support Centers, operates in a legal gray area and is more streamlined than the supervised services. Official ventures, according to Lyman, cost an average of $2,000. Visits at Lyman Support Centers cost anywhere from $60 to $100.
At Lyman’s business, adult who are 21 and over enter one of the suites and pay Lyman to screen them. Lyman hands out educational materials on how to properly use the decriminalized psychedelics available in Colorado, which include psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine, and mescaline. Customers then go to a different suite in the building, where staff “gift” them psychedelics such as raw mushrooms, infused chocolates, capsules, and DMT. Lyman says the actual transaction is over education materials and guidance on intentional use, not the psychedelics themselves.
“I want those clinical sessions to exist. I want those spaces to be open. It’s not my intention to affect that industry at all in any way. What I’m doing is providing education and harm reduction support for low-income people who really can’t afford a $1,500 trip-set”
Darren Lyman about these supervised services
The state has never agreed with Lyman’s approach, however, and legal battles continue to stop Lyman from operating.
In 2023, the Colorado Natural Medicine Division (NMD) sent Lyman a cease-and-desist order. They alleged that he conducts “business transactions” and the “advertisement and exchange of psilocybin mushrooms for renumeration,” which is illegal according to the NMD. The order cited Lyman’s advertisements in Westword, and Lyman stated he stopped advertising after receiving the NMD’s order. His website and studio kept running, however. At the time of the first cease-and-desist, Lyman’s attorney stated, “It never said anything about his website or being engaged in any kind of unlawful facilitation.”
In December 2025, Lyman received another cease-and-desist from the state Department of Regulatory Affairs (DORA), which is concerned with regulating psilocybin practitioners in Colorado. DORA accused Lyman of unlicensed facilitation, but he disputes the claim, stating he does not administer or facilitate psychedelics at his studio. State lawmakers intervened when he continued operating.
In June, Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 26-1325, which took effect on August 12. Initially, the law was a way for the state to start researching the medical use of ibogaine, and at the last second lawmakers added clearer avenues for prosecutors to go after specific psilocybin mushroom sales. The law prohibits harm-reduction or support services from selling natural medicine unless the buyer is able to consume it under the supervision of the person or entity dispensing it.
In shorter terms, under this law, if a person is paid and natural medicine is given, the support must happen at the same time as the consumption. This law thus makes Lyman’s operation illegal. He pushes back, arguing that where his harm-reduction business is located and where customers receive psilocybin products are at separate addresses. He is not technically sharing natural medicine in the same place where customers pay him.
As a result, Lyman filed a civil rights lawsuit against DORA in Colorado District Court on August 18. He requested for a temporary restraining order to freeze these “retaliatory” state administrative prosecutions. In the argument, Lyman says he should be able to teach people about mushroom biology, dosage, and integration without the state requiring him to pay a $3,500 clinical license fee. He argues these discussions constitute protected educational speech.
Lyman also claims the law was rushed and hidden under the pretense of ibogaine research. He believes the added language of HB 1325 was “orchestrated by state regulators to protect high-priced corporate clinical monopolies from affordable, peer-led community harm reduction.” Another part of the lawsuit claims the State of Colorado launched a “bad-faith campaign” against Lyman. According to him, since he is a well-known figure in these advocacy efforts, he became a target while other “gray-market somatic coaches” skirt under the radar.
Lyman’s lawsuit requests a judge to drop the state’s cease-and-desist orders and any other threats of ending his operation. He also is seeking $350 million in restitution for “severe personal and business disruption.”
DORA has not responded about the lawsuit. Lyman’s support center is also still operating.
Photo courtesy of social media
