The State of Psychedelics

Now that Colorado voters have approved the Natural Medicine Act (Prop 122) and decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms, what’s next? 

The state most likely won’t see a psilocybin healing center for a few years; however, work to regulate the use, distribution, and sale at these healing centers has begun. It starts with the 15 appointed members of the Natural Medicine Board.

On the board are doctors, therapists, a sheriff, and people familiar with the use of natural medicine in Indigenous cultures. An Arizona doctor has also been appointed to the board, as she is the only federally licensed professional in the country allowed to conduct psilocybin studies using whole mushrooms during controlled trials.

“I got to know the world of plant medicines at a cursory level initially and got to meet professionals, the therapists, the underground workers, the clinicians, the scientists. I was really blown away by what was possible,” Natural Medicine Board Member Skippy Upton Mesirow of Aspen says. 

According to the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), those wishing to open or operate a healing center should be able to begin submitting applications by September 2024. The board has been tasked with the following:

• Accurate public health approaches and the content and scope of educational campaigns
• Research related to the efficacy and regulation of natural medicine
• Proper content of training programs, educational and experiential requirements and qualifications for facilitators
• Affordable, equitable, ethical and culturally responsible access to natural medicine 
• Appropriate regulatory considerations for each natural medicine.
• The addition of natural medicines to the program All rules to be promulgated
• Requirements for accurate and complete data collection, reporting, and publication of information related to implementation 

Though prospective consumers may be excited by the concept of legally ingesting magic mushrooms, those working behind the scenes have their concerns. According to a recent budget document submitted to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee by DORA, the agency feels unprepared to take on this new role. 

“This is an area completely outside the scope of any existing expertise or regulatory history within the department. This is unlike anything else the department regulates. The department has no resources or expertise to begin implementation of this expansive new program involving substances with agricultural, controlled substance, chemical/scientific, and facility issues,” the document reads.

DORA typically oversees sectors like insurance and banking, but will have to quickly adopt a regulatory structure under which psychedelic mushrooms can be legally consumed by people 21 and older at licensed facilities, if they are to meet the 2024 expected deadline. According to DORA spokesperson Katie O’Donnell, the psychedelic regulatory board could have gone to any host of departments. For instance, the Colorado Department of Revenue, which oversees the cannabis industry, or the Department of Agriculture regulates the hemp industry. So why DORA?

Tasia Poinsatte, leader of one of the groups that supported Prop 122, says that they felt DORA was the right choice to oversee psychedelic regulation due to its licensure work. “Proposition 122 was designed to provide breakthrough therapies to Coloradans for mental health and wellness,” Poinsatte says.

“At the heart of this new regulated program are the licensed facilitators who supervise the preparation sessions, the natural medicine administration session, and the integration sessions. We believe it’s appropriate for the agency that regulates other health professions, such as therapists, addiction specialists and nurses, to also regulate this new profession of licensed facilitators.”

Still, Poinsatte says she recognizes DORA may need help creating a “program that works for all Coloradoans and is a model for the rest of the country.” Colorado is only the second state after Oregon to decriminalize psilocybin. 

In the Department’s latest budget request to the legislature, it proposed that the department would spend $700,000 to contract resources and expertise for this new regulatory challenge. It says the speed at which it’s expected to implement rules is unprecedented, and it’s still figuring out the fee structure for legal-use facilities under which it will fund its work. Psilocybin regulations are only the beginning.

Proposition 122 gives the Natural Medicine Advisory Board the option to similarly legalize and regulate a number of other naturally derived psychedelics, including dimethyltryptamine (known as DMT), ibogaine, and mescaline, which is found in the San Pedro cactus.   

Colorado is Making the Cannabis Industry Even Greener

Colorado is leading the national charge to make the rapidly growing cannabis industry more energy efficient.

In Colorado alone, the cannabis cultivation industry comprised 2% of the state’s total energy consumption according to a 2018 report. And since then, the industry has only grown. Electricity, according to the same report, took up a third of cultivators’ operating budgets. 

In February, the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) announced a program to help cannabis cultivators cut greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs. The Cannabis Resource Optimization Program (CROP) opened its first round of applications on February 15. CROP, which is funded by the 2022 “Air Quality Improvement Investments” bill, will provide free technical assistance and access to financing for cannabis cultivators in Colorado.

This program is the first of its kind and hopes to set an example for other states to regulate their cannabis cultivation’s energy efficiency.

“Colorado was the first state to legalize cannabis and now will be the first state to help licensed cultivation operators make their operation more energy efficient,” says Governor Jared Polis. “Providing innovative ways for cannabis cultivation operators to improve energy efficiency will save business owners money and reduce energy use in the industry.”

Through this program, cannabis cultivators will have technical specialists conduct facility audits and analysis of historic electricity, gas, water, and other resource usage to identify impactful efficiency improvements such as installing LED fixtures or upgrading HVAC systems. Cultivation operation owners will then work with the Colorado Clean Energy Fund to secure low-interest financing for these improvements. 

Since cannabis is still illegal under federal law, the relationship between banks and the cannabis industry has always been tenuous. This is why most Colorado dispensaries either take cash only, or have credit card readers that operate like ATMs. Because of this tenuous relationship, cannabis cultivation businesses have not been able to secure bank loans to make energy efficiency improvements.

“Cannabis is a legitimate business in Colorado and 20 other states across the country, yet cannabis businesses are completely shut-out of the financing opportunities that are available in other industries,” says CEO Sustainable Cannabis Program Manager Elizabeth Lee. “The state recognizes that cannabis cultivation uses a substantial amount of energy and created the CROP program to provide unprecedented access to low-interest loans for improvements that ease this financial burden on Colorado businesses.”

Colorado lawmakers set aside $1.5 million for CROP in a bill passed last year, as part of a larger effort to reduce air pollution. In 2020, the state launched an experimental initiative to repurpose carbon emitted during the alcohol production process in cannabis cultivation. The program sought to capture carbon emissions from beer brewing and repurpose it to stimulate cannabis growth. 

Cannabis cultivation business owners in Colorado will find the program application on the CROP webpage. This first round of applications will be open to cultivators who are seeking technical assistance and do not already have access to assistance through their utility providers.