Griffen is an attorney in Harris Sliwoski’s Los Angeles office, where he focuses his practice on corporate, transactional, intellectual property, data security, regulatory, and litigation matters across a wide variety of domestic and international industries.
On September 6, 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing psychedelics. This is yet another victory in the battle against prohibition. But it’s important to remember that decriminalization is very different from legalization– just see my older summary of a host of decriminalization efforts. Decriminalization does
In 2023, Oregon will have a regulated psilocybin market. Colorado voters will have a chance to vote on something similar this fall (although Initiative 58 would not take effect until 2024). Other than that, not a single other state has any form of psychedelic regulation in the works. Last week, an attempt to simply decriminalize
In 2021, California State Senator Scott Wiener introduced SB-519, a statewide psychedelics decriminalization bill. Senator Wiener didn’t have the support to push the bill all the way forward in 2021, so he gathered momentum for a 2022 vote. After a gutting by the California Assembly, the state won’t decriminalize psychedelics in 2022. I’ve regularly blogged on
A statewide psychedelics decriminalization bill that’s been on pause for almost a year was recently set for a legislative hearing next month. This is huge news for California psychedelics advocates, even if we don’t have a ton of information on what is likely to happen just yet. In 2021, California State Senator Scott Wiener introduced
Federal law requires prior in-person evaluations before a physician can provide telehealth services. The federal government declared a COVID-19 public health emergency, essentially suspending this rule. Following this suspension, ketamine telehealth providers and other virtual telehealth providers popped up all over the country. In all likelihood, the emergency declaration will end soon, leaving the industry
Ketamine telehealth just got a big lifeline. On April 12, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) renewed its determination that a public health emergency (PHE) exists due to COVID-19. Obviously, this has been a hugely controversial move even if the renewal is only good for 90 days. This 90 day extension is
RICO (or the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) has been a thorn in the foot for cannabis companies since, well, the dawn of cannabis companies. RICO will be just as annoying for psychedelics companies. Today I will explain what RICO is and why RICO and psychedelics will have a rocky relationship. What is
Ketamine clinic providers engaged in the off label application of ketamine for patient treatment are nothing new in U.S. healthcare. What is relatively new is that many “psychedelics” companies are trying to infiltrate the ketamine clinic scene. These companies hope to gain a foothold, then expand into a fuller suite of psychedelic treatment services once
We’ve discussed at length the DEA’s process for seeking religious exemptions to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). You can read about that in my posts linked at the bottom of this one. Critics of the religious exemption petition process claim that the DEA rarely, if ever, responds to petitions. They also complain that they are
Ketamine is a Schedule III drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Physicians who dispense or administer it therefore must comply with a host of federal and state laws and regulations. This includes registering with the DEA at each location where the physician administers ketamine. But what about physicians who travel to a patient’s
