You’ve probably heard of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), which provides certain tax exemptions for qualifying charitable organizations. You also probably know that there are many psychedelic religious groups worldwide. The question I want to answer today is “can psychedelic religions obtain 501(c)(3) status?” What is 501(c)(3) status and how do religions
In this post, I’ll do a brief state psychedelic law roundup. I won’t cover local (city or county) measures or all the states. Instead, I’ll summarize some of the recent action or more significant developments in states across the country. Washington State Psilocybin Law On January 6, Washington lawmakers introduced the Washington Psilocybin Services Wellness and
In late January, the Oregon state legislature filed a pre-session, psilocybin social equity bill to supplement the state’s groundbreaking Measure 109 program. That legislation is new Senate Bill 1580, sponsored by ten Democratic state lawmakers. Its first public hearing was yesterday and it goes to Senate work session tomorrow. Oregon’s New Legal Psilocybin Program This
Measure 109 covered psilocybin testing standards in some detail. It also directed the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to adopt rules on this topic. I’ll cover the unreleased, first draft of those rules today. They begin at OAR 333-333-7010. As I wrote in parts one and two of this series (training; products) it’s important to remember that
Oregon’s Measure 109 left much to do with “psilocybin products” to the administrative rulemaking process. Measure 109 defined “psilocybin products” as: “(A) psilocybin-producing fungi and (B) mixtures of substances containing a detectable amount of psilocybin.” Pretty simple. Beyond that, the measure directed the Oregon Health Authority to “establish a regulatory framework concerning psilocybin products.” This
As the Oregon Health Authority moves forward with creating a program for the legal consumption of psilocybin following the enactment of Measure 109, other efforts to normalize the medical use of psilocybin continue. This week the Ninth Circuit ruled on a case concerning whether a physician may administer psilocybin without incurring liability under the Controlled
The rules on Oregon psilocybin training programs, products and testing will be critical to the success of Measure 109. Last month, I advised that interested parties could look for these administrative rules sometime in May of 2022. The first known drafts, dated December 17, 2021, have been in our possession for a while, however, and
The DEA violates religious freedom through its opaque and arguably illegal process for applicants seeking religious exemptions to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). I’ve made this point before. But today, I want to look at one of the more nefarious ways in which the DEA’s exemption process violates religious freedoms. To do that, I first
Importing drug paraphernalia is illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). However, the expansive definition of “drug paraphernalia” can complicate the understanding of what items fit into this category. Federal agencies, particularly U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), consider many factors when determining if a particular item is unlawful or not. Importers of psychedelic-related products need
I get the same questions any time I tell someone that my law firm has a psychedelics practice group. One of the top 5 is: “is microdosing psilocybin legal?” The short answer is no. But like any area of the law, it’s complex. Today, I’ll dissect the legality of microdosing psilocybin. What is psilocybin microdosing?
