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
A recently published letter ("Letter") indicates that the Biden administration is preparing for the approval of psychedelic drugs and MDMA to treat mental illness and PTSD. This type of federal agency correspondence would have been unimaginable five or six years ago. Things are changing fast! There are well-known potential health benefits of MDMA and psychedelics
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
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
The gap in the treatment of controlled substances between the state and federal levels continues to widen. That has long been true with cannabis, but the trend has accelerated with psilocybin and other psychedelics recently. This growing disparity has implications under U.S. immigration law for employers and non-residents who wish to become involved in the
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 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
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?
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is preparing to pass a rule that would place five tryptamine hallucinogens on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). These compounds would then be as illegal as heroin, fentanyl or other dangerous drugs. Their possession, use, and manufacture would be a felony that could lead to
DMT, or N, N-dimethyltryptamine is a powerful psychedelic. DMT, like its sister psychedelics (LSD, MDMA, psilocybin … and even marijuana), is a Schedule I controlled substance. So according to the DEA, its abuse potential is high and it has no medical use. Also, according to the DEA, “the history of human experience probably goes back
