Want to use psychedelics for religious purposes in the U.S.? The government should let you, but it’s not going to make it easy. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for religious exemptions to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) for illegal psychedelics. Since then, only a few groups have been granted such exemptions
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
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 Oregon psilocybin advertising rules should be interesting. As a matter of law, advertising is a form of “commercial speech”, and the Oregon Constitution’s free speech guarantee is one of the nation’s strongest. In fact, it is broader in scope than even the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Today, we want to cover some
On January 6, lawmakers filed a Washington psilocybin legalization bill, SB 5660, the Washington Psilocybin Services Wellness and Opportunity Act. Two attorneys in our law firm’s psychedelics practice, Mason Marks and John Rapp, helped craft this vanguard bill (Mason’s write-up is here). In the event legalization of psilocybin occurs in Washington, this post covers what
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
