Oregon voters this fall are set to vote on the approval and regulation of psilocybin therapy.
The approval of ballot Measure 109, the initiative to use the chemical compound from “magic” mushrooms, would make Oregon the first state to legalize psilocybin for supervised therapeutic use. The measure would not allow the recreational use of the drug, nor would it allow sales to the public.
In 1970, psilocybin was federally classified as a schedule 1 drug – a drug without a current accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Recently, psilocybin has been re-legalized for research studies, and Johns Hopkins, Imperial College in London and the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown psilocybin to be an effective treatment against depression, PTSD, and addiction.
Chief petitioners behind the measure and therapy practitioners themselves, husband and wife Tom and Sheri Eckert, insist the use of psilocybin be rooted in science and regulated under the guidance of scientists and healthcare professionals.
The Research
Psychiatry professor and researcher studying psychedelic treatments at Oregon Health and Science University, Chris Stauffer, said psychedelic drugs have recently shown incredibly positive results in the reduction of PTSD and depression.
Stauffer said patients in his studies, which included combat veterans, long term AIDS survivors, and methamphetamine users, were more able to confront grief and rediscover connections to themselves and the people around them that had been lost in unresolved trauma.
Stauffer told OregonLive that the drug was powerful but cautioned that changing motivation from healing to something else could be problematic.
The Oregon Psychiatric Physicians Association, a group that says it represents over 38,000 physicians, opposes the ballot and says in the voter’s pamphlet that the proposal is not safe and makes “misleading promises to those Oregonians who are struggling with mental illness.”
They say that despite the amount of promising studies, “science does not yet indicate that psilocybin is a safe medical treatment for mental health conditions.”
Michael Pollan – journalist, professor, and author of “How to Change Your Mind”, a book discussing the benefits of psychedelics, wrote in the New York Times that people who want psilocybin to follow in the same footsteps as cannabis should be aware that psilocybin is different, and “it is not for everyone.”
These reasons are why the Eckerts say they are proposing regulations and care that promotes healing when administering psilocybin.
Measure 109 Support
Measure 109 has gotten support from several veterans’ groups and some local therapists and healthcare workers. The voter’s pamphlet contained many arguments for the measure and one against.
Sheri Eckert said in a news release over the summer that Oregon has some of the highest rates of depression, anxiety, and addiction in the United States, arguing that current treatment options were not sufficient.
According the Oregon Secretary of State, as of Friday, Oct. 16, proponents of Measure 109 have raised over $2.1 million.
The largest donation, $1.48 million, was from New Approach PAC, a political action committee in Washington D.C. that has supported both recreational and medical marijuana initiatives around the country.
Major individual donors to the measure include three big out-of-state donors: Austin Hearst ($25,000), grandson of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst; William Sterling ($10,000), a Chicago investor; and Adam Wiggins ($10,000) a tech entrepreneur and founder of nonprofit research and educational organization that is devoted to marijuana and psychedelics.
By: Hannah Ramsey
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