Colorado Healing Center Facilitates First Psilocybin Session Under Voter-Approved Psychedelics Legalization Law

For the first time, a Colorado patient has taken a legal supervised dose of
psilocybin under the state’s natural medicine program. That’s according to
the The Center Origin, which in April became the state’s first licensed
healing center as part of a buildout of the voter-approved system that was
completed last month.

“Big news,” the facility’s CEO and founder, Elizabeth Cooke, said on social
media on Sunday. “Last week, we held our very first psilocybin session for
psychedelic-assisted healing.”

“A milestone moment is here and a new chapter in healing has begun!” she
wrote. “This marks the beginning of our work offering safe, intentional,
and transformative psychedelic-assisted healing experiences to those
seeking deeper growth and restoration.”

Colorado regulators last month certified the first testing laboratory for
the natural medicine program, putting the final piece of the state’s
psychedelic infrastructure in place.

Following that step, Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced that the
second-in-the-nation state psychedelics program was “fully launched for
operations.”

Cooke had previously announced on Friday that psilocybin, “grown in a
state-regulated facility, officially arrived” at her healing center the
week before.

Colorado’s voter-approved program allows licensed facilitators to conduct
therapeutic sessions using psilocybin, a main active ingredient in
psychedelic mushrooms.

As of last week, regulators at the Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine
Division had approved two standard and six microbusiness healing center
licenses, three standard cultivation licenses, two product manufacturing
licenses and one testing license.

Advocates for psychedelic reform cheered the launch of psilocybin sessions
in Colorado

Tasia Poinsatte, Colorado director for the nonprofit Healing Advocacy Fund,
called the news “an incredible milestone—not just for our state, but for
the meany people who have been waiting and hoping for a new option to help
them heal.”

“Coloradans are now sitting down with licensed facilitators in safe,
supportive environments and beginning their healing journeys with
psilocybin,” she said in a statement on Monday. “This moment is the
culmination of thoughtful, community-driven policymaking and years of
research showing that psychedelic therapies can offer real relief where
other treatments have failed.”

Polis signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for psychedelics in
2023, following voters’ passage of the legalization law the year before.

Oregon voters previously legalized therapeutic psilocybin in 2020.

Poinsatte told Marijuana Moment last month that so far the program had
“been rolled out very thoughtfully, very carefully.”

Compared to Oregon’s law, she said in an interview, Colorado’s allows
“greater integration with other forms of healthcare,” pointing, for
example, to the ability of providers such as therapists to offer in-office
administration of psilocybin rather than needing to secure and operate a
standalone psychedelic clinic.

“We’ve done a lot of advocacy to try to create more affordable options,”
she explained, “and part of that is just flexibility of options.”

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Polis signed into law a separate bill to
facilitate pardons for low-level psychedelics possession convictions, which
he said represents another step “towards a fairer future.”

The bill allows for low-level “possession of psilocybin, ibogaine, and DMT,
which is now legal today, to be removed from criminal records,” the
governor said.

The newly enacted legislation from Sen. Matt Ball (D) and Rep. Lisa Feret
(D) authorizes governors to grant clemency to people with convictions for
low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT
that have since been legalized for adults under a voter-approved ballot
initiative in 2022.

It will also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of
Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the
use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”

Earlier this session, Polis also signed into law a bill that would allow a
form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal
government authorizes its use.

While Colorado already legalized psilocybin and several other psychedelics
for adults 21 and older through the voter-approved ballot initiative, the
newly enacted reform will make it so drugs containing an isolated
crystalized version synthesized from psilocybin can become available under
physician prescription.

Separately in Colorado, a bill that would have limited THC in marijuana and
outlawed a variety of psilocybin products died following the lead sponsor’s
move to withdraw the legislation.

Former Texas Governor And Trump Cabinet Member Played Key Role In Making
The State A Psychedelic Research Leader

*Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mushroom Observer.*

The post Colorado Healing Center Facilitates First Psilocybin Session Under
Voter-Approved Psychedelics Legalization Law appeared first on Marijuana
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