Oregon’s sketchy framework for psilocybin program portends a new implementation disaster
Oregon… has established a licensure pathway for “psilocybin facilitators” without requiring any medical or mental health training. In fact, the only education required is a high school diploma; a 120-hour course that includes instruction on irrelevant topics including history and cultural equity; and 40 hours of in-person training.
Potential psilocybin users must review a mandatory “informed consent” document with these woefully ill-prepared facilitators and write their initials next to 30 bullet points, one of which reads, “I understand that psilocybin services do not require medical diagnosis or referral and that psilocybin services are not a medical or clinical treatment.” So much for the Oregon Legislature’s lip service to its mental health crisis. I suspect that Oregon is not ready for the onslaught of lawsuits likely to stem from the harm inflicted on vulnerable people because of its misguided policy. Instead of targeting Oregon’s mental health crisis by providing mental health services, the state legalized the recreational use of an unapproved, unpredictable and consciousness-altering drug overseen by high school graduates with no legitimate professional training. The threadbare framework developed by the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board makes it clear that the psychiatric justification for the measure was just that: a cynical rationalization.
Original Article (Oregon Live):
Opinion: Oregon’s sketchy framework for psilocybin program portends a new implementation disaster
Artwork Fair Use: AlexKuprich
