Psychedelic Therapy Is Here. Just Don’t Call It Therapy

Marks says confusion about whether the bill follows a medical model goes all the way back to its inception and included people on the psilocybin advisory board. In March 2022, a psychologist and member of the advisory board, Kimberley Golletz, told Stat News, “We’re saying both things. This is not medical … But this is psilocybin-assisted therapy,” she said. “Psilocybin facilitation … I mean, nobody knows what that is.” The ballot for Measure 109 itself makes reference to the mental health crisis in Oregon and the preliminary clinical evidence that psilocybin could be a potential treatment.

In June 2021, Angela Allbee, manager of the body that oversees the psilocybin program, said in an interview that they would deem the success of the program to be “providing an opportunity for those that are struggling with mental health issues to heal.”

Marks also points to confusion spread by the Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit that supported implementation of the program and whose head, Sam Chapman, was formerly the campaign manager for Measure 109. The homepage of…