When Will Psychedelic Therapy Come to Colorado?

Expect to hear more buzz in Colorado about magic mushrooms as 2025 draws near and some of the first healing centers open early in the year.

Voters approved Proposition 122, the Natural Medicine Health Act in 2022, which decriminalized the use of some plants and mushrooms for personal consumption and medical intervention.

In May 2023, the state enacted Colorado Senate Bill 23-290, replacing the citizen-initiated proposition and outlining how the state would roll out the use of natural medicines such as psilocybin and, possibly in the future, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine and mescaline (note peyote).

Synthetic psychedelics are expressly disallowed in the Colorado law.

Who regulates psilocybin in Colorado?

Part of bringing hallucinogenic mushrooms to market includes dividing regulation between two state agencies:

• The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) oversees individual licensing and training requirements.
• The Department of Revenue (DOR) regulates these natural medicines and manages business licensing of healing centers, manufacturers, cultivation operations and testing facilities.

When will psychedelic therapy be available in Colorado?

The agencies are required to begin accepting natural medicine licensing applications by Dec. 31.

DORA continues to draft natural medicines licensing rules, with another hearing taking place on Nov. 19 to address recent revisions.

The 34-page document draft defines medicines and health standards and:

• Outlines licensing requirements for facilitators, including education, supervised training, and consultation requirements.
• Addresses training and practice protocols such as approved training programs and requirements such as didactic and practical training, emphasizing safety, ethics, informed consent and boundaries. Facilitators must complete a minimum of 150 hours of instruction and 40 hours of supervised practice in administering natural medicine sessions.
• Emphasizes informed consent and confidentiality with strict practices and detailed disclosures about the natural medicine services, especially for vulnerable or high-risk participants.
• Requires documentation and reporting thorough records of participant interactions, including demographic data, informed consent agreements, adverse events, and session details. Strict reporting standards are set for any adverse health events, unprofessional conduct, or criminal convictions involving licensed facilitators.

Educational licensing opened on June 30.

So far, eight facilitator training programs have been licensed in Colorado. Three are based in Oregon, the first state in the nation to legalize hallucinogenic mushrooms and therapy. The others come from Fort Collins, Longmont, Boulder, Arvada and Aspen.

Already, you will find retreats offering guided services for those who choose to participate under the personal use provision of Prop 122.

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