The Oregon Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would allow some therapists, doctors and other care providers to lead psilocybin treatment for their clients.
House Bill 2387 would prevent state healthcare boards from punishing care providers for obtaining psilocybin therapy licenses, or discussing the treatment option with their patients.
Heidi Pendergast, the Oregon Director of the nonprofit Healing Advocacy Fund, said the boards haven't formally restricted those practices. But she said it can be unclear what the rules for licensees are.
"We had heard directly from clients through facilitators and service centers, saying, 'I went to go talk to my therapist about this, or I went to go talk with my primary care provider, and they weren't even sure if they could discuss this with me,'" she said.
Pendergast said many providers working in psilocybin therapy already have other healthcare licenses, as they come from medical backgrounds. But she said, right now, those roles are kept very separate.
Under this bill, a provider with multiple licenses could prepare their clients for psilocybin treatment while providing other healthcare services at the same time.
“There are some therapists who might say, ‘I don't want to work with my own clients,’ or there's clients that will say, ‘I really want to work with my therapist,’" said Pendergast. "But it really provides options for both the providers and for the clients to decide what's right for them.”
Healthcare providers could even oversee the psilocybin treatment itself—although Pendergast said they couldn't offer other services during those sessions, due to issues of consent under the influence.
Other changes
HB 2387 also includes a new labelling requirement for another psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, psilocin, which can affect the potency of a product. Pendergast said the state's industry has already widely adopted the practice.
Meanwhile, the bill would also introduce additional rules around criminal background checks for licensees, and allow the state to require the fingerprint scans of applicants.
The bill passed the House in mid-April. It had broad, bipartisan support in both chambers. It's now awaiting a potential signature from Gov. Tina Kotek.
