Oregon’s psilocybin therapy program has a problem. When voters approved Measure 109 in 2020, ushering in a new era of legal mushrooms at legal centers, it was already obvious that at least a sector of the population was never going to take advantage of what those centers had to offer. Due to the costs of state licensing, and the sometimes-onerous regulations that come with running such a center, the cost of tripping at a legal center is prohibitive for many. Those who were already familiar with psilocybin might rather eat a bag of mushrooms in the forest than in a room with four square walls, even if it doesn’t come with a talk session afterward.
As reported by Willamette Week, the costs of doing business are causing some in the nascent industry to close their doors. According to WW’s reporting on Oregon Health Authority data, as of June, some 26% of service centers had shut down since licensing began. The Psilocybin Alliance, an advocacy group that formed in hopes of seeing the industry survive, says on its website that, “rising costs, complex regulations, and legislative barriers” are the main sources of struggle.
Costs are a big issue all around. Advocates of the program assured voters — and OHA — that the licensing fees garnered by service centers, growers and labs would be able to cover the cost of the administration of the program at OHA. But according to WW’s reporting, that hasn’t been the case. OHA got $3+ million from the state general fund to run the program thus far, but the state’s budget doesn’t provision for that for the next biennium. To cover the costs, OHA may have to raise fees yet again. Cue the death spiral.
If there’s an ancillary benefit to having a legal mushroom therapy program in our state, it’s the legitimacy it lends to things like research. For decades, research into the possible benefits of various types of psychedelics, including psilocybin and MDMA, was effectively shut down due to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Only in recent years has that picked back up.
Earlier this month, researchers from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland released the results of a study on using psilocybin to treat low-income adults suffering from depression. Study participants reported significant improvements in sleep, anxiety, fatigue and cognitive function after two sessions of psilocybin therapy. If symptoms returned, they were less severe than before treatment, researchers reported.
While the study had no placebo group and included a willing group of participants already interested in psilocybin therapy, it still showed promise for those with depression.
One thing that stood out: The researchers made a point to address the affordability piece of the puzzle, introducing a group therapy model that could cut costs for centers.
“We know psilocybin therapy can be effective, but it remains out of reach for most people,” Dr. Matthew Hicks, lead researcher for the study, stated in a press release. “With this project we wanted to demonstrate the benefits of group therapy models which not only have therapeutic perks but are more cost effective than one-on-one models.”
Oregon voters, in 2020, said they wanted to explore a program that allows for safe, legal access to psilocybin. Studies about the therapy’s effectiveness have shown that it can help people. But without the ability to manage centers in a cost-effective manner, that could all go away.
With looming budget holes due to federal cuts, the state legislature will certainly have some major challenges to address in coming sessions. But with one in four adults experiencing a mental health condition in our state, and with other treatment options limited or cost-prohibitive, it would be worth the time of state regulators and legislators to address the affordability crisis in this new program.
This article appears in the Source August 21, 2025.
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I’m both the Director of Services for Drop Thesis here in Bend, and a founder of the Psilocybin Alliance.
At Drop Thesis, our main focus has been on increased accessibility for the community. We are $1000-$2000 cheaper than the other centers in town. We also have a monthly scholarship that covers everything except the cost of the mushrooms themselves.
With the Psilocybin Alliance, we’ve reached out directly to the Oregon Health Authority with a plan for professionally licensed providers to be able to bill OHP for prep and integration sessions, which would also increase accessibility to those who normally couldn’t afford this.
All of this is happening right here in Bend, yet no one reached out for a comment?
“Those who were already familiar with psilocybin might rather eat a bag of mushrooms in the forest than in a room with four square walls, even if it doesn’t come with a talk session afterward.”
The introduction into this article paints a very distorted picture of what is provided for a psilocybin journey in a legal service center. I would invite you to reach out to any of the local ones in Bend to learn more on how we operate as well as get an idea of what each place maybe doing to create accessibility.
Legal access to psilocybin is overall a net positive. We should be discussing how to keep services center doors open.