Oregon Is Teaching the States How to Tax Psychedelic Mushrooms

Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher and Harvard researcher on the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs, once observed that spiritual journeys are highly personal and “can’t be organized or regulated.”

Oregon public health and revenue agencies are disproving Dass’s aphorism, creating a framework for the state’s first-in-the-nation program legalizing psilocybin-assisted therapy. While psilocybin remains a Schedule I drug under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, at least a dozen other states are monitoring Oregon and drafting their own plans to decriminalize psychedelic substances.

Oregon’s regulatory framework, which went live late last year, includes protocols for regulating and licensing manufacturers, service ...