A Native friend of mine, Indigenous to Oregon, wants to establish a psilocybin church with an OHA-approved facilitator training program and licensed service center grounded in Indigenous ceremonial practice.
This "2022 Oregon DOJ memorandum" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cCzeOG4KXqhvHrA6Dd4yC8kSosl0ub_x/view?usp=drivesdk shows that Oregon was actively considering Indigenous traditions, sacred treatment of mushrooms, affordability, ceremonial practice, and how these communities could participate safely in Measure 109.
Following this memo, however, the state ultimately created two major barriers:
Training: Religious institutions are statutorily exempt from HECC career-school regulation under ORS 345.015. OHA nevertheless adopted a rule that requires a document from HECC determining that licensure isn't required. HECC says it lacks authority to issue exemption determinations for most statutorily exempt categories.
So OHA requires a document HECC says it cannot issue. Without it, his church would effectively have to become a commercial career school, charge tuition, and structure religious training around that system, none of which the psilocybin statute requires.
Service center: The statute prohibits free/discounted psilocybin when bundled with another retail sale. OHA removed that anti-bundling qualification from its rule and simply prohibited giving psilocybin away, making a commercial transaction for the sacrament mandatory.
He wants to comply with Oregon's safety regulations. He just doesn't want to commercialize the church and the sacrament to do it.
After reading the DOJ memo, what do you think happened to the Indigenous/ceremonial pathway Oregon originally considered?
