Despite decades of stigma and legal barriers, recent years have brought a profound shift in attitudes towards psychedelics. Driven by scientific inquiry and a growing recognition of their potential therapeutic benefits, the benefits of psychedelics are being explored. In this blog post, we explore the impact of an unexpected catalyst driving progress in psychedelics research– the United States military. Breaking through stigma: psychedelic research resurgence For years, psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin languished under the shadow of stigma and legal restrictions. Scientific exploration and ..read more

Psilocybin’s therapeutic renaissance Once relegated to the realm of recreational drug use, psilocybin is now at the forefront of a discussion on the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. Arizona is the latest state to take up the discourse: its proposed Senate Bill 1570 (SB 1570) would establish licensed psychedelic-assisted therapy centers, and advance scientific research on the medicinal applications of psychedelic plants. SB 1570: Arizona’s legislative innovation Senate Bill 1570 was filed by a bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers back in January. It would authorize the State Dep ..read more

Many people struggling with treatment-resistant depression, which does not respond to at least two types of treatment, are finally experiencing relief with intravenous ketamine therapy. Hundreds of ketamine clinics have been popping up across the country in recent years, and researchers claim infusing or injecting the drug has the potential to treat a wide range of conditions that have been difficult to manage in the past. The treatment is still relatively new, so the legal landscape surrounding it is continuously developing. If you’re considering opening a ketamine clinic, you may be wonderin ..read more

Should private equity be involved in health care? If so, in what types of settings? And to what extent? These are baseline considerations around a broad concept referred to as “corporate practice of medicine” (“CPOM”) that state legislatures, agencies, medical licensing boards, courts and attorneys general and grappled with for over a century. The Oregon legislature is taking a hard look at CPOM today, under proposed House Bill 4130. Why does this matter to readers of the Psychedelics Law Blog? If this new law passes, it could drastically change the landscape for ketamine clinics and their man ..read more

As most people know by now, ketamine clinics are prevalent in the United States. These clinics offer ketamine as a treatment for a variety of disorders, including pain relief, behavioral health disorders, opiate addiction, and many other ailments. Unfortunately, there are not many studies that demonstrate whether ketamine is efficacious for these various ailments because, to my knowledge, there are no randomized double-blinded clinical trials for off-label use of ketamine. Because ketamine is an FDA-approved drug, physicians and other appropriately trained healthcare providers can prescribe ke ..read more

California recently failed at least twice in passing sweeping statewide psychedelic decriminalization bills: a) SB-58, which Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed last year, and b) SB-519, which didn’t garner enough support in the assembly the year before. It’s now trying something much more modest – convening a workgroup to study psychedelic assisted therapy. The bill at issue is AB-941. Assembly Member Marie Waldron originally proposed the bill last year as a bill to authorize licensed counselors to administer psychedelic assisted therapy. However, the bill was nearly completely rewritten in early Ja ..read more

On February 16, 2022 and October 10, 2023, the FDA issued two warnings about the use of compounded ketamine. The first warning is entitled, “FDA alerts health care professionals of potential risks associated with compounded ketamine nasal spray,” and the second warning is entitled, “FDA warns patients and health care providers about potential risks associated with compounded ketamine products, including oral formulations, for the treatment of psychiatric disorders”. While there is a lot of overlap between the two warnings, it is apparent that the first warning did not have the intended effect ..read more

It’s hard to believe that we are wrapping up the first year of the Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS) program. Final rules were released at this time last year, following a protracted, two-year development period. The application window for licenses opened timely on January 2, 2023, and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) continues to administer this novel program ably. Kudos to them for pulling it off. The program is small, but growing Early this year, I published an article that received a lot of attention titled “Oregon Psilocybin: Slow Start.” In that piece, I reported that as of January 23, O ..read more

A few months ago, I wrote a post entitled “Making Money in the Psychedelics Industry Will be Harder than Cannabis.” The post was focused mostly on hardships that state-legal psilocybin businesses will face in places like Oregon and Colorado, where I think the deck is heavily stacked against them. Today I want to examine a business model that, in some senses, faces even more hurdles than psilocybin businesses: ketamine clinic management services organizations (MSOs). Before getting into why MSOs face so many obstacles, it’s important to recognize that the ketamine industry is really nothing lik ..read more

Here’s to a relaxing holiday with family and friends. Enjoy the holiday! We will be back next week with our regular programming. The post Happy Thanksgiving from Psychedelics Law Blog! appeared first on Harris Sliwoski LLP (Formerly Harris Bricken ..read more