Shroom House Shuttered, Surprising No One.
When Oregon voters approved Measure 109, they voted for state-regulated access to psilocybin that is administered in a state-licensed center. In other words, voters authorized safe, effective, and equitable access to psilocybin treatment. Unsurprisingly then, confusion arose when Shroom House opened its doors in West Burnside in late October, selling magic mushrooms, with funny names like “Penis Envy” and “Knobby Tops.”
But here’s the problem: Selling magic mushrooms is super illegal. You can’t sell it in a storefront, or out of a van, or from your studio apartment in the Pearl District. So, predictably, early last week the Portland Police Bureau's Narcotics and Organized Crime unit kicked in the doors, seized the mushrooms and the money, and hauled people off to jail. Now the operators of the shop are being charged with about 20 felony counts, including distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. Like we said, super illegal.
As State Senator Elizabeth Steiner explained to a local NBC affiliate: “This is 100% what was not intended with Measure 109 … I don’t think I can be any clearer than that. The therapeutic psilocybin will be administered by trained facilitators in a secured location with supervision, with controlled dosing and with appropriate therapeutic support for the person who is getting treatment, and that’s completely different."
You might still be wondering, though—what exactly is the difference between Shroom House and the facilities that voters authorized under Measure 109, which voters passed in 2020 to allow access to psilocybin-assisted treatment? *Spoiler Alert*: Nothing about Measure 109—or current Oregon law—allows Shroom House to exist.
Retail sales:
Measure 109 or current Oregon law: Explicitly prohibits the retail sale of psilocybin.
Shroom House: Sold magic mushrooms in a retail shop.
Licenced Service Center:
Measure 109: Requires psilocybin to be administered at a state-licensed service center.
Shroom House: No state license—and not a service center.
Licensed Facilitator:
Measure 109: Requires psilocybin be administered by a trained and state- licensed facilitator.
Shroom House: No state-licensed facilitator. In fact, no facilitator at all.
Licensed Manufacturer:
Measure 109: Requires psilocybin be manufactured at a state-licensed facility by a state-licensed manufacturer.
Shroom House: No state-licensed manufacturer. No state-licensed manufacturing facility.
TL;DR: Shroom House (RIP) had nothing to do with Measure 109. It sold magic mushrooms in a retail store (illegal) that were not produced by a state-licensed manufacturer in a state-licensed facility (also illegal) and did not involve a state-licensed facilitator (super required under Measure 109) or a state-licensed facility (also super required!).
And that’s the difference between Shroom House and Measure 109. The latter provides for safe, effective and equitable—not to mention legal—access to psilocybin assisted therapy. To ensure these objectives are met, Measure 109 subjects access to psilocybin therapy to several important safety guardrails:
The retail sale of psilocybin is prohibited, and only individuals who are 21 years or older are allowed to undergo psilocybin therapy.
The psilocybin used in therapy must be produced by a state-licensed producer, and it must be safety tested in a licensed laboratory and tracked in a state database.
Only state-licensed facilitators who have undergone specialized training and passed a licensing exam are allowed to administer psilocybin treatment.
The treatment itself can only take place in a state-licensed facility.
There is an expert panel that includes physicians and researchers that advise state health regulators on the rules and regulations surrounding the licensing and implementation of psilocybin-assisted therapy in Oregon.
Getting it right takes time. So Portlanders—and the rest of us—will need to wait until about this time next year before they can access psilocybin-assisted therapy.
