{"id":34640,"date":"2023-04-14T14:34:31","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T20:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/magic-mushroom-board-convenes-in-colorado-for-first-time\/"},"modified":"2023-04-14T20:34:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T20:34:31","slug":"magic-mushroom-board-convenes-in-colorado-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/magic-mushroom-board-convenes-in-colorado-for-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic mushroom board convenes in Colorado for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Psilocybin
Psilocybin mushrooms. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America, file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The 15-member panel that will oversee Colorado\u2019s framework for legalized access to psychedelic mushrooms convened for the first time Thursday, kicking off a whirlwind four-month process in which board members will make their initial set of recommendations to state regulators.<\/p>\n

The members of the Natural Medicine Advisory Board, who were confirmed by the state Senate last month, will work with Colorado\u2019s Department of Regulatory Agencies to implement the Natural Medicine Health Act, which Colorado voters passed last November<\/a> as Proposition 122. The law allows for licensed \u201chealing centers\u201d to provide access to psilocybin and psilocyn, the psychoactive compounds found in many species of fungi, for therapeutic purposes. It also decriminalized \u201cpersonal use\u201d of the substances.<\/p>\n

The law requires the panel to make a wide-ranging set of recommendations for the program\u2019s implementation \u2013 from the content of training programs and licensing for facilitators to equity safeguards and public education campaigns \u2013 no later than Sept. 30. A full set of rules for the licensing program, clearing the way for the healing centers to operate legally, will be finalized next year.<\/p>\n

In Thursday\u2019s inaugural meeting, Karen McGovern, the program director for DORA, briefed the new board members on the state\u2019s administrative procedures, including compliance with open-meetings laws and ethics rules.<\/p>\n

Katina Banks, a Denver attorney who previously served on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, was named as the board\u2019s chairwoman on McGovern\u2019s recommendation. Joshua Goodwin, an Aurora psychologist and former Air Force officer who founded a behavioral health services company for military veterans and their families, will serve as vice chairman.<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of the Natural Medicine Advisory Board and staff from Colorado\u2019s Department of Regulatory Agencies convened for the board\u2019s first meeting on April 13, 2023. (Screenshot via Zoom)<\/span>Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Advocates for the use of psychedelic substances, including many veterans, point to research showing that psychedelic substances can be effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. The federal Food and Drug Administration has twice designated psilocybin as a \u201cbreakthrough therapy<\/a>\u201d for the treatment of major depressive disorder.<\/p>\n

With the September deadline looming, board members approved a proposal put forward by DORA staff for six standing subcommittees on the following topics:<\/p>\n

Public Health and Health Equity.<\/div>\n
Indigenous and Religious Use.<\/div>\n
Harm Reduction and Public Safety.<\/div>\n
Products, Research and Data.<\/div>\n
Emergency Response, Safety and Ethics.<\/div>\n
Qualifications, Licensing and Training.<\/div>\n

The approval of Proposition 122 made Colorado the second state, after Oregon, to decriminalize the use of psychedelic mushrooms. DORA officials told lawmakers last month that 226 people applied for the advisory board before Gov. Jared Polis named the 15 appointees in January.<\/p>\n

Clarissa Pinkola Est\u00e9s, an Indigenous author and psychologist and a member of the new board, expressed hope that the board would take a \u201cholistic\u201d approach to its regulatory work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about medicine that has been given to all of us since the beginning of time,\u201d Est\u00e9s said. \u201cYou mentioned D.E.I. \u2013 diversity, equity (and inclusion). There\u2019s one other element, and it\u2019s coming up from the young people \u2013 and it\u2019s B., belonging. Welcoming. Being not transactional but relational. That\u2019s what I would hope for, for our board.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State-appointed panel must make wide-ranging set of recommendations on legalization program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[94,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34640"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}