Latest news with #Proposition122
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Center Origin Becomes the First Licensed Psychedelic Healing Center in Colorado
Pioneering the Future of Psychedelic Therapy in the State DENVER, April 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center Origin proudly announces its official licensure as the first psychedelic healing center in the state of Colorado. This milestone marks a historic moment in the advancement of accessible, emerging psychedelic-assisted services following the passage of Proposition 122, which decriminalized psilocybin and paved the way for regulated therapeutic use. The Center Origin is dedicated to offering safe, guided psychedelic experiences facilitated by trained professionals in a controlled and supportive environment. With a mission to provide transformative growth, the center will serve individuals seeking relief from conditions such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, and end-of-life distress, among other mental health challenges. Additionally, The Center Origin recognizes that psychedelic experiences can be profoundly beneficial beyond clinical needs, offering services for individuals seeking self-expansion, self-actualization, and personal growth. "We are honored to lead the way in bringing regulated psychedelic services to Colorado," said Elizabeth Cooke, Co-Founder and CEO of The Center Origin. "This licensure represents not only a major step forward in mental health treatment and individual and community healing, but also a commitment to safety, education, and responsible care for those exploring the therapeutic and transformative potential of psychedelics." The Center Origin's services include preparation, guided administration, and integration as well as microdosing support to ensure a comprehensive and ethical healing process. Additionally, The Center Origin's Co-Founder and Clinical Director, Mikki Vogt, LPC LAC NMCF, in partnership with several DORA-approved didactic training programs, has designed and developed a practicum training program, making The Center Origin a premier Colorado-based practicum site. Her clinical programs also include consultation services to Facilitators in Training and those seeking ongoing professional development. In addition, the center offers monthly professional case conferences, a variety of ongoing provider trainings for continued professional development, and a referral network of facilitators for clients to choose from. As part of the Center Origin's value of psychedelic community, events such as weekly integration circles, a psychedelic book club, and mycology classes are available for both clients and facilitators to participate. Mikki Vogt also provides educational presentations to community organizations and medical and mental health practices providing an overview of Colorado's regulated model and a deep dive into the various ways to integrate these approaches into the healthcare continuum. Committed to accessibility and convenience, The Center Origin provides comprehensive in-house support to facilitators working with center clients and offers basic room rental services for facilitators bringing their own clients. The center is fully equipped with essential facilitator tools, equipment, and resources to ensure a seamless therapeutic process. Additionally, clients are provided with thoughtfully crafted comfort items, including food and drinks, personalized gifts, and small luxuries to enhance their journey. Every aspect of the space has been designed with intention, ensuring an optimal and supportive environment from start to finish. The center operates with strict adherence to state regulations and prioritizes client and provider safety and well-being in every aspect of care. With this licensure, The Center Origin is positioned as a leader in the emerging field of psychedelic services and therapy, fostering a new era of holistic health care in Colorado and beyond. For media inquiries, interviews, or more information, please contact: Elizabeth CookeCo-Founder and CEOThe Center Origin303.284.4246info@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Center Origin, LLC
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Colorado psychedelic mushroom experiment has arrived
This is a . Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state's first "healing centers," where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer. The dawn of state-regulated psychedelic mushrooms has arrived in Colorado, nearly two years since Oregon began offering them. The mushrooms are a Schedule I drug and illegal under federal law except for clinical research. But more than a dozen cities nationwide have deprioritized or decriminalized them in the past five years, and many eyes are turned toward Oregon's and Colorado's state-regulated programs. "In Oregon and Colorado, we're going to learn a lot about administration of psychedelics outside of clinical, religious and underground settings because they're the first to try this in the U.S.," said William R. Smith, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. MORE: Mom says microdosing mushrooms makes her a 'present' parent Psychedelic mushrooms and their psychoactive compound psilocybin have the potential to treat people with depression and anxiety, including those unresponsive to other medications or therapy. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, says the risk of mental health problems caused by ingesting mushrooms in a supervised clinical setting is low, but may be higher outside of a clinical setting. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a social media post last year, before his nomination as U.S. health secretary, that his "mind is open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment." Medical experts say more research is needed, particularly in people with a diagnosis or family history of psychotic or bipolar disorder. Adverse effects of psilocybin, including headache and nausea, typically resolve within one to two days. However, extended difficulties from using psychedelics can last weeks, months or years; anxiety and fear, existential struggle, social disconnection and feeling detached from oneself and one's surroundings are most common. After the decriminalization and legalization in Oregon and Colorado, psychedelic mushroom exposures reported to poison control centers ticked up in these states and nationally. In February, about 40 people organized by the psychedelic advocacy group the Nowak Society gathered in Boulder to talk about the coming changes in Colorado. They included Mandy Grace, who received her state license to administer psychedelic mushrooms, and Amanda Clark, a licensed mental health counselor from Denver, who both praised the therapeutic power of mushrooms. "You get discouraged in your practice because the current therapies are not enough for people," Clark said. Colorado voters approved Proposition 122 in 2022 to legalize natural psychedelics, after Oregon voters in 2020 approved legalizing psilocybin for therapeutic use. Colorado's program is modeled after, but not the same as, Oregon's, under which 21,246 psilocybin products have been sold as of March, a total that could include secondary doses, according to the Oregon Health Authority. As of mid-March, Colorado has received applications for at least 15 healing center licenses, nine cultivation licenses, four manufacturer licenses and one testing facility license for growing and preparing the mushrooms, under rules developed over two years by the governor-appointed Natural Medicine Advisory Board. Psychedelic treatments in Oregon are expensive, and are likely to be so in Colorado, too, said Tasia Poinsatte, Colorado director of the nonprofit Healing Advocacy Fund, which supports state-regulated programs for psychedelic therapy. In Oregon, psychedelic mushroom sessions are typically $1,000 to $3,000, are not covered by insurance, and must be paid for up front. MORE: Australia will allow prescription MDMA and magic mushrooms for some people with mental illness The mushrooms themselves are not expensive, Poinsatte said, but a facilitator's time and support services are costly, and there are state fees. In Colorado, for doses over 2 milligrams, facilitators will screen participants at least 24 hours in advance, then supervise the session in which the participant consumes and experiences mushrooms, lasting several hours, plus a later meeting to integrate the experience. Facilitators, who may not have experience with mental health emergencies, need training in screening, informed consent, and post-session monitoring, Smith said. "Because these models are new, we need to gather data from Colorado and Oregon to ensure safety." Facilitators generally pay a $420 training fee, which allows them to pursue the necessary consultation hours, and roughly $900 a year for a license, and healing centers pay $3,000 to $6,000 for initial licenses in Colorado. But the up-front cost for facilitators is significant: The required 150 hours in a state-accredited program and 80 hours of hands-on training can cost $10,000 or more, and Clark said she wouldn't pursue a facilitator license due to the prohibitive time and cost. To increase affordability for patients in Colorado, Poinsatte said, healing centers plan to offer sliding-scale pay options, as well as discounts for veterans, Medicaid enrollees and those with low incomes. Group sessions are another option to lower costs. Colorado law does not allow retail sales of psilocybin, unlike cannabis, which can be sold both recreationally and medically in the state. But it allows adults 21 and older to grow, use and share psychedelic mushrooms for personal use. Despite the retail ban, adjacent businesses have mushroomed. Inside the warehouse and laboratory of Activated Brands in Arvada, brown bags of sterilized grains such as corn, millet and sorghum, as well as plastic bags of soil substrate are for sale, along with genetic materials and ready-to-grow kits. Co-founder Sean Winfield sells these supplies for growing psychedelic or functional mushrooms such as lion's mane to people hoping to grow their own at home. Soon, Activated Brands will host cultivation and education classes for the public, Winfield said. Winfield and co-founder Shawn Cox recently hosted a psychedelic potluck at which experts studying and cultivating psychedelic mushrooms discussed genetics, extraction and specialized equipment. Psychedelic mushrooms have a long history in Indigenous cultures, and provisions for their use in spiritual, cultural or religious ceremonies are included in Colorado law, along with recognition of the cultural harm that could occur to federally recognized tribes and Indigenous people if natural medicine is overly commercialized or exploited. Several studies over the past five years have shown the long-term benefits of psilocybin for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, and the Food and Drug Administration designated it a breakthrough therapy. Late-stage trials, often a precursor to application for FDA approval, are underway. Smith said psilocybin is a promising tool for treating mental health disorders but has not yet been shown to be better than other advanced treatments. Joshua Woolley, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California-San Francisco, said he has seen the benefits of psilocybin as an investigator in clinical trials. "People can change hard-set habits. They can become unstuck. They can see things in new ways," he said of treating patients with a combination of psilocybin and psychotherapy. Colorado, unlike Oregon, allows integration of psilocybin into existing mental health and medical practices with a clinical facilitator license, and through micro-healing centers that are more limited in the amounts of mushrooms they can store. Still, Woolley said, between the federal ban and new state laws for psychedelics, this is uncharted territory. Most drugs used to treat mental health disorders are regulated by the FDA, something that Colorado is "taking into its own hands" by setting up its own program to regulate manufacturing and administration of psilocybin. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado declined to comment on its policy toward state-regulated psychedelic programs or personal use provisions, but Poinsatte hopes the same federal hands-off approach to marijuana will be taken for psilocybin in Oregon and Colorado. Winfield said he looks forward to the upcoming rollout and potential addition of other plant psychedelics, such as mescaline. "We're talking about clandestine industries coming into the light," he said. The Colorado psychedelic mushroom experiment has arrived originally appeared on
CBS News
19-03-2025
- Health
- CBS News
The Colorado psychedelic mushroom experiment has arrived
Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state's first "healing centers," where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer. The dawn of state-regulated psychedelic mushrooms has arrived in Colorado, nearly two years since Oregon began offering them . The mushrooms are a Schedule I drug and illegal under federal law except for clinical research. But more than a dozen cities nationwide have deprioritized or decriminalized them in the past five years, and many eyes are turned toward Oregon's and Colorado's state-regulated programs. "In Oregon and Colorado, we're going to learn a lot about administration of psychedelics outside of clinical, religious, and underground settings because they're the first to try this in the U.S.," said William R. Smith, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Psychedelic mushrooms and their psychoactive compound psilocybin have the potential to treat people with depression and anxiety , iincluding those unresponsive to other medications or therapy. The National Institute on Drug Abuse , part of the National Institutes of Health, says the risk of mental health problems caused by ingesting mushrooms in a supervised clinical setting is low, but may be higher outside of a clinical setting. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a social media post last year, before his nomination as U.S. health secretary, that his "mind is open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment." Medical experts say more research is needed, particularly in people with a diagnosis or family history of psychotic or bipolar disorder. Adverse effects of psilocybin, including headache and nausea, typically resolve within one to two days . However, extended difficulties from using psychedelics can last weeks, months, or years; anxiety and fear, existential struggle, social disconnection, and feeling detached from oneself and one's surroundings are most common . After the decriminalization and legalization in Oregon and Colorado, psychedelic mushroom exposures reported to poison control centers ticked up in these states and nationally. In February, about 40 people organized by the psychedelic advocacy group the Nowak Society gathered in Boulder to talk about the coming changes in Colorado. They included Mandy Grace, who received her state license to administer psychedelic mushrooms, and Amanda Clark, a licensed mental health counselor from Denver, who both praised the therapeutic power of mushrooms. "You get discouraged in your practice because the current therapies are not enough for people," Clark said. Colorado voters approved Proposition 122 in 2022 to legalize natural psychedelics , after Oregon voters in 2020 approved legalizing psilocybin for therapeutic use. Colorado's program is modeled after, but not the same as, Oregon's, under which 21,246 psilocybin products have been sold as of March, a total that could include secondary doses, according to the Oregon Health Authority. As of mid-March, Colorado has received applications for at least 15 healing center licenses, nine cultivation licenses, four manufacturer licenses, and one testing facility license for growing and preparing the mushrooms, under rules developed over two years by the governor-appointed Natural Medicine Advisory Board. Psychedelic treatments in Oregon are expensive, and are likely to be so in Colorado, too, said Tasia Poinsatte, Colorado director of the nonprofit Healing Advocacy Fund, which supports state-regulated programs for psychedelic therapy. In Oregon, psychedelic mushroom sessions are typically $1,000 to $3,000, are not covered by insurance, and must be paid for up front. The mushrooms themselves are not expensive, Poinsatte said, but a facilitator's time and support services are costly, and there are state fees. In Colorado, for doses over 2 milligrams, facilitators will screen participants at least 24 hours in advance, then supervise the session in which the participant consumes and experiences mushrooms, lasting several hours, plus a later meeting to integrate the experience. Facilitators, who may not have experience with mental health emergencies, need training in screening, informed consent, and postsession monitoring, Smith said. "Because these models are new, we need to gather data from Colorado and Oregon to ensure safety." Facilitators generally pay a $420 training fee, which allows them to pursue the necessary consultation hours, and roughly $900 a year for a license, and healing centers pay $3,000 to $6,000 for initial licenses in Colorado. But the up-front cost for facilitators is significant: The required 150 hours in a state-accredited program and 80 hours of hands-on training can cost $10,000 or more, and Clark said she wouldn't pursue a facilitator license due to the prohibitive time and cost. To increase affordability for patients in Colorado, Poinsatte said, healing centers plan to offer sliding-scale pay options, and discounts for veterans, Medicaid enrollees, and those with low incomes. Group sessions are another option to lower costs. Colorado law does not allow retail sales of psilocybin, unlike cannabis, which can be sold both recreationally and medically in the state. But it allows adults 21 and older to grow, use, and share psychedelic mushrooms for personal use. Despite the retail ban, adjacent businesses have mushroomed. Inside the warehouse and laboratory of Activated Brands in Arvada, brown bags of sterilized grains such as corn, millet, and sorghum and plastic bags of soil substrate are for sale, along with genetic materials and ready-to-grow kits. Co-founder Sean Winfield sells these supplies for growing psychedelic or functional mushrooms such as lion's mane to people hoping to grow their own at home. Soon, Activated Brands will host cultivation and education classes for the public, Winfield said. Winfield and co-founder Shawn Cox recently hosted a psychedelic potluck at which experts studying and cultivating psychedelic mushrooms discussed genetics, extraction, and specialized equipment. Psychedelic mushrooms have a long history in Indigenous cultures, and provisions for their use in spiritual, cultural, or religious ceremonies are included in Colorado law, along with recognition of the cultural harm that could occur to federally recognized tribes and Indigenous people if natural medicine is overly commercialized or exploited. Several studies over the past five years have shown the long-term benefits of psilocybin for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder , and the Food and Drug Administration designated it a breakthrough therapy . Late-stage trials, often a precursor to application for FDA approval, are underway. Smith said psilocybin is a promising tool for treating mental health disorders but has not yet been shown to be better than other advanced treatments. Joshua Woolley, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California-San Francisco, said he has seen the benefits of psilocybin as an investigator in clinical trials. "People can change hard-set habits. They can become unstuck. They can see things in new ways," he said of treating patients with a combination of psilocybin and psychotherapy. Colorado, unlike Oregon, allows integration of psilocybin into existing mental health and medical practices with a clinical facilitator license, and through micro-healing centers that are more limited in the amounts of mushrooms they can store. Still, Woolley said, between the federal ban and new state laws for psychedelics, this is uncharted territory. Most drugs used to treat mental health disorders are regulated by the FDA, something that Colorado is "taking into its own hands" by setting up its own program to regulate manufacturing and administration of psilocybin. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado declined to comment on its policy toward state-regulated psychedelic programs or personal use provisions, but Poinsatte hopes the same federal hands-off approach to marijuana will be taken for psilocybin in Oregon and Colorado. Winfield said he looks forward to the upcoming rollout and potential addition of other plant psychedelics, such as mescaline. "We're talking about clandestine industries coming into the light," he said. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
