DENVER — Colorado will soon become the second state — after Oregon — to launch a psychedelic therapy program.
The state will begin accepting applications from those wanting to provide psychedelic therapy services on Dec. 31. The first healing centers — where psychedelics will be administered — are expected to open in June 2025.
Voters approved the legalization of certain psychedelic mushrooms in Nov. 2022.
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Prop. 122: Colorado voters to decide on psychedelic substances
Mikki Vogt, a licensed therapist in Littleton, plans to be one of the first to apply for a license that will allow her to provide psychedelic mushrooms to her clients.
“I am eager for the huge impact this will have on the health and wellness of our communities,” said Vogt. “The legalization of psychedelic therapy in Colorado is a game changer for therapists like myself who are constantly searching for more ways to help our clients heal from debilitating conditions like depression, anxiety, addiction and PTSD.”
Erica Messinger, a registered nurse in Dolores in southwest Colorado, also plans to provide psychedelic therapy services. She expects the program to benefit rural Coloradans who often lack resources.
“As a rural health care provider, I'm all too familiar with the serious and deadly mental health crisis in Colorado's rural communities,” said Messinger. “I'm tired of seeing people in my community struggle with anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders, PTSD, and many other conditions even though they are trying their best to heal with available therapies and modalities available to them. Psychedelic therapy to me presents a new hope for Coloradans who continue to suffer from debilitating conditions, treatable conditions, despite our best efforts to help them find relief.”
Psychedelic mushrooms will have to be consumed under supervision in healing centers.
Local governments can’t ban the healing centers, but some are restricting where they can be located. Colorado Springs passed a measure last week to keep them at least one mile from schools and daycares.
“I, for one, do not feel very comfortable with being on the cutting edge, maybe even the bleeding edge, with how to experiment with this in the community,” said Colorado Springs City Councilman Brian Risley. “So, I feel pretty strongly that we should exercise our ability to enact some zoning requirements.”
Taylor West, executive director of Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit that has advocated for psychedelic therapy programs in Oregon and Colorado, said it was disappointing to see Colorado Springs officials pass the measure.
“[They’re] sort of reacting without really considering the needs of their community,” West said. “We know that there's a significant veterans population in Colorado Springs, and those are folks who have some of the most dramatic needs for this kind of work.”
Jessica Campbell, an Arapahoe County commissioner, said she hopes local officials will come around.
“I would just encourage my colleagues who are still looking at this to set aside any sort of previous notions or biases that they have about these kinds of medications and therapy and healing, and look at the benefit that it can provide, the safety,” said Campbell.
Psychedelic mushrooms were also decriminalized by Denver voters in 2019, however like marijuana, they remain illegal under federal law. But advocates say it’s likely the federal government won’t enforce it.
“With a new administration coming in, it's hard to have a definitive answer for that,” West said. “I think generally our expectation is that these programs will be handled in something of the way that cannabis programs have been handled, that as long as the state is providing significant oversight and working within the borders of the state, that that will be left to the discretion of regulators in the state of Colorado.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, said his mind is “open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment.”
“People ought to have the freedom and the liberty to experiment with these hallucinogens to overcome debilitating disorders,” Kennedy said in a post on Instagram in September.
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