Psilocybin in Oregon and Colorado: the legal programs

Oregon and Colorado are the two US states where an adult can take psilocybin in a setting the state licenses and inspects. Both programs came from ballot measures, both are open to visitors from other states, and neither requires a prescription. They work quite differently from a ceremony, a retreat or a clinical trial, and they don’t make psilocybin legal everywhere in those states.

This guide describes how each program works, based on the state agencies’ own pages and the laws behind them. It was checked on 2026-10-08. This is not legal advice. Both programs are still changing their rules, and federal law hasn’t changed: psilocybin remains a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Check the agency pages linked below before you rely on any detail here.

Oregon: Measure 109

Oregon voters approved Measure 109 in November 2020, by about 56 percent to 44 percent. It’s now written into state law as ORS 475A, and it directs the Oregon Health Authority to license and regulate the making, testing and sale of psilocybin products and the provision of psilocybin services. The state began taking license applications on 2 January 2023, and the first service centers opened to clients that summer.

The Oregon Health Authority issues four kinds of license: manufacturer, service center, facilitator and laboratory. Workers at licensed businesses need a separate permit. Under the measure, cities and counties could ask their voters to ban psilocybin businesses locally, so service centers aren’t spread evenly across the state.

How a client goes through the Oregon program

You must be 21 or older. You don’t need to live in Oregon, and you don’t need a prescription, a diagnosis or a referral. The program has three parts.

A preparation session with a licensed facilitator. This covers informed consent, a client bill of rights, your accessibility needs, a safety and support plan and a plan for getting home. You fill in a standard client information form.
An administration session at a licensed service center. This is the only time and place you may buy and take psilocybin products. You can’t take any product home. You have to stay at the center for a minimum time that depends on the dose, and group sessions must keep to set ratios of facilitators to clients.
Follow-up. The facilitator must contact you within 72 hours and offer an integration session, which is optional.

The state lists some reasons a person may be found ineligible, including thoughts of harming yourself or others, having taken lithium within the past 30 days, and ever having been diagnosed with active psychosis. Answers on the form can also mean you need an authorized support person with you during the session. Facilitators may decline to serve anyone, for any reason.

The state doesn’t set prices. Each service center and facilitator sets its own, so ask for a full price in writing that covers the preparation session, the product, the administration session and any integration.

Psilocybin outside the Oregon program

Measure 109 legalized psilocybin only inside the licensed system. Outside it, psilocybin is still a controlled substance under Oregon law. A separate 2020 measure, Measure 110, had reduced possession of small amounts of drugs to a violation, but the legislature reversed that in 2024: under House Bill 4002, possession became a misdemeanor again from 1 September 2024. An unlicensed “ceremony” in Oregon is not part of the legal program, however it’s advertised.

What Oregon’s data shows so far

Since 2025, Oregon service centers have had to collect and report anonymous data on their clients, and the state publishes it on a public dashboard. Researchers have also started following clients. A study published in JAMA Network Open in 2026 followed 346 people who used 24 of Oregon’s licensed service centers. Four participants (1.2 percent) had a serious behavioral reaction that needed medical attention. All four had no prior psychedelic experience and had existing mental health conditions, and the facilitators recorded only one of the four during the session. About 2 percent agreed at three months that the experience had been harmful to them.

The researchers also reported that symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD were lower at follow-up, but the study had no comparison group, so it can’t show that psilocybin caused the change. Participants were mostly white, college educated and well off, and made up about 5 percent of people using the program, so the results may not hold for everyone.

Colorado: Proposition 122

Colorado voters approved Proposition 122, the Natural Medicine Health Act, in November 2022, by about 54 percent to 46 percent. It did two separate things.

First, it removed state criminal penalties for adults 21 and over who use, possess, grow or transport certain “natural medicines” for personal use. These are psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline. Peyote is deliberately left out. The measure doesn’t allow retail sales.

Second, it set up a regulated program in which licensed facilitators provide natural medicine services at licensed healing centers. Two agencies share the work. The Department of Regulatory Agencies licenses facilitators, and the Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division licenses healing centers, cultivators, manufacturers and testing labs. Facilitator licensing opened in December 2024.

How a client goes through the Colorado program

As in Oregon, services have three parts: a preparation session, an administration session in which you take the substance under a facilitator’s supervision, and an integration session. Under the original measure, licensed centers could offer only psilocybin and psilocin until at least June 2026, after which the state’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board could recommend adding DMT, ibogaine or mescaline. We couldn’t confirm from the state’s own pages whether anything had been added by October 2026, so ask a healing center which substances it is licensed to offer. The state was also still revising its rules on sessions, dosing, reporting of adverse health events, and sessions held at approved locations outside a healing center.

Colorado has several levels of facilitator license. A standard facilitator has to complete a state-approved training program of at least 150 hours, covering topics that include ethics, boundaries and physical touch, drug interactions, trauma, suicide risk and screening, plus supervised practice. A clinical facilitator also holds a Colorado license in a field such as psychology, social work, counseling, nursing or medicine. In 2025, the legislature passed Senate Bill 25-297, which among other things asks the state health department to collect data on the health effects of natural medicine use.

How the state programs differ from a ceremony

You don’t need to share anyone’s beliefs. These are regulated services, and the paperwork, consent forms and rules apply whatever the setting looks like.
Products are tested and labeled, so you can know what you’re taking and in what amount.
Facilitators are licensed and can be disciplined, and you can file a complaint with the state.
There are written screening rules and a required plan for getting home safely.
The programs don’t include other substances, so you won’t be offered a second medicine on day two.

A license is still only a minimum. Some licensed facilitators are very experienced and some are new, and the setting can be anything from a clinic room to a retreat house. Screening, consent and aftercare still vary, so the questions in our guide to choosing a center apply here too.

How to check a license

Before you book, confirm that the business and the person are licensed:

In Oregon, the Oregon Health Authority publishes a licensee directory and a separate search for license and worker permit status, and takes complaints online.
In Colorado, the Division of Professions and Occupations has a license lookup for facilitators and a complaint process, and publishes a consumer guide.

If someone in either state offers you psilocybin “outside the system,” or tells you a license isn’t needed because it’s a ceremony or a church, you’re no longer in the regulated program, and none of its protections apply.

Other states

New Mexico passed a Medical Psilocybin Act in 2025, signed on 7 April 2025. Unlike the Oregon and Colorado programs, it is a medical program, and the law requires the state to have it running by 31 December 2027. Several cities around the country have also made natural psychedelics a low priority for police, which is different from making them legal. Other states have considered bills, and this changes often.