This is what MG magazine thinks
Twenty-five years after Colorado legalized medical cannabis and a decade since greenlighting adult-use sales, the Centennial State made history again as one of the first to legalize psychedelics. The passage of the Natural Medicine Regulation and Legalization bill in May 2023, however, created more questions than answers—first and foremost, what the emerging legal psychedelics industry will look like and how it will be regulated.
Anyone who followed the ups and downs of the so-called “’shroom boom” that’s been driving psychedelics investment and research in recent years may also be wondering how to get on board. Frequently asked questions include whether entrepreneurs will be able to hold both cannabis and psychedelics licenses.
Another question is whether medical cannabis founders will have an advantage in what looks to be a highly medicalized market for psilocybin and other “natural medicines” pending regulatory approval: dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, and non-peyote-derived mescaline.
As an attorney who has represented cannabis businesses since 2014, I predict most of the current questions about the nascent psychedelics industry share a common answer: Natural medicines will be regulated much like the Colorado medical cannabis market. The Centennial State’s medical roots offer a vital legal structure not only in Colorado but also eventually in other state and national markets.
Oregon is also an early leader in the legal psychedelics space — the first state to legalize therapeutic psilocybin in 2020, with the first licensed psilocybin clinic opening three years later. In the Beaver State, as in Colorado and other states like California that are contemplating opening a legalized psychedelics market, cannabis is the closest analog to psychedelics to which regulators and legislators can refer.
The modeling of a new market on its closest predecessor is already tried and true. After all, the Colorado medical cannabis market certainly didn’t materialize from thin air. Rather, Colorado’s policies were modeled, partially, on existing regulations for other highly regulated product categories like tobacco and alcohol, as well as traditional agriculture. Meanwhile, other states like Wyoming and Texas have tiptoed into medical cannabis with restrictive laws on THC content and permitted product formats.
Read the full article at
