The owner of a southern Oregon magic mushroom facilitator school has started legal proceedings against the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) for violating her constitutional rights and the antitrust laws with their licensing requirements.
Myco-Method School Should be Exempt on Religious Grounds
Shasta Winn is the owner of Myco-Method, a psilocybin (magic mushroom) facilitating school. The HECC has indicated that it will revoke the school’s license unless the owner meets certain requirements, but Winn claims the school should be exempt on religious grounds.
Winn’s problems began when the HECC’s licensing authority over private career schools was extended to include psilocybin facilitator training programs. Since Myco-Method obtained approval to train psilocybin guides last year in March, 20 students have completed the course. Instead of one licensing fee for the school, the HECC now requires $5,000 for each instructor.
Winn says her school has not been designed for profit. She says the Myco-Method is an affiliation of the religious group, Saba Cooperative, that is not motivated by profit and should be exempted on religious grounds for the licensing fees demanded by the HECC. She says all HECC requirements involve changing most of the Myco-Method design structure.
Prior to the $5,000 licensing fee requirement, Winn says the HECC told her that her school did not have sufficient reserve capital to warrant its license. Once the HECC had clarified its working capital requirements, Winn faced the new licensing challenge of paying $5,000 for each instructor rather than a set fee for the entire school.
Winn explains that Myco-Method does not operate from the premises of a physical school. Instead, it holds retreats and in-person training at a variety of southern Oregon locations, including Ashland.
Winn’s petition for exemption on religious grounds has been denied, and the OHA has indicated that Myco-Method could lose its license this summer. Winn says she is pessimistic about the legal framework created to regulate the use of psilocybin in Oregon.
She believes that psilocybin has the potential to change people on a personal level, making the world a better place in which to live. ” However, she is skeptical of that change happening if the magic mushroom industry becomes subject to ‘corrupt, money-driven aggression.’
At this stage, neither the OHA nor the HECC have responded to requests for comment, and Winn has been given until early July to request an administrative hearing. Winn says she will make use of that opportunity if the legal suits against the agencies are still pending.
Takeaway
Myco-Method received approval to train guides as part of Measure 109, the regulatory framework regulating the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms in the state. Since that time, the Oregon health Authority (OHA) has approved 20-plus psilocybin facilitating schools.
