This has been a big month.
The FDA held their first public hearing regarding Psychedelic Drug Therapy on the 14th of September. There were 80 individuals that came from all over the country to speak about the implications of these drugs. Researchers, providers, patients and advocates all spoke on their experience and ideas for implementation. September 15th & 16th Oregon License holders and supporters filled two days of public comments on why we shouldn’t raise the fees on Oregonians for using our states world first Psilocybin Service. This morning September 22nd Oregon Health Authority confirmed they will be pulling the fee increases. No rule making will occur.
If you participated in any of these take a moment to appreciate that. And then keep reading because there is a reason we want you to help us with one more thing.
A Month that changed everything
We talked about how this field needs an association back in August. One Facilitator talking to your state senator is just a constituent. 1000 Facilitators talking to your state senator with one message is something they will have to pay attention to. There are so many constituents in your state house that one voice will get lost. Many voices will stand out.
This past month showed that.
When OHA decided to pull the rule making on raising the fees. It wasn’t because one person submitted a well crafted public comment. Its because there were many people who took the time to show they cared about this topic. We saw Facilitators, Service Centers, Clients, Researchers and Advocates step forward and share their experience with the use of Psilocybin. Other organizations helped by submitting mass comments and advocating for each other. OHA even mentioned the participants when announcing they were going to pull the rule making. They mentioned “many participants expressed their dedication to providing safe, effective and equitable psilocybin services in Oregon.” That’s you. Your dedication helped win this battle.
Similar things happened with the FDA Hearing. There were 80 speakers that day but only a few of them could represent what we do in our State regulated programs. Our field was under represented. There are many rule making that will come from that hearing and we want to make sure our voices are heard.
What this means and what we need from you
Our field can change rules when we work together. This month just showed us that. But we need more of our community involved. The majority of our facilitators that are working with clients in the healing space are not as active as we need them to be. Many of the new facilitators that have finished training haven’t started practicing yet. There are so many moving parts to becoming and being a facilitator that I think some of us aren’t taking the time to advocate for our cause.
That is what we are here for. When you become a member you not only receive the benefits of being apart of our organization. You are helping create change by being that extra voice.
There will be many opportunities in the near future for us to continue making changes. OHA stated they will be creating a new rule making on items that don’t include fees. We expect that public comment will be open in December of this year and take effect on January 15th 2027. We will have another session of Oregon Legislature in 2027 and need to educate them on how the Oregon Program will benefit our State. We are currently working on gathering information about this to share with our members. We also know Colorado is working on new rule making that will affect our Facilitators. And lastly the FDA hearing left a Docket open for Public Comments. Which once again our community should be vocal about what they think should happen.
So many opportunities. We just need to be there and be a large enough group to make a difference.
Become a Member today and you can start doing that. Our new facilitators and those who are just starting out can become Associate Members for free. Once you are Licensed as a Facilitator or Healing Center you will be able to use our Homecoming platform, gain access to our marketing resources, banking options that allow us to accept payments and much more. We are also working on offering Liability and Malpractice Insurance to our members that will better understand the needs of our industry.
It will take you less than 5 minutes to apply for a membership and receive your agreement via email.
We told you this in August and I hope September helped prove it. This work is rewarding, its tough and we shouldn’t have to do it alone. Let’s continue to grow our chorus of voices and see what else we can accomplish.
Become a member of the NPA Today https://yournpa.org/membership-sign-up/#sign-up-form
Want to learn more before becoming a member? Attend one of our member meetings, hop on a call or email us at info@yournpa.org
Leave a Reply