ENTERPRISE — Thousands of voters across Oregon have decided to ban or block the rollout of psilocybin treatment centers.

That includes voters in Wallowa County, where a proposal to ban psilocybin services in unincorporated areas of the county passed, by a 2,743-to-1,684 count.

But two counties bucked that trend: In Deschutes and Jackson counties, voters rejected the proposed bans and chose to move ahead with Measure 109, which passed statewide in 2020 and legalized the limited use of psilocybin in state-regulated treatment facilities. The measure allowed local authorities to opt out of Measure 109 by forwarding to voters either two-year moratoriums or outright bans on psilocybin services.

Authorities in 27 Oregon counties and 114 cities and towns asked voters to consider two-year moratoriums or bans. Among the latter, only two — Phoenix in Jackson County and Wheeler in Tillamook County — authorized psilocybin services.

Nevertheless, most of Oregon’s most populous counties and cities have cleared the way for psilocybin production by authorized facilities. Supporters of psilocybin services say that therapy with the hallucinogen will be locally available to nearly 3 million Oregon residents beginning in 2023. In all, 17 of Oregon’s 20 most populous cities are allowing psilocybin services along with 11 Oregon counties.

None of the four incorporated cities in Wallowa County referred opt-out measures to their voters — so, in theory, someone could seek approval from those localities to provide psilocybin services there. Although the cities — Enterprise, Joseph, Wallowa and Lostine — lost the opportunity to ban or delay psilocybin services in their communities, they still could regulate how and where the services are provided through local ordinances.

Lacey McQuead, the city administrator in Enterprise, said she was unaware of a pending proposal to establish psilocybin services there. She added that decisions about how to regulate such an operation would be left to the City Council — and that the “time-consuming process” of creating those regulations would add to the burden faced by city planners.

Carolyn Harshfield, the city administrator in Wallowa, said the city was preparing an opt-out resolution for psilocybin services but didn’t get the measure done in time to meet the deadline for the November ballot. She said residents of the town opted out of legal marijuana, and believes that Wallowa residents similarly would oppose psilocybin services.

Officials in Joseph and Lostine did not immediately return emailed questions from the Chieftain.

Access to services

In a call with reporters after the election, Measure 109 supporters said much work remains to ensure access to psilocybin services throughout the state, especially in rural areas like Wallowa County. The advocates said education is a key to breaking down resistance.

Sam Chapman of the Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit organization working to roll out psilocybin services throughout the state, said that if people track the research into the hallucinogen and begin to hear “stories of healing right here in Oregon,” they’ll begin to understand the potential benefits of psilocybin.

The measure made Oregon the first state to legalize its use, though voters in Colorado also approved the use of psilocybin on Tuesday. In both states, it will be restricted to state-licensed facilities with trained counselors administering the drug. In Colorado, residents will be able to to possess and grow psychedelic mushrooms in their own homes. Oregon’s law does not create a market for psilocybin, and possession, consumption and manufacturing of the drug outside licensed facilities will remain illegal.

Backers such as Drew Snyder, a veteran and a mental-health counselor in Jackson County, say psilocybin could aid thousands of Oregonians with mental health conditions who have not been helped by other therapies.

Snyder, who was also on the call, said he served for more than six years in the Army and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at the end of his service.

Department of Veterans Affairs doctors “were doing their best to treat me and providing therapy for me,” Snyder said, prescribing what he called “a grocery bag of medications,” including “medications to treat the side effects of the medications that I was on.”

After learning about psilocybin, he researched it and became intrigued enough to try the hallucinogen. It worked, he said: “It has just been so incredibly healing for me that I knew I had to bring these services to other veterans and to other people experiencing trauma and depression.”

A survey earlier this year by the Oregon Health Authority found that nearly 4,200 people among about 4,400 who responded were interested in seeking treatment for their well-being.

Researchers in Maryland at Johns Hopkins University, which has led psilocybin research in the U.S., have found the drug to be effective against PTSD, depression and anxiety.

Also known as magic mushrooms, psilocybin has long been used recreationally in the U.S. but it comes from Indigenous cultures who’ve used it in sacred ceremonies for hundreds of thousands of years. It comes from certain types of mushrooms that are indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico and the U.S. Only one species, which is also one of the best known — Psilocybe cubensis {span}— will be allowed under rules proposed by the Oregon Health Authority.

Various arguments

Officials in the cities and counties that referred bans and moratoriums to their voters did so for a variety of reasons.

Some said they thought it best to wait two years to see how the program rolls out statewide before allowing psilocybin services in their community.

Some county officials, such as Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist, have said they have little faith in the Oregon Health Authority’s ability to establish the rules that are guiding the rollout of the program.

In Wallowa County, Commissioner Susan Roberts has said she and other commissioners worried that psilocybin could add an additional burden to already overworked law enforcement officers who still are coping with the impacts of Measure 110, which decriminalized possession of small quantities of illegal drugs in Oregon.

Earlier this year, as Wallowa County commissioners considered whether to forward the ban to voters, Joseph resident Matt Kurtz argued against it. But Kurtz wasn’t surprised when the commissioners decided to do so — nor was he surprised when voters approved the ban last week.

“I accept that,” Kurtz said, but he said he planned to continue his efforts to educate residents about psilocybin.

“I think psilocybin therapy is going to be a fundamental tool in the treatment of mental illness,” he said.