Psilocybin service providers warn $3.5M shortfall could force higher fees, reduce rural access
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Summary
Providers, facilitators and service-center owners urged lawmakers to cover a reported $3.5 million shortfall in the Oregon Psilocybin Services budget to avoid doubling licensing fees and shrinking access, especially in rural areas.
Heidi Pendergast, Oregon director of the Healing Advocacy Fund, and psilocybin service-center owners told the subcommittee that Oregon's regulated psilocybin program — established by Measure 109 and administered by the Oregon Health Authority — faces a $3,500,000 shortfall in the current budget cycle.
"This program, established under measure 109, has provided life changing hope and healing to over 9,000 clients in just the past year and a half," Pendergast said, and she asked legislators to "honor the will of the voters by supporting the $3,500,000 needed to sustain the program."
Licensed facilitators and service-center operators described client outcomes and business constraints. Heidi Venture, a licensed facilitator and co-owner of Vital Reset Psilocybin Service Center in Hood River, said her rural center has served about 80 clients and warned that doubling the current $10,000 annual licensing fee would endanger marginal operators and rural access. "If the 30 or so service centers have to pay $20,000 for licensing, some or many will certainly choose to stop operating or merge," Venture said.
Mike Averell, owner of PNW Integrative Center in Portland, emphasized clinical demand and said many clients seek psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, addiction and chronic pain. He asked the subcommittee to fund the $3.5 million gap to maintain equitable access.
Witnesses referenced House Bill 2387, described as a program improvement bill, as a legislative path to strengthen client safety and integration of psilocybin services into existing health systems. Testimony did not request a specific line-item amendment to HB 5025 during the hearing; witnesses asked appropriators to cover the OPS shortfall so licensing fees would not have to double.
The subcommittee closed public testimony on HB 5025 after hearing these requests; any funding changes will be determined in subsequent budget negotiations.
