The national conversation about this once-taboo topic is shedding its stigma and making its way into the mainstream with real-world results. So how did we get here, and where is it likely heading?
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Not quite. The trip is just getting started. But it’s starting to look promising.
While only two states, Oregon and Colorado, have legalized psilocybin and a few other psychedelics, many other states are nipping at their heels with their own legislation pending. The national conversation about this once-taboo topic is shedding its stigma and making its way into the mainstream with real-world results. So how did we get here, and where is it likely heading?
Follow the Oregon Trail
In November 2020, COVID was raging. A presidential election was on. You’d be forgiven for forgetting that was also when Oregon passed Ballot Measure 109, the first time psychedelics had been legalized in the US. More specifically, it directed the Oregon Health Authority to license and regulate the manufacturing, transportation, delivery, sale, and purchase of psilocybin products and the provision of psilocybin services. This set the stage for a legal market where people could get psychedelic therapy from licensed practitioners.
By 2023, the Oregon market was up and running. Sessions were pricey, but it was a start. And over time, they became way more affordable and available to more and more patients.
In November 2022, Colorado caught up with Oregon and passed Proposition 122, which decriminalized psilocybin mushroom possession for adults, along with mescaline, ibogaine, and DMT. It eventually allowed for state-licensed treatment centers to administer the medicine under the supervision of trained staff.
Now in 2025, Colorado’s psychedelic industry is open for business. Supervised healing centers are planning to open within weeks or months, and licences for healing practitioners are being issued. There will be paths for people to train to be facilitators and a growing variety of possible healing services from microdosing to extensive journeys—all within a regulated framework.
Same but Different
Oregon and Colorado’s approaches diverge in a few ways. The primary difference: Oregon has been focused on medicalized treatment, whereas Colorado’s framework includes the potential for services that hone in on personal growth and well-being.
For example, Colorado will offer clinical licenses, which means any medical practitioner can administer psilocybin services to treat issues that are within their scope of practice when they earn a clinical facilitator license. And patients can visit micro-healing centers that are allowed to keep a more limited amount of mushrooms.
That means there’s more flexibility in how people can find help for a wide range of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
Colorado also lets people explore psychedelic services in their homes. But there are some strict conditions that have to be met. They must get a permit for services in their homes. And they must be residents of the dwelling and consent to a video recording of the session.
New Paths Sprouting
How’s it going so far? Here are some numbers.
As of March 2025, 21,246 psilocybin products have been sold in Oregon, which may include secondary doses. And in the same month, Colorado received 15 applications for healing centers, nine cultivation licenses, four manufacturer licenses, and one testing facility license for growing and preparing mushrooms. The experiment is becoming an enterprise.
And that’s just the beginning.
Sure, the US federal government’s current Secretary of Health and Human Services has said that his “mind is open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment,” which is a promising sign. But other states are way ahead of him.
State-level legislation to expand the role of psychedelics has been proposed in Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington. The variety of potential new laws varies, and they could include many legal, therapeutic policies, including decriminalization, funding for research, licensing treatment professionals and centers, protection from being absorbed by large industries, and rules around cultivation and sales—to name a few.
And while these states have yet to adopt many of the laws they’re proposing, an archipelago of cities throughout the US have taken steps forward by decriminalizing psilocybin. These municipalities include Denver, CO; Santa Cruz, CA; Washington, DC; Somerville, MA; Cambridge, MA; Northampton, MA; Seattle, WA; Minneapolis, MN; and Detroit, MI. They’re planting seeds–nay, the spores–for change by showing it can be done there.
Sure, the US federal government’s current Secretary of Health and Human Services has said that his “mind is open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment,” which is a promising sign. But other states are way ahead of him.
The Pros Light the Road Ahead
What are the experts saying? The legalization of psychedelics has many implications in fields like neuroscience and law. The expansive nature of the medicine has given many leading voices a lot to be excited about, though there are caveats.
“Along with the potentially pleasant effects of transcendence, feelings of oceanic oneness, and reduced defensiveness, all of which can facilitate psychotherapy, the drugs themselves can produce unpleasant side effects,” says Dr. Stephen Ferrando, the Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at New York Medical College as well as Director of Psychiatry at WMCHealth. “However, despite these limitations, when used properly and under the appropriate therapeutic conditions, we anticipate that these drugs will be safe and provide much-needed alternatives for those who have not responded to other treatments.”
As we see states and cities recognizing these benefits and glimmers of hope from the federal government, there’s still a long way to go before full legalization. In the meantime, we can look at how far cannabis has come in the last generation and use its journey toward legalization as a rough guide to how to move forward on psychedelics.
“The biggest lesson [from cannabis] is that you don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket and get the federal government to sign on, which is extremely difficult to do,” says Robert Mikos, an expert on drug law at Vanderbilt University Law School in Tennessee. “The states provide an alternate forum for pursuing reforms. We’ve seen some small changes to federal law, but in the last 26 years or so, we’ve seen the states figure out ways around all the obstacles erected by the federal government. There are some compromises and sacrifices that have to be made to work around federal law, but you can pull this off and have meaningful reform without agreement from the federal government — even with some hostility from the federal government.”
So, are we there yet?
Not quite. But the spores of acceptance are spreading around the country. Attitudes are changing, and laws are following suit. Soon, you will probably live in or near a state where you can legally get treatment with psychedelics or enjoy the kind of high-quality guided trip you’ve been waiting for.
We hope that day arrives ASAP.
