In the near future, Cortez residents may simply be able to walk into a cozy office space not unlike a therapist’s office and be administered a dose of psychedelic “magic mushrooms,” albeit, with the city’s calculated approval.
On Tuesday evening, the Cortez City Council will be inviting the public to comment on how the city should handle licensing and regulations concerning the use of natural medicines, with psychedelic “magic mushrooms” as the main player.
The opportunity for public comment is the latest ripple in a statewide roll out of supervised magic mushroom usage, with local municipalities figuring out their own approaches to oversight.
“We’re still one of the first in the state that is tackling this and we’re not gonna get it 100% right,” City Manager Drew Sanders said to the city council during a work session on June 17.
“We can take our best shot at it and as time goes on we can perfect it a little more later.”
In May of 2023, Gov. Jared Polis signed SB23-290 into law, making Colorado the second state to legalize the consumption of psychedelic mushrooms under personal use or through the administration of therapeutic “healing centers.“
The bill also established the Natural Medicine Division within the Colorado Dept. of Revenue. Not only are healing centers under the division’s eye, but so too are other players considered natural medicine businesses, like those who grow or test the mushrooms.
Much is still up for Cortez to determine, however.
Earlier this year, in February, the city council voted unanimously to halt the local approval process behind the opening of such new natural medicine for six months, pushing the city to adopt its own regulations.
More recently, a city council work session held on June 17 served as an opportunity to parse through the regulations Colorado has in place and figure out what other rules the city wants to specify around natural medicine businesses.
Whether to fence in an outdoor psilocybin ceremony, keeping businesses an appropriate distance from places frequented by children, properly storing and disposing of psilocybin products --- these were just some of the factors that the city council discussed in detail how to oversee during the June work session.
There is still time for members of the public to offer their voices.
Members of the public can go to city hall Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the city offer comments on the licensing and regulations around natural medicine.
