Oregon may soon see more people able to access legal psilocybin after a recent federal court decision in favor of plaintiffs. They argued the first-ever psilocybin laws in the nation infringed on homebound patients’ rights.
Four care providers—three licensed psilocybin facilitators and a physician specializing in advanced and terminal illnesses—sued the state about year ago, alleging that the state Psilocybin Services Act (PSA) discriminates against disabled individuals who can’t travel to designated service centers where the substance is administered.
Oregon Health Authority told the providers that the state law on psilocybin did not allow for homebound patients.
A 12-page decision issued by District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai late last month denied the state’s motion to dismiss. The judge stated that plaintiffs had standing to challenge the law and that a change to the state’s psilocybin laws to accommodate homebound patients in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act would not be a violation of principles of federalism.
The ruling states: “The Court finds it agrees with the Plaintiffs, and that their requested remedies rest on physical access and not use or distribution in violation of federal and state laws.” The Court does not order that Plaintiffs provide controlled substances, contrary to the claims of the Defendants. Instead…Plaintiffs seek compliance with the ADA so that their disabled clients will have the same physical access to a service that is available to nondisabled individuals.”
Kathryn Tucker of plaintiffs’ lawyer, reached by email Tuesday, expressed satisfaction that the court had ruled in favour of those providers seeking to provide psilocybin home services.
She wrote: “We want to make sure that disabled Oregonians and those who are dying at home can receive psilocybin treatments, since they will be the ones most likely to gain from them.” The opening of access to these Oregonians is expected to increase the demand for psilocybin, produced in accordance with the PSA. It will also lead to an increased demand for facilitators with experience providing care for disabled people and patients with advanced illnesses.
We hope that this can be resolved quickly, now that the state’s dismissal attempt has been rejected by the court. This means that Oregon’s psilocybin programme is covered under the ADA. Delay in accessing psilocybin could lead to patients dying in pain and suffering.
Notably, as Psychedelic Week noted, this new opinion does not call for a particular remedy. It allows for the suit to continue. Cusker v. Oregon Health AuthorityThe next step is to make a final choice.
As for what plaintiffs are ultimately seeking, their complaint filed last June asked the court to assume jurisdiction over the issue and require the state health authority to “provide the reasonable accommodation of home service when necessary to allow disabled individuals access to psilocybin services, and to notify all licensed facilitators that such accommodations are permitted.”
Further, they requested the court to declare OHA in violation of state and federal antidiscrimination statutes by refusing reasonable accommodation and prohibiting the state “from taking any kind of disciplinary action or adverse action” against licensed facilitators if such accommodations are provided.
The law requires public entities to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled individuals who need to be able to access their programs and services. This is true unless the accommodation would create an unreasonable burden on them or cause a fundamental modification to the program or service. As a reasonable accommodations, allowing disabled people whose disabilities prevent them from traveling to licensed service centers to receive psilocybin in their home would not cause an undue hardship or fundamental change to the program.
Oregon voters legalized facilitated psilocybin services through a 2020 ballot measure. The state approved its first service center in mid-2023.
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The photo is courtesy Wikimedia/Workman.