Therapy centers in Denver that use psilocybin or “magic mushrooms” as part of psychedelic-assisted therapies will have to do so subject to the city’s new regulations and licensing requirements.

Members of the Denver City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve a bill that backers say will fill in gaps and prevent conflicts between state and local laws.

Along with establishing local licensing requirements, the measure also repeals Ordinance 301, also known as the “Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Initiative,” which was adopted in 2019 and de-prioritized criminal enforcement of the personal use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms by those 21 and older.

According to city policy experts, the Colorado Department of Revenue will begin issuing licenses for cultivation, manufacturing, and testing facilities as well as “natural medicine healing centers” this year.

The Department of Regulatory Agencies will also begin issuing licenses for facilitators who are authorized to supervise psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions.

There would be no local license requirements for cultivation, manufacturing, or testing facilities, as they are already addressed at the state level.

District 10 Councilmember Chris Hinds said the ordinance does two things for Denver.

“First, it updates our regulations to align with a broader state framework established by Proposition 122,” Hinds said. “This means healing centers, facilitators and businesses will now operate with a clear structure that ensures safety, accountability and access. Second it minimizes risks that detractors could seize to undermine the progress we’ve made, just as we did with cannabis.”

Exceptions to the local license requirements would include Native American tribe members performing religious ceremonies and facilities where only clinical facilitators — or those already licensed to diagnose and treat physical or behavioral/mental health conditions — administer the drugs.

Additionally, the proposed ordinance would mirror state law requiring that a license cannot be issued to a location within 1,000 feet of a childcare center, preschool, elementary, middle, junior, or high school or residential childcare facility.

Medical professionals caution that monitoring both positive health effects and events associated with the use of magic mushrooms is critical.

In a letter to the city, emergency medicine professor and associate director of the Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center Denver, Dr. Andrew A. Monte, wrote that Denver is likely to have more of these types of facilities “than any other county in Colorado due to its population and interest in these drugs.”

“It is important to differentiate events that are associated with the healing centers from events that occur from unmonitored personal use,” Monte added. 

Personal use and cultivation of psilocybin or “magic mushrooms” would not be impacted as state law makes it legal for those over the age of 21.

“State law has already surpassed what Ordinance 301 initially set out to do,” Hinds said. “Keeping it on the books only creates confusion and regulatory conflicts.”