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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2019
Psychedelic mushroom supporters push for legalization — with caveats
Issue could go on
the 2020 ballot
By KRISTIAN
FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The active ingredient of
psychedelic
mushrooms,
psilocybin, has been listed
as a Schedule I drug since
the 1970s. That means the
federal government thinks
it has no medical applica-
tion whatsoever — and high
potential for abuse.
But Oregon’s attorney
general has approved lan-
guage for a ballot measure
which would make psilocy-
bin legal if passed.
But what would that look
like? How would people get
the drug? And how would the
state ensure it is used safely?
“Nobody’s going to be
taking psilocybin home with
them to administer to them-
selves, which means that
Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Tom Eckert and his wife, Sheri, are the co-sponsors of the
Psilocybin Service Initiative. They are in private practice
together where they counsel couples and men who’ve been
required to attend a domestic violence program.
there will be none in pub-
lic, no one driving,” said
Tom Eckert, one of the lead-
ers of a campaign to legalize
psilocybin.
Eckert and his wife,
Sheri, are the co-sponsors of
the Psilocybin Service Ini-
tiative, a push to get legal-
ization on the 2020 ballot.
The fi rst thing they want vot-
ers to know is that they’re
not following the model of
legalization used by canna-
bis proponents.
Tom Eckert, a therapist
in Beaverton, said voters
should realize what they’re
legalizing is “psilocybin-as-
sisted therapy,” rather than
Washington Supreme Court to weigh
whether Inslee’s carbon cap is illegal
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
The Washington Supreme
Court will hear arguments
in March on whether Gov.
Jay Inslee’s Clean Air Rule
was an illegal power grab
by the executive branch.
The court also may con-
sider whether the regula-
tion would backfi re and
increase the global release
of greenhouse gases.
Inslee, unable to pass
climate-change legislation,
directed the state Depart-
ment of Ecology to develop
the rule to cut carbon
emissions.
Two food processors, a
fertilizer maker and about
four dozen other manufac-
turers would be required to
cut carbon emissions or buy
credits created by someone
else’s reductions. Petro-
leum refi neries and natu-
ral gas companies would
have to buy the credits
too because their products
release carbon when used.
the Department of Ecol-
ogy estimates, broadly, the
rule would cost businesses
between $445 million and
$6.7 billion over 20 years.
A Thurston County
judge ruled Washington’s
Clean Air Act didn’t give
the Department of Ecol-
ogy authority to regulate
distributers of fossil-fuel
products and tossed out the
entire rule.
The Department of Ecol-
ogy appealed directly to the
Supreme Court, stating cli-
mate change was too press-
ing a matter to wait.
Now the high court has
put the case on its calen-
dar, and the parties are fi l-
ing briefs.
The Department of Ecol-
ogy defends the legality of
the rule, and the environ-
mental groups that have
joined the lawsuit argue the
court should broadly inter-
pret the department’s author-
ity because climate change is
a signifi cant threat to every
Washington resident.
The rule will increase
the cost of making farm
goods and other prod-
ucts. The business coali-
tion, which includes the
Northwest Food Proces-
sors Association as well as
the Washington State Farm
Bureau, claim that Wash-
ington companies will lose
market share to out-of-state
competitors. And the com-
petitors are likely to be in
places where manufactur-
ers emit more greenhouse
gases.
wholesale access to the drug.
“Many individuals want
this service,” said Sheri
Eckert, also a therapist.
“But they want to know that
they’re getting it from some-
one they can trust.”
“Psychedelics
are
uniquely powerful when it
comes to creating lasting
change in the human being,”
Tom Eckert said.
It’s a change many
people swear by. Author
Michael Pollan’s new book
looks at the science of psy-
chedelic drugs. As part of
his research, he attended
an underground psilocybin
therapy session with a facili-
tator and said he completely
disconnected from his ego
on the trip.
“The most amazing thing
happened; I just kind of
found my identity, my sense
of self completely turned
into post-its — little slips
of paper that were being
blown-around by the wind,”
Pollan recently told Ore-
gon Public Broadcasting’s
“Think Out Loud.” “But (I)
had no desire to pile them
back together again. I didn’t
fi ght it.”
Tom Eckert said he wants
Oregonians to have similar
experiences, which is why
he’s seeking legalization for
more than just treatment of
depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder and anxiety.
Under the proposal the
Eckerts are pushing, peo-
ple seeking psilocybin treat-
ments will need to be 21
or older and have medi-
cal clearance from a doctor.
They would then be assigned
a licensed facilitator.
“The facilitator kind of
orients you to the service,
asks some questions, gets to
know you and your desires
and your intentions and
issues a bit more,” Tom Eck-
ert said.
When both facilitator and
client are happy, they sched-
ule a session to take the
drug. Tom Eckert says that
would be at a licensed psi-
locybin facility, possibly a
hospital or a small neighbor-
hood clinic.
The client would drink a
tea, eat mushrooms or take
a synthetic version of the
drug.
“You take the compound,
and you generally lay down
with headphones on and
eye shades, and you listen
to music that is previously
curated to enhance the expe-
rience,” Tom Eckert said.
“It’s just a very affi rming
thing.”
If the client responds
poorly to the drug, the facili-
tator would step in to ensure
their safety. But Tom Eckert
said he doesn’t expect many
problems.
“It’s not a stimulant. It
doesn’t create a lot of activ-
ity. You generally become
immersed in the experi-
ence,” he said.
2 Puget Sound orcas predicted to die by summer
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Two more
Puget Sound orcas are ailing
and probably will be dead by
summer, according an expert
on the critically endangered
population of killer whales
that live in the waters of the
Pacifi c Northwest.
Drone photography taken
this past September showed
the ailing population of orcas
known as the southern resi-
dents went into the winter
thinner than they were when
the whales arrived in the San
Juan Islands last summer.
They also are thinner
than Puget Sound’s so-called
northern resident popula-
tion of killer whales, which
have been steadily grow-
ing in population for the
past 40 years in their home
waters primarily in north-
ern British Columbia and
southeast Alaska, where they
have access to more fi sh and
cleaner and quieter water.
The northern residents gave
birth to 10 new calves last
year.
The
Seattle
Times
reported that Center for
Whale Research founding
director Ken Balcomb said
photos taken of a southern
resident orca known as J17
on New Year’s Eve showed
the 42-year-old female has
so-called peanut head — a
misshapen head and neck
caused by starvation. In
addition, a 27-year-old male
known as K25 is failing, also
from lack of suffi cient food.
He lost his mother, K13, in
2017 and is not successfully
foraging on his own.
Several southern resident
whales were documented to
be pregnant in September,
but so far there has been no
sign of babies. The southern
residents have not had a suc-
cessful pregnancy in three
years.
The southern resident
population is at a 35-year
low after three deaths in
2018. There are only 74 left.
Losing J17 would be a
blow to the southern resi-
dents because she is a female
still of reproducing age, said
Deborah Giles, research
scientist for University of
Washington. Center for Con-
servation Biology.
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