talk about magic mushrooms.
Oregon is ready to open the door
the first legal psilocybin trip.
All the pieces are in place from cap to stem,
and that's our big story tonigh.
The legal psilocybin supply
chain is now complete in Oregon.
The Oregon Health Authority recy
licensed the first lab and service center.
So here's how everything's going to work.
Licensed manufacturers
will grow the mushrooms.
Then they'll send samples to a
licensed lab to test it to make
sure it's the right species.
That testing will also show
how potent the mushroom is.
After getting the data from the,
the grower can then sell the mushrooms
to a licensed service center.
That's the name of the place where you're
going to eat or ingest the mushrooms.
A licensed facilitator there will help
guide you through the effects of psilocybin.
You do not need a prescription
or medical referral to do that,
but you do have to be 21 or old.
And no, you can't buy the mushrooms and
take them home and have them on your pizza.
You have to use them right
there at the service center.
Now, why would you do this?
Well, here's some possible bene,
according to the Oregon Health Authority.
They say that research suggestse
compound may help with depressi,
anxiety, trauma and addiction.
They go on to say the studies he
found that magic mushrooms can o
increase spiritual well-being.
This is the nation's first legal
regulatory framework on psilocy.
It's a process that's been in
the work for more than two year.
It started back in 2020,
when Oregon voters passed Measue
One O 9 with 55% of the vote.
That allowed the Oregon Health Authority to
license and regulate the psilocybin industry.
But then in November of 2022,
voters in 25.
Of Oregon's 36 counties said no,
no, no, you're not doing that h.
They banned the industry,
said no, you're not welcome.
Several cities then followed
suit here on the story.
We've gone in depth with the
first licensed manufacturer and
facilitator of the program in Oregon,
and we recently got a tour of te
1st and right now only licensed
lab that tests the mushrooms.
Here we go.
Rose City Labs is along Johnson Creek Blvd.
In Southeast Portland.
It's not too far from the Clacks
Town Center.
They got their start testing cannabis as that
legal industry got up and running in Oregon.
And now, along with pot,
they test for things like asbes,
radon, lead, heavy metals,
and as of this spring,
psilocybin.
The lab is owned by a
guy named Daniel Hewson,
who describes what he was
feeling when he found out his
psilocybin license was approved.
Oh, it was a sigh of relief.
Because it was a little bit of a bumpy Rd.
in the beginning,
but it was a sigh of relief.
It was it was nice to understand
that a little guy like me coulde
a difference in the whole world.
And I think it in everybody shod
believe in themselves and should try,
you know, to be better,
to help society, help somebody .
But yeah, it was exciting.
It's just.
It was almost like a wave of
tears coming over me as a happy,
crying and type thing.
It was just it was overwhelming.
Yes, Houston decided to get invd
with psilocybin programs based n
experiences that he had as a kid
his beliefs in alternative medie
started with my grandmother when I was born.
She started a cancer rate
thrift shop in Grass Valley,
CA and I spent a lot of time with people.
And dying of cancer and all and problems.
So I decided later in life I actually
ended up with cancer myself in .
And I just started to try
alternative medicines.
And then I ended up opening the
laboratory trying to do more research.
And I prefer not to take some
of these medications that are
prescribed to you because yeah,
it may fix one thing but causes
ten other problems with you.
So now you have to take another
pill and it fixes one thing,
but it causes 10 more so.
You got 20 things wrong with yo.
Now when you only originally had one.
Let's figure out what the problem is,
the root cause with your original problem.
You know,
if you're having heartburn,
if you're having pain or
if you're having this,
how can we fix that instead
of just taking a pill?
And when it comes to navigating a brand
new system like Oregon psilocybin program,
which has not been set up
anywhere else in the country,
so kind of a big deal,
it's a pretty big leap of faith.
You could say that these compans
giving birth to the psilocybin industry or.
Blind, Blind.
But for Houston, that's no prob.
My background actually comes from aircraft.
I'm a pilot, a mechanic,
journeyman aircraft machinist,
spent 23 years at Boeing.
So very much understand regulat.
I understand rules.
I understand where things are
going to be headed and if,
if we want to turn it into a legal industry,
what that's going to look like?
So let's walk you through the process
from the psilocybin coming intoe
City labs to the results going .
And to help explain, we talked
to the lab senior research and
development chemist Bjorn Fucha. First
prep is always for samplers to essentially
take a representative sample from the batch.
They either go to the facility
where the girl is happening,
or the grower brings in the entire batch.
We take, we take samples from random spots
within the mushroom batch to basically in
the end have a fairly representative sample.
But this is what our
samplers would put it in.
They're mylar bags,
they are non gas permeable,
and they're especially light pr.
And those are the two things tht
protects the mushroom and keepsm
the same state as we receive th.
The first step after that,
when it gets to the lab,
is that we actually grind the
entire sample that the sampler
took into a fine powder.
When we got to the lab,
they did not have any mushrooms
containing psilocybin ready for grinding.
So what you'll see is white
button mushrooms being ground u,
which they use as a baseline
to ensure their machines are
calibrated correctly. We have to
homogenize powdered version of e
essentially of the batch. From
there a DNA extraction is done on the sample,
which is then placed inside something
called a speciation machine.
It has a long fancy name
with an acronym of PCR,
but let's just leave it at that.
That basically tells the team wt
species the sample comes from.
If the DNA confirms it is in
fact psilocybin cubansus,
the only kind allowed in the state program,
then it moves on to the next st,
the HPLC machine High Performane
Liquid chromatography that basiy
gives the potency of the sample
how much psilocybin it contains.
After that data is gathered,
it's uploaded into the state
system and the results are emaid
to both the manufacturer and
the Oregon Health Authority.
The lab tells us that if the OHA requests it,
they can also test samples for
pesticides or anything else that
could be in there in order to
ensure it is not contaminated
by the way that grinder that you saw.
If you were saying that kind of
looks like my coffee grinder at home,
Yep, I'm told, very similar.
Now that was a very basic walkthrough
of how things work there, by the way.
You can only imagine all the scientific
terms and processes that we left out.
But you got it. Those are the basics.
Rose City Lab owner Dan Houstone
it very clear that once a sample
arrives at the lab never leaves.
They hold on to it for 30 days
after testing is complete,
in case further testing is
needed and then it's destroyed.
Houston, of course, is a big believer.
So we want to know what Houstons
message would be to people who
want nothing to do with magic.
Mushrooms.
Education, education, education, science.
That's what I'm about here at this lab.
And with science, we have to len
and we have to study, and we have to.
Understand what we're doing.
And I just before people get
emotional or or don't understan,
I would prefer that people would
just do a little education.
There's been studies from the government,
there's been all kinds of things proving
that psychedelics has been beneficial.
I think my opinion,
I think we're going to see the
government accept psychedelics before
they're going to ever accept cannabis.
Really, that's my belief.
I've been saying that for years.
And what I've noticed with peope
getting a hold of the lab or me,
they're most people are up in their age,
60 and above that don't use dru,
don't use alcohol and they wanto
use psilocybin. They believe in.
And it's for me that's a little
bit hard to understand it,
but because it's a psychoactive,
mindaltering drug, but I think.
They've seen or heard or
witnessed or know people.
That has really helped
and changed and affected.
We visited a few weeks ago,
shortly after they got their
first licensed psilocybin sampl.
They told us they expected two e
samples the following week, and this week.
They say they're actively
testing licensed product.
Remember, the lab is just one cg
in the state's regulatory machi.
But now all those pieces are in
place for the machine manufactu,
the lab facilitators, and so fa,
a single service center.
That service center is called
Epic Healing Eugene.
The boutique style healing center will
serve up to 30 people each month with
individual and small group sess.
And by the way, it's not cheap.
The latest prices that we found
online from earlier this week sd
a level 1 microdose costing $50.
And that's just for the service.
If you read the last paragraph,
it says the price does not incle
the cost of the actual mushroom,
which must be paid in cash.
And the cost for the mushrooms
themselves is not yet available.
So the next question,
for those of you who are intere,
might be Okay.
When's this all available?
Well, Epic Healing has a wait lt
you can sign up for right now.
Sam Chapman,
the executive director of the gp
called Healing Advocacy Fund,
told us that he expects them to begin
seeing clients in just a few we.
He also said more of these liced
service centers will be coming
on before the end of the year.
By the end of this year,
we expect to see as many
as a dozen service centers
licensed and serving clients,
providing a new path for so many
to address their depression,
anxiety, and addiction.
All mental health problems
that are unfortunately far
too prevalent here in Oregon.
If you'd like to learn more abot
psilocybin and psychedelics in general,
you won't have to go far. Psych,
A psychedelic convention and is coming to
the Oregon Convention Center next week.
They label themselves as the prr
conference and trade show for
the booming psychedelic industr.
There will be all kinds of spea,
including former NBA player
Lamar and LA Laker, Lamar Odom,
as well as folks from Rose City
Labs that you've heard from tod,
owner Dan Hewson and chemist Bjorn Frucha.
So what do you think about Oregon sybos?
Psilocybin Program Now that
it's officially up and running,
do you think it's something thau
might try or is cost an issue for you?
Or maybe you don't want anything
to do with it?
Send us an e-mail, will you?
The 8.
The address is the story at kgwm
or call and leave a voicemail
503-226-5090.