Doors open

Opening remarks

Thomas Eckert, MS

Founder, InnerTrek; Founder, Sheri Eckert Foundation

Kevin Balktick

Founder + Director, Horizons PBC

A year-end review from the Oregon Psilocybin Services Section

In this session, Angela Allbee, director of the Psilocybin Services Section of the Oregon Health Authority, will deliver an official update on the state of licensed psilocybin services, lessons learned from the first months of full operation, and regulatory and administrative plans for the year to come.

Angela Allbee, MPA

Section Manager, Oregon Psilocybin Services, Oregon Health Authority

Work to be done: An update from Healing Advocacy Fund

For the last two years, Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the thoughtful and effective development and implementation of the nation’s first regulated psilocybin programs, has been working with voters, legislators, administrators, and participants to strengthen the entire ecosystem.

Join HAF Oregon Director Heidi Pendergast to learn about the important issues that deserve attention and action from the community during this crucial early period.

Heidi Pendergast

Oregon Director, Healing Advocacy Fund

The lives and times of licensed psilocybin service facilitators

Earlier this year, the first few dozen facilitators completed their required trainings and exams and received their licenses, with hundreds more in the pipeline already.

Supporting clients during psychedelic experiences is a unique responsibility which can be both rewarding and challenging, particularly for less experienced facilitators.

Once licensed, facilitators must carefully meet the varied cultural, spiritual, health, and safety needs of the clients they choose to serve, all while maintaining their own health and wellness and balancing their personal and professional lives.

If you are considering devoting your life to this practice, join us to hear from experienced facilitators from the realms of research, retreat centers, underground therapy, ceremonies, and of course, the first cohort of licensed Oregon facilitators.

Claudia Cuentas, LMFT

Cultural Director, Alma Institute

Henry Fields

Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator and Shamanic Practitioner, National Guild of Hypnotist, Graduate of InnerTrek

Tal Sharabi, MA, LPC

Licensed Professional Counselor, InnerTrek

Melanie Velez, DNP, PMHNP, BSN, RN

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapist, Psilocybin Facilitator, Oregon Psychedelic Travel Clinic, Oregon BIPOC Facilitator Circle, Instructor at Subtle Winds

Patrick Winczewski, B.Sc.

Licensed Psilocybin Facilitator, Inner Guidance Inc.

Mid-morning break

Opening the doors (of perception): Creating licensed service centers

Currently, about a dozen licensed service centers exist, a number which could easily multiply in the year to come.

A healthy ecosystem should offer a range of venues featuring diverse visions and approaches, ranging from humble offices to mountainside retreats.

While many are eager to build their visionary sanctuary and offer experiences, the day-to-day responsibilities of safety, construction, staffing, marketing, finance, and administration can be less romantic.

Still— the dream of creating a safe space for psychedelic journeys can cast a powerful spell, and many have already become realities.

In this session, we will hear the stories and lessons of America’s first operators of public psilocybin service centers.

Amanda Gow

Executive Director, Bendable Therapy

Ryan Reid

Licensed Oregon Psilocybin Facilitator, Aboveground Services

Ben Brubaker

Founder and Director, Subtle Winds

Katie Gillespie, LCSW

Co-Founder and Director of Behavioral Health, Subtle Winds

Dee Lafferty, LCSW

Licensed Service Center Owner, Psilocybin Facilitator and Clinical Social Worker, Inner Guidance Services Inc.

Seth Mehr, MD

Psychedelic Doctor, Cascade Psychedelic Medicine; InnerTrek Services

Heidi Venture

Co-Founder, Vital Reset

Rachel Aidan, PhD (cand)

Co-Founder, InnerTrek

Lunch

Mid-afternoon break

Faith and credit: Finance, banking, taxes, and insurance

One of the challenges of Oregon’s unique statewide model is ambiguities around financial services and risk management.

Without clear federal compatibility, the availability of investment capital, grants, and loans is constrained, and even ordinary services such as banking and insurance are limited.

Compliance with federal tax law and the spectre of 280(e) also presents challenges that typical small business CPAs may not be ready for.

And yet… A small group of professional service providers has emerged to help psilocybin product and service providers navigate these gray areas.

Corinne Celko, Esq.

Managing Shareholder; Land Use and Development Attorney at Emerge Law Group

Britton Rollins

Co-Founder and CEO, National Psychedelics Associations

Further: Improving regulated access to psychedelics

Like all political victories, the Psilocybin Services Act and its first set of administrative rules are the product of compromise.

With the heat of the campaign and rule-making process in the past, Oregon is now free to look forward to the next iterations of laws and rules to better support responsible access to psychedelics.

Sam Chapman

Executive Director, Healing Advocacy Fund

Rebecca Martinez

Founder & Executive Director of Alma Institute, Advisor at National Psychedelics Association, Community Advisory Board Member at Sacred Garden Community

Nate Howard

Director of Operations, InnerTrek; Executive Director ​​​& Founding ​Board Member, Sheri Eckert Foundation​; Director, Plant Medicine Healing Alliance

Closing remarks

Adjourn

Doors open

Opening remarks

Adie Rae Wilson-Poe, PhD

Assistant Scientist, Legacy Research Institute

Nate Howard

Director of Operations, InnerTrek; Executive Director ​​​& Founding ​Board Member, Sheri Eckert Foundation​; Director, Plant Medicine Healing Alliance

Kevin Balktick

Founder + Director, Horizons PBC

Keynote address: Dr. Rosalind Watts

Dr. Rosalind Watts is one of the most prominent thought leaders in the global psychedelic science community.

As clinical lead at Imperial College London’s Center for Psychedelic Research, the first permanent academic center of its kind in the world, Dr. Watts led numerous rigorous investigations into the potential of psilocybin for therapy and personal growth.

In 2022, after many years in the academy, Dr. Watts founded ACER Integration— a unique year-round approach to psychedelic integration focused on connection to the self, community, and the natural world.

We are honored to host Dr. Watts for her first North American appearance in many years and hear her reflections and dreams on the fusion of science, psychedelics, community, and nature.

Rosalind Watts, PhD

Founder, ACER Integration

The year in psychedelic science

A survey of evidence to date and remaining questions about the potential benefits of the responsible use of psychedelics, incorporating the findings of new research from the last year.

Christopher Stauffer, MD

Physician-Scientist, Portland VA Medical Center

Manesh Girn, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California San Francisco; Chief Research Officer, EntheoTech Bioscience

Mid-morning break

Getting real: Studying psychedelic use in naturalistic environments

After the doldrums of the nineties, the spores of a handful of pioneering academic studies in the oughts has yielded dozens of studies underway throughout North America and beyond, with a growing number of long-term university research centers.

However, even with this dramatic growth within the academy, the millions of dollars and many years spent on these studies has only supported perhaps one thousand participants in dosage sessions.

Meanwhile, just outside of the ivory tower, over 30 million Americans report having used psychedelics in their lifetime including over 7 million in the last year alone, according to the most recent surveys conducted by the US government.

As public interest and usage of psychedelic continues to increase, scientists and policymakers have become more interested in data about the use of psychedelics where it mostly takes place— outside of the laboratory.

Jérémie Richard, PhD

Psychologist and Researcher, Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Crystal Lederhos Smith, PhD

Assistant Professor, Director for the Analytics and PsychoPharmacology Laboratory, Washington State University

Hannes Kettner, BSc, MSc, PhD (cand)

Psychologist and Researcher, Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Data science and psychedelic research in Oregon

With the Psilocybin Services Act fully operational this year in Oregon, it is expected that the number of state-regulated dosage sessions and participants within this system will quickly exceed that of all FDA-regulated psilocybin studies combined.

As international scientific and policymaking interest in psychedelics continues to grow, the data generated within Oregon may be of great value to the study of safety, risks, beneficial potential, adverse effects, facilitator competency and other important questions.

In this session, we will hear from two scientists whose ongoing studies draw upon data from Oregon, but whose impact may extend far beyond regional borders.

Adie Rae Wilson-Poe, PhD

Assistant Scientist, Legacy Research Institute

Allison Coker, PhD

Research and Regulatory Analyst, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

Updates on VA-affiliated psychedelic therapy research

This session will focus on current research being conducted within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Calls for grants from NIH and NIDA have been made available alongside recent congressional hearings to discuss the future of this research. This session will provide a broad overview of what is occurring within VA at multiple sites throughout the country, including the Pacific Northwest.

Shannon T. Remick, MD

Psychiatrist, VA Loma Linda, Assistant Professor and Faculty, Loma Linda University and University of California Riverside 

Introducing the UW-Seattle Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry

The Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry is an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Washington focusing on the use of psychedelics and other emerging therapies to treat substance use disorders and their psychiatric co-morbidities. Dr. Nathan Sackett and Dr. Darron Smith will discuss the development of a clinical trial funded by the state of Washington to examine the safety of psilocybin in high-risk populations. They will also discuss some of the lessons learned in developing a research center at a large public institution.

Darron T. Smith, PhD, PA-C

Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington; Co-Director for the Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry, Associate Program Director for Research

Studying group ceremonies with Veterans in Oregon

Since 2017, Heroic Hearts Project has helped support hundreds of veterans with access to psychedelic healing and professional coaching, peer support, and other resources.

Along the way, Heroic Hearts has established a partnership with academic researchers to study the evidence for psychedelic healing as a viable options for veterans struggling with mental health challenges.

While convening retreats for veterans has often meant traveling to jurisdictions outside the United States such as Peru, Mexico, and Jamaica, the opening of psilocybin service centers in Oregon has created an opportunity to conduct these sessions without leaving the country.

Join us to learn more about how this remarkable organization is now working in Oregon to both provide direct access to psychedelic journeys for veterans, and also building a base of evidence for use in scholarly research.

Jesse Gould

President, Heroic Hearts

Zach Skiles, PsyD

Psychologist, Portland VA, Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy Lab (SNaP), HHP

James R. Dixon

Peer Support Specialist, Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy Lab (SNaP)

Lunch

Mid-afternoon break

Giving plants a chance: New studies in mycology and plant-based pharmacology

To date, most scientific research with psychedelics has used synthetic compounds featuring a single active molecule, such as pure psilocybin or MDMA.

However, for most of human history and in popular usage, psychedelic drugs like mushrooms, ayahuasca, cacti, and iboga are often consumed in whole plant form or in simple extracts featuring a variety of psychoactive alkaloids.

After years of anecdotal reports and hypotheses as to the differences between the two approaches, research into this question is finally accelerating.

Join this panel to learn more about the quest for the facts of ethnobotanical approaches and the proposed entourage effect.

Sue Sisley, MD

Principal Investigator, Scottsdale Research Institute

Leonard Lerer, MD

Founder and COO, ParowEntheobiosciences (ParowBio)

Ryan Moss, MSc

Chief Scientific Officer, Filament Health

Bridging Western and Indigenous ways of knowing in psychedelic research

Dr. Shannon Dames will share about the 3-Prong Approach to Psychedelic-assisted Therapy (PAT), a learning system that results from her research in collaboration with a group of inspired clinicians and other researchers with a focus on Decolonization, Indigenous Inclusion, and Reconciliation.

The system fosters a collaborative environment that integrates Indigenous and Western knowledge systems to advance inclusive psychedelic services and treatment programming (Roots to Thrive), education (VIU), and research (NCPR). By engaging with diverse stakeholders nationwide, the goal is to cultivate a shared understanding of the essential components of medicine-assisted therapies to maximize health and wellness outcomes, and to rapidly mobilize knowledge to the frontline of education and care delivery.

Jimena Garcia (Chalchi) will present on the Naut sa mawt centre for Psychedelic Research (NCPR), which hosts the research aspects of the learning system and the knowledge sharing framework that guides the iterative development of the 3-prong PAT Learning System.

She will present the recently designed framework that guides diverse aspects of intercultural collaboration and Indigenous engagement, and provide fundamental guidelines and resources for the facilitation of culturally safe and respectful collaboration with Indigenous peoples in research, programming, and education. With several major population centers and leading universities, multiple legal pathways of access in Oregon, the United States, and Canada, and cultural compatibility with progressive ideas, it is no wonder that the region has emerged as a leader.

Shannon Dames, RN, MPH, EdD

Chair, Nurse, Professor, Vancouver Island University, Roots to Thrive Society for Psychedelic Therapy

Jimena Chalchi

MA Global Leadership, Intercultural Collaboration Lead, Nawt sa maut Center for Psychedelic Research (NCPR) Vancouver Island University

Closing remarks

Adjourn

Doors open

Opening remarks

Hanifa Nayo Washington

Co-Lead Investigator, Psychedelic Health Equity Initiative (PHEI)

Kevin Balktick

Founder + Director, Horizons PBC

Thomas Eckert, MS

Founder, InnerTrek; Founder, Sheri Eckert Foundation

Regional initiatives to support psychedelic research and access

A dramatic expansion of psychedelic policy activism is underway at the state level.

Over a dozen states have recently considered legislation addressing psychedelics, including bills proposing research funding, decriminalization, regulated adult use, and more.

Join us to learn about the variety of initiatives underway, and how legislators and activists consider and design strategies unique to their state.

Christine Diindiisi McCleave, MA

Doctoral Student and Consultant, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Natasia Poinsatte

Colorado State Director, Healing Advocacy Fund

Robert W. E. Laurie

Barrister and Solicitor, Law Society of British Columbia; Solicitor, Law Society of England and Wales

Tatiana Luz Quintana

Co-Director, Psychedelic Medicine Alliance of Washington; Board of Directors, REACH Washington

Ismail L. Ali, JD

Director, Policy & Advocacy, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

Senator Jesse Salomon

Senator, Washington State

Mid-morning break

Towards right relationship with indigenous communities

The increasing demand and interest in our traditional medicines continue to grow, with more and more non-Indigenous peoples seeking to engage not only with traditional medicines but with Indigenous communities and their practices.

In forging right relationships with Indigenous communities, it is paramount to approach with humility, acknowledging the depth of wisdom within our traditions. We invite you to be a participant in ensuring the psychedelic movement is healing for all and does not harm those with deep knowledge and history.

We call on our non-Indigenous people to take on a role of support and kinship ensuring that our engagement contributes positively to the preservation and autonomy of invaluable traditions. In doing so, we not only honor the richness of our Indigenous cultures, but we are cultivating healing and a foundation for genuine and sustainable relationships with Indigenous world views.

Mona Ann Polacca, MSW

Treasurer and Member, Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative, Native American Church of Southern Arizona, Indigenous Environmental Network, International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

Lunch

From the Sierra Mazateca: A Perspective on the Psychedelic Renaissance

Since the first half of the 20th century, the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, Mexico have actively participated in the global psychedelic movement. During this time, we've encountered various challenges that have disrupted our traditional rituals and community practices, with the sacred mushroom ceremony (""ndi xi tjo"") being significantly affected.

The ongoing psychedelic renaissance presents new challenges that require thoughtful analysis and dialogue between the Mazatec community and Western society. In this talk, we will share a Mazatec perspective on this evolving process, discussing its impact from the Mazatec highlands to Oregon.

Osiris Garcia Cerqueda, PhD

Collaborator, Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund

Floating in the mainstream: What is the future of psychedelic subculture?

In the decades since introduction into popular culture in the 1950s, psychedelics have existed at the margins of polite society.

However, over the last 15 years, a steady stream of headlines and celebrity endorsements about the potential benefits of psychedelic therapy has transformed the public opinion of these formerly obscure magic molecules into a cause celebrate.

While the reform of prohibitionist policies and correction of long-standing myths may be welcome by nearly all, many of the long-faithful servants of psychedelic culture have mixed feelings about the latest wave of psychiatrists, athletes, politicians, executives and other arrivistes who are suddenly eager to associate with psychedelics.

In this panel, we will consider the future of psychedelic subcultures in the era of mainstream.

Bia Labate, PhD

Anthropologist, Executive Director, Chacruna Institute; Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

Annie Oak

Co-Founder, Take 3 Presents

Keith Gilmore

President, Portland Psychedelic Society

Mid Afternoon Break

The future of community-based approaches to psychedelic access

David Bronner is the Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO) of Dr. Bronner’s, the family-owned top-selling natural brand of soap in North America.

He joined the board of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) in 2015.

In 2019 he launched the non-profit cannabis flower brand Brother David’s to support Sun and Earth certification of cannabis grown under the sun, in the soil, without chemicals and with fair labor. 



He also serves on the board of the Regenerative Organic Alliance, which promotes regenerative organic agriculture and ethical dietary choice, to support a more humane, sustainable, and fair farming system worldwide.

David Bronner

Cosmic Engagement Officer, Dr. Bronner's

Closing grand panel

Adjourn