Emerge Law Group

Emerge attorneys Kaci Hohmann and Alex J Berger attended the Oregon State Bar Cannabis & Psychedelics Law Section’s Sixth Annual Conference last weekend.

Alex and Kaci participated in a presentation with attorney Jon Dennis broadly covering the U.S. psychedelics landscape and practical issues for Oregon psilocybin facilitators.

The conference is an intimate group of the lead attorneys serving Oregon cannabis and psychedelic clients and Emerge looks forward to seeing everyone again next year!

We are pleased to announce that three attorneys at Emerge Law Group have once again been recognized as Oregon Super Lawyers and Rising Stars!

Marco Materazzi – Super Lawyer - Securities & Corporate Finance
Alex J Berger - Rising Star - Cannabis Law, Land Use & Zoning
Sean Clancy - Rising Star - Intellectual Property, Business & Corporate

Super Lawyers is an impartial rating service created by Thompson Reuters, a legal products company known for platforms like FindLaw. Super Lawyers rates attorneys by evaluating professional achievement across various practice areas. The merit-based rating service employs a patented annual selection process that incorporates independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluations to honor attorneys who have achieved exceptional recognition within the legal community.

In 2023, Oregon became the first in the nation to establish a comprehensive framework for a legal psilocybin-assisted therapy program, implementing strict protocols for licensing manufacturers, service centers, facilitators, and testing laboratories. This regulatory system, which includes a 15% tax on psilocybin products, has been navigated by hundreds of facilitators and centers, and is the chief model for approximately a dozen other states drafting their own proposed psychedelic legislation.

While it is tempting to draw comparisons to Oregon’s established cannabis industry, the regulatory mechanisms in play are quite different. For example, accessing psilocybin requires clients to engage with licensed service centers, undergo preparatory consultations, and participate in supervised sessions. This rigorous process aims to ensure safety and efficacy but admittedly comes with heightened costs, ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 per experience. While the current financial barriers limit widespread access, Oregon’s program and psilocybin market has significant potential to expand over the next decade if policy makers take steps to reduce operational risks, says business attorney Dave Kopilak.

“While the facilitation model certainly has its benefits when it comes to supervision, guidance, safety, and in many cases a client’s entire psilocybin experience, it also has its challenges, because it makes access to psilocybin products substantially more expensive, thereby reducing overall access,” says Kopilak, a shareholder with Emerge Law Group in Portland who served on Oregon’s Psilocybin Advisory Board and drafted Measure 109. “But things will evolve, and I suspect at some point in the future the facilitation process will be optional and folks will be able to buy at least some psilocybin products from retail stores.”

Oregon Is Teaching the States How to Tax Psychedelic Mushrooms Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher and Harvard researcher on the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs, once observed that spiritual journeys are highly personal and “can’t be organized or regulated.”