faces rough rollout

Regulators unprepared

BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

e Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies recently warned state lawmakers that it is unprepared for its assigned job of implementing the state’s new, second-in-the-nation legal “magic mushroom” industry, which voters approved in November. e department — which normally oversees sectors like insurance and banking — is tasked with quickly adopting a regulatory structure under which psychedelic mushrooms can be legally consumed by people 21 and older at licensed facilities. e facilities are set to open as soon as late 2024.

DORA will also be responsible for writing regulations governing the cultivation and manufacturing of psychedelic mushrooms, as well as protecting consumers, developing public education campaigns and making recommendations to the legislature about how to shape the industry.

ere’s just one problem: DORA says it has no idea what it’s doing when it comes to psilocybin, the hallucination-inducing compound derived from psychedelic mushrooms.

“ is is an area completely outside the scope of any existing expertise or regulatory history within the de- partment,” DORA wrote in a budget document submitted to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee. “ is is unlike anything else the department regulates. e department has no resources or expertise to begin implementation of this expansive new program involving substances with agricultural, controlled substance, chemical/scienti c and facility issues.”

Proposition 122, which legalized magic mushrooms, passed by nearly 8 percentage points. e measure was unique in that it speci cally charged DORA with rolling out the psilocybin industry, as opposed to letting the state gure out for itself which of its agencies should be responsible for regulating magic mushrooms. And it doesn’t appear Proposition 122’s proponents reached out to DORA to see if they could handle the responsibility.

“Did they come sit down and say do you want to take this? I don’t think so,” said Katie O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for DORA. “It could have gone in a lot of places. It doesn’t t perfectly in any of them.”

(Patty Salazar, who leads DORA, declined an interview request as her agency works to determine who will take on the psilocybin assignment.) e Colorado Department of Revenue, for instance, regulates the cannabis industry. Hemp is handled by the Department of Agriculture.