Oregon drops plan to double psilocybin license fees

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) won't raise fees for licensed psilocybin businesses after all. In a statement on September 22, 2026, the agency said it "will not adopt the proposed fee increases." The plan would have doubled annual license fees and ended the program's discounts for veterans and low-income licensees. OHA backed off after the proposal drew unanimous opposition at two public hearings.

What OHA decided

The fee hike was bundled with other rule changes. OHA said it will start a new rulemaking for those unrelated changes, with a target date of January 15, 2027. The fee increases themselves are off the table.

The money problem isn't solved, though. OHA is still weighing a higher, 15% tax on psilocybin products, and the program faces a projected budget shortfall. Coverage of the September decision by the Oregon Capital Chronicle put that gap at up to $4.2 million, while a Psychedelics Today policy briefing published October 5, 2026 cited a $3.8 million shortfall. The figures differ, but either way the program is short several million dollars.

Why cost is a sore point

Licensed psilocybin services in Oregon are already expensive for clients. In a study announced October 12, 2026 and published in Health Affairs Scholar, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis posed as prospective clients and reached 15 of Oregon's 22 active service centers. The median session cost was $1,900, and no center accepted insurance.

The same study found that every center it reached followed the state's safety screening rules, and none allowed clients to take psilocybin home. That matters for anyone weighing a licensed session: the program is built around supervised use on site, not retail sales.

How Oregon's psilocybin program works

Oregon voters approved Measure 109 in 2020, which created the Oregon Psilocybin Services program. Under the law, adults 21 and older can take psilocybin at a state-licensed service center with a licensed facilitator. State statute bars sales to anyone under 21 and keeps people under 21 off licensed premises. The first service center, EPIC Healing Eugene, was licensed on May 5, 2023.

Outside that licensed system, psilocybin is still illegal in Oregon. House Bill 4002 made possession of small amounts a misdemeanor again starting September 1, 2024. Psilocybin also remains a Schedule I drug under federal law, so buying it outside a licensed center, including by mail, is not legal.

Local politics shape access too. Some Oregon cities ban psilocybin businesses outright. In Reedsport, voters will decide on November 3, 2026 whether to make the city's ban on licensed psilocybin businesses permanent through Measure 10-215. The ban has been temporary since 2022 and was extended in 2024; if the measure fails, licensed businesses could open there.

What to watch next

Three things will tell you where the program is headed: whether OHA moves forward with the 15% product tax, what ends up in the new rulemaking aimed at January 15, 2027, and how local votes like Reedsport's turn out in November. We'll update this story as OHA publishes new rules.

For how licensed sessions work in Oregon, see our guide to Oregon psilocybin service centers. For the rules in every other state, see the 50-state psilocybin law tracker.