T’Naus Nieto
The Chronicle-News
The Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division provided The Chronicle-News with answers to interview questions earlier this week to provide insight and clarification ahead of the City of Trinidad’s adoption of its city ordinance to address the pending arrival of psychedelic healing centers.
As previously reported, The City of Trinidad discussed the adoption of a city ordinance last week on Nov. 12, ahead of the statewide licensing of natural medicine facilities, psychedelic healing centers where practitioners would administer psychedelics, such as psylocibin mushrooms to patients.
On Nov. 18, the city council had a work session with Allison Robinette of the Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division where she was able to speak with the city.
With the coordinated support of communications manager Heather Draper and Elizabeth Kosar, DOR’s Natural Medicine Division were able to collectivly work on and answer interview questions.
What are the projected potential communal benefits of natural healing centers, and are there any foreseeable positive impacts that they could have on rural cities?
The stated purpose of Proposition 122 was to establish a new, compassionate, and effective approach to natural medicines by adopting a public health and harm reduction approach to natural medicines by removing criminal penalties for personal use for adults twenty-one years of age and older, developing and promoting public education related to the use of natural medicines and appropriate training for first responders and establishing regulated access by adults twenty-one years of age and older to natural medicines that show promise in improving well-being, life satisfaction, and overall health.
Further, the Department was specifically delegated authority to establish procedures, policies, and programs to ensure [the Natural Medicine Code and Rules] are equitable and inclusive, promote the licensing, registration, and permitting of persons who face barriers to health-care access… With this authority, the Department adopted rules that prioritize the review of license applications where the natural medicine business (healing center, cultivation, products manufacturer, or testing lab) will be operating outside of the most populated counties in Colorado. To decide on this list, we looked at the most recent census data for the most populated counties in Colorado and compared that to a list of counties with healthcare access challenges.
What are the potential risks or downfalls?
During the Department’s rulemaking, which started in March 2024 and concluded in October, some stakeholders raised concerns regarding preventing youth access and ensuring product safety, while balancing accessibility to regulated natural medicine and natural medicine services, which are Department priorities.
Under the law, no person under the age of twenty-one is permitted to possess or consume natural medicine in either the personal use or regulated spaces. Further, the Natural Medicine Rules prohibit anyone under twenty-one having access to healing centers unless the regulated natural medicine is stored in a locked safe. Finally, because this is a therapeutic regulatory model, regulated natural medicine will not be available for sale and only will only be taken out of a licensed facility when being transported by a facilitator for certain administration sessions (for example, when a participant is unable to travel to a healing center for the session). The rules include additional requirements on facilitators who take regulated natural medicine out of a licensed facility.
Further, regarding product safety, the initial rules include a testing program (as directed by the law), which the Department worked closely with the Department of Public Health & Environment and Natural Medicine Advisory Board to finalize. Additionally, for initial implementation, the rules restrict the types of products that may be manufactured within the regulatory space – this decision was informed by lessons learned from the regulated marijuana industry, where we saw industry innovation outpace regulatory product safety measures, and the state’s resources in this program.
Finally, given the broad personal use provisions under the law, the extent of participation in the regulated space remains to be seen. We’ve heard concerns from some stakeholders that not enough folks will participate in the regulatory programs (both Department of Revenue and Department of Regulatory Agencies) to provide the intended statewide access to these medicines. In response to these concerns, the Department sought to establish bare minimum requirements in rule and establish lower licensing fees for initial participation in order to incentivize license applications.
What is the timeline, after licenses are issued, that potential healing centers could appear in locations across the state, particularly smaller cities like Trinidad?
The Department anticipates beginning to issue licenses in the first quarter of 2025, likely by the end of March, and could envision licensees beginning operations in the second quarter, likely April or May. This largely depends on a number of factors, including how responsive applicants are to any follow-up questions, local jurisdiction ordinance development and adoption, and start-up measures once the facility is licensed.
Prior to issuing any license, the Department is required to confirm the proposed license complies with any applicable local zoning ordinances.
What is the procedure if a business or professional fails to meet regulations and requirements?
We will prioritize compliance enforcement by monitoring inventory tracking reporting, conducting proactive outreach to licensees, and leveraging available data to use a risk-based approach to identify areas of compliance concerns. Regarding our field inspections. We will be focused primarily on product safety and preventing youth access efforts. We will prioritize accordingly to establish an inspection process with business licensees, which will be informed by our resources and participation in the regulated space. We will approach inspections and engagement with a focus on using intervention strategies that encourage comprehensive and long-term compliance. We will use tools such as creating and providing resources, providing educational opportunities, and moving through a spectrum of intervention strategies, including leveraging traditional tools such as warning letters, and in situations where warranted, pursuing enforcement actions such as suspension and revocation of licenses. Any such regulatory enforcement actions must comply with due process procedures established under the Colorado Administrative Procedure Act, which provides for notice and a right to a hearing.
How does one become licensed?
We will begin accepting applications for Natural Medicine Handler licenses (employees), Owner licenses, and Natural Medicine Business licenses (healing centers, cultivations, products manufacturers, and testing labs) on December 31, 2024. If an applicant meets all the required qualification criteria in the Natural Medicine Rules, a license will be issued. The Division anticipates providing both online and in-person submission options for applicants.
And is there anything the DOR would like the communities in southeastern Colorado to know?
In addition to licensing and regulating natural medicine businesses, the Department is also responsible for producing public education materials and first responder training materials, data collection, and coordinating with local jurisdictions and law enforcement. There are a number of resources already available on the Natural Medicine Division website and in our Public Resources Folder, including recordings from the dozens of meetings we’ve hosted and educational resources. We will continually produce additional resources for both licensees and interested members of the public, so if folks have questions, we encourage them to send those questions to our team at dor_naturalmedicine@state.co.us. Additionally, anyone who wants to track our work can sign up to receive notifications from the Division on the website.
