The Portland, Oregon City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to designate personal use, cultivation and non-commercial sharing of naturally occurring psychedelics as a low law enforcement priority for the Portland Police Bureau. The ordinance covers substances including psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca and explicitly excludes peyote.
Portland City Council votes to deprioritize personal use of natural psychedelics
The Portland, Oregon City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to designate personal use, cultivation and non-commercial sharing of naturally occurring psychedelics as a low law enforcement priority for the Portland Police Bureau. The ordinance covers substances including psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca and explicitly excludes peyote.
The measure distinguishes among substances and activities, designating non-commercial, naturally occurring psychedelics as low-priority targets for the Portland Police Bureau. Peyote, a cactus containing the psychoactive compound mescaline, is excluded from the deprioritization; the exception was written into the framework to protect the ecologically threatened plant species and to honor the religious practices of Native American communities that have historically relied on it.
The ordinance maintains prohibitions against the commercial sale of any psychedelics outside state-licensed frameworks and preserves existing criminal penalties for impaired driving. It leaves existing workplace and professional licensing regulations intact, and states that local provisions remain subordinate to Oregon state law.
The vote comes amid Oregon's broader history with drug decriminalization, including Measure 110. Citing pushback from business owners, advocates and patients, the Oregon Health Authority announced it will not proceed with proposed plans to double licensing fees for the state's regulated psilocybin services program, which the article describes as the nation's first regulated psychedelic access model. Industry advocates and licensed facilitators had warned the fee increase could force service centers to close and put legal treatment out of reach for average Oregonians.
The article states the Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the first psychedelic pharmaceutical compound before the end of the year, and that Oregon is navigating its first-in-the-nation legalized psilocybin services program. Amy Charlesworth referred to the measure as Ordinance 2026-186.
- The source does not state the calendar date of the council vote, only that it took place on a Wednesday.
- The source does not state the effective date of the ordinance.
- The source does not cite the ordinance text or any named city official as the basis for its description of the measure's provisions.
- The source does not state what Portland Police Bureau practice or written policy the ordinance codifies, or how that practice differs from prior policy.
- The source does not include any statement from opponents of the ordinance or from groups critical of psychedelic policy reform.
- The source does not state when the Oregon Health Authority decided against the proposed licensing fee increase, what the current fees are, or the size of the proposed increase beyond the description that it would have doubled them.
- The source does not name the psychedelic pharmaceutical compound the FDA is expected to approve, or give a date beyond the end of the year.
- The source states the article was produced in partnership with Psychedelic State(s) of America, a nonprofit-sponsored news organization, and carries subscription and donation appeals.
Read the original at Marijuana Moment