As Debate Heats Up and Time Runs Out, Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board Chair Resigns Amid Conflict of Interest Allegations

With policies expected to be finalised this Spring and licences to be issued in just under 10 months, it’s hard to ignore the apparent discord among Oregon’s Psilocybin Advisory Board.

Reporting in STAT, Olivia Goldhill takes a look at some of the quarrels emerging among the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board, which is hurriedly creating the guidelines for the roll-out of psilocybin services in the state as early as January 2023.

The manner in which Oregon’s psilocybin services are rolled out is important, as it will likely serve as precedent for other states. As Mason Marks notes, “for better or worse, what inevitably happens is these rules will be copy and pasted to states around the country.”

Goldhill looks at some of the key areas of contestation, including:

• How ‘medical’ will the Oregon model be? What contraindications will be included, for example?
• How will sexual abuse be managed and responded to?
• How can diversity be encouraged?
• How should the influence of out-of-state interests be managed?

But, the debate isn’t entirely related to the policies and rules themselves: there’s also debate surrounding potential conflicts of interest among Board members.

In fact, just hours after Goldhill’s article was published the co-architect and co-chief petitioner of Measure 109, Tom Eckert, resigned as Psilocybin Advisory Board Chair following calls for his departure from a number of board members.

According to Willamette Week, Eckert wrote in his resignation letter:

“As my life continues to change, with more relationships taking shape, I am mindful of appearances. I do not want anything to distract from the earnest work of this Advisory Board. It feels like the right time to orient my energies to the next phase of the journey. I look forward to supporting the development of Oregon’s psilocybin infrastructure in new and different roles.”

Willamette Week also obtained emails through a public records request which add colour to the circumstances of Eckert’s resignation.

The board’s meeting in late February resulted in a unanimous vote to disclose board member conflicts of interest at the March 23^rd meeting.

Two days later, Shayla Love reported on potential conflicts of interest among the Advisory Board in an article titled, ‘In Oregon, Psychedelics Regulators Confront Conflicts of Interest.’ There, Love notes that “multiple sources in the psychedelic community confirmed they were aware of a relationship between Eckert and [Rachel] Aidan,” CEO of Synthesis Institute: a Dutch psychedelic retreat company with interest in Oregon. This failure to disclose a romantic relationship with the CEO of an interested party led to calls for Eckert’s resignation.

Additionally, Eckert founded a training company for psilocybin service centre facilitators.

With the Chair’s resignation coming just hours ahead of the Board’s training subcommittee meeting yesterday, the situation appears less than ideal.