RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump’s health secretary; Federal lawsuit against Oregon’s psilocybin program; Changing psilocybin laws in India?
Plus: Dr. Bronner’s sued for wrongful death, and Rhode Island considers decriminalization bill
Happy Friday and welcome back to The Microdose, an independent journalism newsletter brought to you by the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed as Trump’s health secretary
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. His nomination was opposed by all Senate Democrats as well as Republican Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who said in a statement that as a survivor of polio, he believes the Trump administration “deserves a leader who is willing to acknowledge without qualification the efficacy of life-saving vaccines and who can demonstrate an understanding of basic elements of the U.S. healthcare system.”
Some psychedelics advocates cheered the announcement, as Kennedy has previously spoken in support of psychedelics. Psychedelic researcher Matthew Johnson called the development “great news,” writing on X that it was “a great prospect for psychedelic medicine.” Doug Drysdale, CEO of the psychedelic company Cybin, congratulated Kennedy on X and cheered his “openness to the potential of psychedelic therapeutics.”
Others were less enthusiastic. “While I'm sure the ‘Joe Brogans’ are salivating at the idea of this guy shaping health policy and being pro-psychedelics, he seems staunchly anti-science and incapable of understanding how evaluating the effectiveness of medicines actually works,” University of Minnesota neuroscientist and Psychedelic Society of Minnesota founder Jessica Nielsen wrote on LinkedIn.
Federal lawsuit against Oregon’s psilocybin program
Last Friday, a federal judge presided over the first in-person argument in Cusker v. Oregon Health Authority, a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by four Oregon psilocybin facilitators against the state agency that oversees psilocybin services in the state. In the suit, the facilitators allege that the Oregon Psilocybin Services’ requirement that all psilocybin sessions take place in a service center violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Facilitators say some of their clients with disabilities or terminal illnesses are unable to leave their homes and travel to service centers, but that the state has not made reasonable accommodations for those clients, which the ADA requires.
The case opens up a potential clash between state and federal law. Lawyers representing the state sought to dismiss the suit, saying federal court is the wrong venue. They argue that if the federal court were to order the Oregon Health Authority to allow homebound clients to receive psilocybin at home, they’d essentially be ordering the state to violate federal law, since psilocybin is a Schedule I drug. “They would like to change the law in Oregon and they’re trying to use federal jurisdiction to do that,” said Oregon assistant attorney general Sadie Forzley, who argued on behalf of the state on Friday. But the plaintiffs lawyer, Jordan Harris, presented a counterargument: If Oregon Health Authority isn’t bound by federal laws like the ADA, could the state program also legally discriminate on the basis of race, or refuse to allow service animals? “That simply can’t be the case,” Harris said.
In response, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai noted that if he were to require the Oregon Health Authority to change its policy that would essentially cause him to “legislate from the bench” or “sidestep the will of the people.” Judge Kasubhai even raised the possibility that the case could end Oregon’s psilocybin services program. “If the statute on its own violates the ADA, then perhaps it should be struck altogether,” he said. Given that both sides in this case want psilocybin services to continue, it seems unlikely — but still possible — that this case could invite federal scrutiny of the state program.
But Judge Kasubhai also seemed committed to troubleshooting, asking if providing mobile treatment centers — one possibility raised by members of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board, and other advocates — might be an amenable solution to both sides. Neither side seemed particularly interested in that option. The judge is now weighing whether the program violates federal ADA laws.
Meanwhile, Colorado, the only other state with a psilocybin program, has proposed rules that would allow people who are home-bound or in hospice care to receive services outside a licensed center.
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Changing psilocybin laws in India?
According to a recent ruling in India’s Kerala High Court, psilocybin-containing mushrooms do not qualify as a drug controlled by the country’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The New Indian Express reports that in the case of a man named Rahul Rai, arrested for psilocybin mushroom possession as well as other drugs, the judge assigned to the case wrote that mushrooms are a natural fungus, “not narcotic substances and cannot be treated as psychotropic substances under the NDPS Act.”
Mycologist Paul Stamets wrote on X that he believed the decision “sets a significant legal precedent,” and “opens the door for discussions on potential legal reforms in India, especially concerning substances with medical applications.”
Family of late Dr. Bronner’s employee sues company for wrongful death
In January 2022, Dr. Bronner’s, the company long known for its castile soap, began offering ketamine-assisted therapy as part of the company’s employee benefits. David Bronner, the company’s CEO (“Cosmic Engagement Officer”), has given millions to efforts advancing access to psychedelics, including providing funds to help pass ballot initiatives in Oregon and Colorado that created psilocybin programs.
At the end of 2022, Denise Lozano, a Dr. Bronner’s employee, received a “k-massage” — a massage accompanied by a dose of ketamine — at her home, and hours later, she was dead. Recently, her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in California Superior Court, alleging that Lozano died from an overdose of MDMA or MDA (an analog of MDMA) given to her by the k-massage practitioner, a man named Christian Allbert. They also allege that Dr. Bronner’s company policies and culture of drug use were to blame for Lozano’s death.
The lawsuit names Dr. Bronner’s parent company All One Faith God Inc., along with David Bronner and his wife Mia, Allbert, and another Dr. Bronner’s employee. “Denise was told on several occasions that the company’s philosophy around injury is that ‘physical pain is past emotional trauma leaving the body; and the wellness program was intended to facilitate this transformation,” according to the suit. The plaintiffs allege that Lozano injured her back working with Dr. Bronner’s at Burning Man, and had sought out ketamine-assisted therapy to treat it — including the k-massage session on the night of her death, during which her family says Allbert gave her MDA or MDMA.
When asked to comment on the lawsuit, Ryan Fletcher, Dr. Bronner’s vice president of public relations, directed The Microdose to a company statement. Lozano was a “beloved employee and treasured member of the Dr. Bronner’s community,” according to the company, but “the lawsuit against us is baseless and we are confident it will be dismissed.” The statement says that the treatment given to Lozano before her death was “unrelated to the legal and authorized program our company offers.” The Lozanos’ lawyer said the family had no comment at this time.
Rhode Island considers decrim bill
At a Tuesday meeting, the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee discussed HB 5186, a bill that would allow people to cultivate psilocybin mushrooms for personal use. This is the second time the state’s house is considering this proposal. A nearly identical bill was first introduced by Representative Brandon Potter (D) in 2023; the house voted 56-11 to pass it, but it died in the state senate.
Potter invited psychedelic law scholar Victoria Litman to testify. She said that the bill presented an exciting opportunity for the state to be the first to pass a psychedelics decriminalization bill without setting up a regulated access model like Oregon and Colorado’s. When committee members asked about regulated access and commercial models, Potter said he did not support them after seeing the high cost of access in Oregon, where psilocybin sessions often cost thousands of dollars.
Veterans are growing their own psilocybin mushrooms, brewing their own ayahuasca, and extracting their own DMT, reports 2024 Ferriss-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism fellow Anne Marshall-Chalmers in The War Horse.
Popular Mechanics highlights the Snowball mushroom, a newly engineered strain of psilocybin mushroom that “resembles dozens of snowballs packed together.”
For the The New York Times, Andrew Jacobs and “I Feel Love” author Rachel Nuwer write about the watchdog group Psymposia, and Psychedelic Alpha’s Josh Hardman probes the psychedelic world’s reaction to the piece and its claims.
On Wednesday, MAPS announced that its executive director Kris Lotliikar is stepping down, with longtime employees Ismail Ali and Betty Aldworth taking over as interim co-directors until the organization hires a new executive director.
The Canadian Television Network interviews Benji Dezaval, who goes by Teopixqui Dez, founder of the Psychedelic Church of Colorado Springs.
You’re all caught up! We’re off on Monday for the U.S. holiday, but we’ll be back in your inbox next Friday with a new issue of This Week in Psychedelics.
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