Emerging Psychedelic Jobs In Oregon: What’s Ahead

Treatment with psilocybin is now legal in Oregon. Colorado voters just elected to legalize treatment in November 2022 and the state will begin accepting healing center applications beginning December 31, 2024. Legislation establishing the framework for therapeutic use has been introduced in 2023 in several states – including Illinois and Connecticut, among others.

If I could predict the future, I’d be somewhere else right now and not writing this article. BUT, it sure seems like psychedelic legislation will continue moving in the decriminalization/legalization route.

Legalizing therapeutic use of psychedelics is great news for many people.

Numerous stakeholders across jobs and professions stand to gain due to the new jobs that are anticipated with the variety of new businesses opening. We’re going to touch on a few of those in today’s article.

To make this a bit more organized, we’ll split our discussion into two main types of jobs created with legalization of psychedelic therapy – “direct” jobs, and “indirect” jobs.

 

“Direct” Jobs Related to Psychedelic Treatment

“Direct” jobs are pretty self-descriptive: these are people directly dealing with psilocybin and patients.

Healthcare Providers

Healthcare workers will be needed to provide care to patients receiving psychedelic therapy.

Psychiatrists (medical doctors trained and specializing in psychiatry) and psychotherapists (a mental health professional who may be a psychiatrist, psychologist, or neither) will be needed to conduct sessions with patients. They help the patient try and make sense of feelings, memories, and insights that emerge after taking the psychedelic. They’re also needed to work with patients during integration sessions, in which the patient processes the psychedelic experience in the following days and weeks.

The Columbia University School of Social Work and University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing launched a collaborative effort to educate social workers and nurses about psychedelic-assisted therapy, “in anticipation of FDA approval of this type of treatment”. Many psychedelic trials to date featured two therapists during sessions. It’s possible for another healthcare worker, such as a trained nurse, social worker, or physician assistant, to serve as the second therapist working under the directive of a medical doctor who serves as the “lead” therapist during a session.

There’s also potential for healthcare providers to train in Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration (PHRI). PHRI doesn’t involve directly administering psychedelics; instead, clinicians use harm reduction practices with patients considering or already using psychedelics.

 

Support Staff and Administrators

Clinics need support staff and administrators. These workers handle the day to day operations of the office, allowing clinicians to focus on providing care. Tasks range from:

• Maintaining patient records in a secure, private manner

• Ensuring the practice stays in compliance with applicable rules and regulations

• Scheduling patient appointments

• Billing patients and maintaining office financial records

Office managers, medical assistants, and medical coding and billing professionals are just a few examples of jobs that will be created in this space.

Labs

Our economy is built on trust. Every economic transaction – no matter how big or small – relies on trust.

If I’m going to put something into my body, I don’t just want to trust that this product is what the manufacturer says it is. I NEED this trust.

Testing laboratories will analyze psilocybin manufactured for medical use to ensure it is safe for consumption.

We’ve already witnessed this play out with cannabis legalization over the past 10+ years. For example: the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) requires every batch of a cannabis product to undergo testing prior to selling to consumers. Labs analyze cannabis to check:

• The amounts of cannabinoids and terpenes, and whether this is accurately reflected on the label

• Any processing chemicals or residual solvents leftover from the manufacturing process, as well as any residual pesticides that may be present

• Heavy metal contamination

• Microbial impurities or mycotoxins

• Moisture content and water activity

• Other foreign materials which should not be present

After each test, a lab reports a Certificate of Analysis (COA). If a product fails, it is either destroyed, or the manufacturer is responsible for removing contaminants and submitting for re-testing.

We’ll see a similar process for psilocybin. Psilocybin batches will need testing to ensure the drug is “pure” and the dose is accurately labeled.

What kinds of jobs are at these labs, and what’s the pay like? At the time of this writing, there are 14 jobs posted on Glassdoor for the search result “cannabis laboratory technician”, with pay ranging from $19 to $28/hour, depending on the position.

 

Manufacturers and Growers

None of the jobs described thus far will exist if no one grows any psilocybin.

Looking at examples in the cannabis industry – a current job posting for a full-time “Head grower” in a company located in central California posts a pay range between $91K and $114K/year, with insurance, 401K match, and additional benefits.

Another posting for a general manager at an Aeriz facility in Riverside, CA has a pay range of $165K – $225K/year. Education requirement? “Bachelor’s degree in a manufacturing operations or business-related discipline.” Not bad! And, while they’re looking for 7 – 10 years experience in “management and leadership”, they’re looking at experience not only in cannabis, but in industries such as wine and spirits, food, pharmaceuticals, and other consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries.

 

“Indirect” Jobs Related to Psychedelic Treatment

Psychedelic treatment will also create many “indirect” or “peripheral” roles and jobs. These roles often won’t work directly with patients or psychedelic medications, but are still essential – without these, people won’t receive psychedelic treatment.

Wholesalers

In the pharmacy world, wholesalers purchase drugs from manufacturers and then sell them to pharmacies. Why the middleman? Because manufacturers and pharmacies don’t have expertise in logistics, distribution, and operations, or the infrastructure or equipment needed to do so. Wholesalers are the bridge connecting drug manufacturing and drug treatment.

In the “direct” jobs space above, we discussed people who will manufacture, test, and administer psychedelics. What’s missing? Someone to get the drugs from Point A to Point B.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out with psychedelics. My guess is established businesses will simply add psychedelics to their existing portfolio. Big players in this space include McKesson (NYSE: MCK), AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC), and Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH). However, these are BIG corporations. They may not move as quickly or be able to respond to the needs of startups in a small, new industry. There’s potential for new players who specialize in psychedelic wholesale and logistics (although I still think anyone who finds success here will be bought out by one of the big fish).

 

Educators

A major component behind Oregon’s new law legalizing psilocybin therapy is educating and training session facilitators. Facilitators are tasked with a wide range of tasks related to psilocybin treatment, including:

• Screening patients for contraindications (a reason to NOT receive treatment) to psilocybin therapy

• Preparing patients for the psilocybin session, such as pre-session interviews

• Signing off on the amount of psilocybin the patient will take in the session

• Offering integration services to the patient following the psilocybin session

In other words – Oregon is relying heavily on facilitators to make this experiment work.

There are only two requirements to become a facilitator in Oregon: hold a high school diploma or GED, and graduate from an accredited facilitator training program. You don’t need to be a healthcare professional (although some training programs may choose to set this as a prerequisite to join the program). You don’t need experience as a therapist.

It’s extremely hard to project salaries here. Some guess $80/K annually, but in my opinion it’s as if they chose a number that sounds “good enough” and ran with it. Apparently this is the amount Americans claim it takes for them to switch jobs so maybe they’re onto something?

You can view a list of approved curriculum programs at https://psilocybin.oregon.gov/training-approved.

 

Legal

We have lawyers covering every profession and career space in America. Do you need me to tell you psilocybin and psychedelic therapy will be any different? It’s America, the lawyers always come out ahead.

OK, sorry for the generalization. This article took longer than I expected to write and I’m lashing out at other professions in response.

Anyway – as you can probably guess, the rules and regulations regarding Oregon’s psilocybin treatment program are 1) lengthy, and 2) written in legalese. Lawyers and law firms have already found a space ripe with need for legal experts specializing in these new regulations. I’m not even sure what to call this specialty. Psychedelic law? One firm lists “PSYCHEDELICS & EMERGING THERAPIES” so let’s go with that!

Manufacturers of psilocybin used in treatment sessions will need legal assistance. Healthcare providers and facilitators administering psilocybin will need legal assistance. Patients will need legal assistance. Labs will need legal assistance. EVERYONE involved in the space will need legal assistance. Psilocybin’s Schedule I classification makes this complicated, since the substance and use of it will still violate federal law but not state/local law.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve reviewed both direct and indirect jobs which will be created as a result of Oregon Measure 109. “Direct” jobs are as they sound – people working directly with psilocybin or patients taking psilocybin. On the other hand, indirect jobs typically won’t work directly with patients or psychedelic medications, instead working peripherally to critically support the ecosystem.

It’s currently very difficult to project exactly how many jobs will be created, and what sort of pay these jobs may offer. But in chaos there is opportunity – maybe YOU will start a vital business in this space. There’s plenty of room at the moment, if you’re ready to work in a rapidly changing, unpredictable, high-risk but very high-reward space.