Colorado’s new Natural Medicine Advisory Board faces a tight timeline as it crafts its first regulations for Colorado’s psychedelics industry. The board is beginning its work after voters approved Proposition 122 in November 2022.
Some advocates said they were pleased to see Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) appoint well-qualified researchers and academics to the board, but also said that the board has a lot of work ahead to write its first set of regulations by its statutory September 30 deadline.
The first public meeting for the Natural Medicine Advisory Committee will be on April 13 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“It’s all slowly evolving, slowly starting to be pieced together,” Shannon Hughes, a board member of The Nowak Society, a nonprofit advocacy group, told the Colorado Times Recorder in an interview. “And I think that is the primary concern right now.”
One issue that Hughes pointed to is that it took a little more than two months for the Colorado Senate to approve the board. Polis initially appointed the 15-person board in late January, but they were not confirmed until March 17.
Hughes added that the board’s delayed start has reduced the amount of time it can spend having “thoughtful deliberations” about how to regulate the new industry.
“They’re up against a huge task and a nearly impossible timeline,” Hughes said.
Natasia Poinsatte, executive director for the Healing Advocacy Fund, a national nonprofit, told the Colorado Times Recorder that concerns about the board’s timeline are overblown. Proposition 122 requires the board to go through a 22-month rulemaking process, which Poinsatte said is plenty of time for vigorous debate.
At the same time, Poinsatte said the board includes a wide variety of perspectives from people who work in academia, law enforcement, psychology, and health care. She added that it was clear from Polis’ appointments that the board members will bring a strong equity lens to their work as well.
“The board is certainly facing a tight timeline but if they are ready to hit the ground running and set up a subcommittee, then it should be plenty of time to create robust regulations,” Poinsatte said.
However, some advocates like Jonathan Treem, who studies the use of psychedelics in hospice and palliative care at the University of Colorado Anschutz, said that the board’s underrepresentation of the health care industry could become problematic as regulations are made. At the same time, Treem said the law’s vague wording may lead to a situation where vulnerable populations like people with terminal illnesses fall to the wayside.
Dr. Joshua Goodwin, a former military doctor, is the only person of the board members who is a medical doctor, according to their bios. Dr. Sofia Chavez, a natural medicine practitioner from Lakewood, and Dr. Sue Sisley, a primary care physician from Arizona, are two other members who have health care experience.
Meanwhile, the law requires the board to recommend actions to lawmakers and state agencies about how psychedelic medicines can be used to treat “various mental health conditions” such as substance abuse disorder, alcoholism, and end-of-life anxiety.
Poinsatte said the issues surrounding representation could be addressed when the board’s subcommittee is formed. She added that she expects to see a greater presence of health care professionals on the subcommittee.
Despite his concerns, Treem said he added that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the work that the board will soon undertake.
“This is a completely new arena for Colorado to enter,” Treem said. “Right now, we’re in a place where we don’t know a lot more than we do know. So, it is imperative that the board make sure they account for the sickest of the sick as they craft new regulations.”
