Safety comes from education, honesty, and care, not from prosecution.
“More education leads to more safety. More safety leads to more healing. That is the whole theory, and it is why we exist.”
Learn about why we exist, who we are, and what we’re doing now and next →
Our first campaign
Yes for Natural Medicine
Join the community-led movement in Portland, OR to create more safety and education for natural psychedelics.
Passed, 10 to 0. Portland City Council adopted the Act on September 30, 2026.
September 30, 2026
It passed. Ten to zero.
Portland City Council adopted the Portland Psychedelic Health & Safety Act on Wednesday, September 30. Every councilor in the room voted yes, including Councilor Loretta Smith, who had voted no in committee. Two were absent. From the reading of the title to the last aye, it took under three minutes.
The three minutes sat on top of seven years of organizing, a first reading, and sixteen people at the testimony table a week earlier. Before the roll call, Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney thanked “the advocates who brought forward their concerns,” the committee members who got the language “to a place that could gain broad support,” and the Police Bureau commander who worked alongside her office.
“I want to thank again everyone who shared their stories. You really made an impact on us.”
What passed is narrow on purpose. It makes non-commercial personal use, growing, gifting and sharing of natural psychedelic plants and fungi a low priority for city law enforcement. It does not legalize or decriminalize anything. It does not change state or federal law. Sales stay illegal, and impaired driving is still enforced. Under the City Charter it takes effect thirty days after passage, on October 30, 2026.
What comes next is public education, starting with the Guide, and work toward the same protections statewide in Oregon’s 2027 legislative session.
How it got there
The first reading, September 23
A week before the vote, Council heard the Act for the first time and took public testimony. Two minutes each, from the people this policy is about. What follows is that morning: what councilors said, and one line from every person who testified.
Three of the councilors on that dais, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Mitch Green, and Eric Zimmerman, were among the eleven candidates the Action Fund endorsed in 2024. More on our endorsements.
“Listening to your testimony today … was incredibly moving … and definitely changes my thinking about this. … I’m definitely supportive of this.”
Vice President Clark opened by saying she is “a child of the 60s” who came to this with “a very different relationship with psychedelics,” and closed by saying that with more time she would have offered an emergency clause. Councilor Dan Ryan, who said he had heard caution from constituents, put it this way: “With an abundance of caution, I’m totally leaning towards supporting this.”
What Council said
Eight councilors spoke to the Act on September 23. Every one of them, in their own words.
“We have the opportunity to provide clarity, to provide consistency with the practice that’s already in place, and to make sure that we’re clear about what is a priority in our community for enforcement.”
“I share the PTSD that many of you have from my service, and I think that’s why I chose to throw my support behind this ordinance. … I appreciate the care and the lived experience that I’m feeling in the room.”
“It is such a simple thing that can make people’s lives better. And when government can take the opportunity to do something simple to make people’s lives better, we should take that step.”
“I’m proud to be a co-sponsor. It’s so important that we prioritize community safety and make sure that we’re preserving our resources at the city for the most urgent community needs.”
“It was incredibly moving, and I so appreciate you, and definitely changes my thinking about this. … I’m definitely supportive of this.”
“I’ve had multiple members talk to me about a positive experience, much of what was shared today by members of the public in their testimony. And I hear that positive experience as truthful. … I appreciate folks considering this and passing it.”
“Regulating and guided seem to be the key for the system to work. … With an abundance of caution, I’m totally leaning towards supporting this.”
“I strongly support this ordinance as amended. Designating personal psychedelic use as a low priority for law enforcement makes sense. … Good ordinance, should pass.”
Councilor Loretta Smith was absent for the item. Councilor Candace Avalos asked implementation questions about disparate impact and reporting; the Police Bureau said it expects no operational change and is neutral. Council President Jamie Dunphy presided. The item passed to second reading as amended without objection. One week later, ten councilors voted yes, Councilor Smith among them.
In their own words
Sixteen people testified. Here is one line from each.
Two minutes apiece, on the record. Every quote links to the moment in the city’s video. Use the arrows, swipe, or just let it turn.
“For over 10 years, I suffered and nothing helped. … It is in my experience with psilocybin and psychedelics that I am alive today, giving this testimony to you. I would not be alive without them.”
“I really believe it would be deeply immoral for us to use any of our resources to prosecute anyone who’s trying to better themselves.”
“Not everyone does feel welcome or like they belong in the regulated model. So having another avenue for where everyone can be captured, I think, is essential.”
“If the City of Portland does not have enough law enforcement resources to vigorously investigate homicides and other serious person crimes, I respectfully submit that it does not have enough law enforcement resources to apprehend or prosecute people for their use of natural psychedelics.”
“Creating safety is a collaborative effort. The more we are supported by our local community, the more we can support those who are seeking healing.”
“The people of Portland deserve this potential for healing and the autonomy to explore their own consciousness. They deserve this without fear of prosecution or the stigma attached.”
“Portlanders are already doing this work. And right now, without clear education, they do it with less support and more risk. This ordinance lets them do it safely and without fear. That is psychological safety. That is public health.”
“Help make it safer for our lights to shine so that those of us who found our way back can be beacons for those who are still lost.”
“I tried everything that my doctors and therapists had suggested without much luck or success until I tried psilocybin, and it was very life-changing in so many positive ways.”
“As an educator and a researcher, I know how critical it is for the public to learn both about harm reduction and the massive support for the efficacy of these plant and fungi medicines.”
“It’s rare to have the opportunity to take seemingly small steps that add up to shape city history. This is one of those moments.”
“One phrase I kept hearing from so many people along the way: if it wasn’t for psychedelics, I wouldn’t be here today. But the promise is not only personal healing. It is the healing of society as a whole.”
“Communities historically over-policed for drug use deserve the psychological safety of knowing they won’t be punished for seeking healing. Stigma drives use underground, which means less harm reduction and more risk.”
“This ordinance codifies existing cultural values and practices and allows limited law enforcement resources to continue to effectively focus on urgent community needs.”
“What I see most often is not people looking for hype. It’s people looking for trustworthy information, help making sense of powerful experiences, and a community where they can ask questions without fear or shame.”
“We don’t want to create problems. [We] want people to have the kind of healing that I had.”
Photos: Portland Psychedelic Society.
In their words
“Our family was one of the main supporters of Measure 109, and we are excited to see this responsible and complementary policy advance in Portland, enabling responsible, self-regulating community use, and the mutual safety, support and accountability that involves.”
“This measure will be a major contribution to the community.”
“We’re in Washington State, and follow the work and regulatory advances in Portland and Oregon. Thank you, Oregonians, for your leadership!”
“Our small local manufacturing business supports this measure to add options for mental health care.”
An open letter in support of Ordinance 2026-186, the Psychedelic Health and Safety Code
We, the undersigned: Portland residents, physicians and health professionals, researchers, licensed facilitators, small business owners, and community organizations from across Oregon and beyond, write in strong support of Ordinance 2026-186, and we respectfully urge you to vote yes.
The ordinance is simple and sensible. It makes enforcement of laws against personal, non-commercial use, cultivation, gifting, and free community ceremonies involving naturally occurring psychedelic plants and fungi among the City’s lowest law enforcement priorities. It authorizes no sales and no commerce.
Explore
Where would you like to start?
In the news
The vote, and the road to it.
Coverage of the Act. Each card links to the original story.
“People seeking healing should not have to live in fear of unnecessary criminalization.”Portland Psychedelic Society We Did It, Portland: How a Community Turned Years of Care Into Public Policy
“Every voice added momentum. Together, those voices reached City Hall and changed public policy.”The Oregonian Deprioritize policing of psychedelic mushrooms, Portland councilors say
“It aligns city code with current practices and it ensures consistency moving forward, regardless of leadership changes”KPTV Fox 12 Portland considers deprioritizing psychedelics
“I share the PTSD that many of you have for my service, and I think that’s why I chose to throw my support behind this ordinance”FM News 101 KXL Portland City Councilors Advancing Ordinance Adding Psychedelic Health and Safety Chapter to City Code
“It is in my experience with Psilocybin and psychedelics that I am alive today”Willamette Week Portland Medical Leaders Rally Around the Potential of Shrooms
“The data are very clear that the Oregon Psilocybin Services program in fact is safe.”
More coverage: NUG Magazine, September 30, 2026 · KATU 2, July 2, 2026 · The Oregonian, June 2, 2026 · Willamette Week, February 12, 2026 · Marijuana Moment, October 2024 · Willamette Week, April 2021
What this is
The Portland Psychedelic Health & Safety Act, adopted by City Council on September 30, 2026, makes personal use of natural psychedelics a low priority for law enforcement in our city, and it comes with a commitment from us to more safety and education. This policy and movement acknowledges millennia-old, cross-cultural traditions of engaging with psychedelics for individual and community healing, building connectedness, creative expression, spiritual insight and personal growth, and supports the autonomy to explore one’s consciousness and connection to other humans and the Earth.
The healing potential of these plants is deeply interwoven with Indigenous communities all over the world who have been the protectors of psychedelic plant medicines for thousands of years, including them in culture, relationship to land and Indigenous science. More recently in the Global North, academic studies on natural psychedelics (like psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca brew, wachuma, mimosa tenuiflora) have continued to demonstrate that these plants have considerable potential in addressing mental health conditions like addiction, depression, end-of-life anxiety, and severe long term post-traumatic stress.
The road ahead
From Portland City Hall to the rest of Oregon
Get involved
Ready to join the movement? Here’s how you can help.
Whether you are a community member or organization, we’re excited you’re here! Click below to find ways to get involved and take action now on health and safety for natural psychedelics in our community.
“We envision a world in which individuals have the freedom and support to explore consciousness through psychedelics.” Portland Psychedelic Society
Stay in the loop
The Act passed. Education and the statewide work come next, and we email when there is something real to say.
Our community
Policy is people. These are ours.
Photographs courtesy of the Portland Psychedelic Society, our partner organization.
September 30, 2026
It passed, 10 to 0
Portland City Council adopted the Psychedelic Health & Safety Act. Every councilor present voted yes. See what passed and what comes next.