Oregon, the first state to legalize psilocybin therapy services, continues to roll out the foundations of its new psychedelic medicine industry. Back in March, the state issued its first manufacturer license, and now the first treatment center has opened for business.
Epic Healing Eugene has just become Oregon’s first licensed treatment center, starting its operations on Friday.
Under the new law, adults 21 and over can purchase psilocybin treatments, given under the supervision of trained facilitators in Oregon’s licensed facilities (licenses for manufacturing, training, and therapy centers are slowly being awarded by the state). Epic Healing Eugene is the first treatment center of its kind, having spent months and many thousands of dollars navigating the regulatory landscape.
Oregon’s rollout is a test case for what the forthcoming psychedelic industry might look like, from both the infrastructure point of view — and the future financial models for psychedelic therapy.
Advocates for psychedelic access have been sounding the alarm on what a for-profit psychedelic system would look like, with concerns that high prices will leave only the wealthiest patients with access to therapy. Current estimates range from very expensive ($11,500 for a set of 3 MDMA-assisted therapy sessions) to outlandish ($20,000 – $30,000 for Australia’s new rescheduling of psychedelic therapy).
What will the final costs be once we roll therapy out at scale? Will insurance cover treatments? This is the great unknown. But we now have one of our first looks at what treatment costs might look like in the real world.
Epic Healing Eugene has released its price list, giving a glimpse of what it might cost to partake in these early psilocybin therapy offerings. (Keep in mind, this is for one small treatment center in Oregon, not exactly the best example of economies of scale)
Initial prices range from $300 for a group microdose session — to $3,500 for an individual high-dose session. All sessions (above microdose level) include 1-hour preparation session and 1-hour integration session post-treatment.
Some observations. These prices do not include the cost of the psilocybin, so a high-dose session could run over $4,000 (depending on the cost of regulated psilocybin). Group sessions, normally a method to lower prices for patients, still cost $2,300. Microdose sessions run from $300 to $500 for a “guided healing activity” (but without therapy sessions) — considering that microdosing is generally taken several times per week to get full benefits, this option seems pretty cost prohibitive.
So here we have it, the nation’s first legal psilocybin treatment center. And a look at what prices may be for non-insured, out-of-pocket psychedelic treatments. Are these prices out of reach for most Americans? Probably. Will insurance come online as it is for some ketamine treatments? Unknown.
But Epic Healing Eugene, likely motivated with the good intentions of offering patients much-needed psilocybin treatments — is giving us a glimpse into the economic realities of running a smaller-scale psychedelic treatment clinic, and a look at the financial hurdles facing patients.
