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For Psychedelics, The Pharmaceutical And Natural Medicine Pathways Are Both Legitimate—And Compatible (Op-Ed)

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“The way of medicine and the way of natural medicine are not competing rivers, they are tributaries of the same watershed.”

By Shannon Hughes, Elemental Psychedelics via Colorado Newsline

The two signings, for 48 hours, have just changed how psychedelic medicine comes to America.

on April 18, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to speed up the federal review of psychedelic drugs due to serious mental illness. these days The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued national priority bonds for three commissioners—Compass Pathways for psilocybin-assisted therapy in treatment-resistant depression, American Institute for psilocybin in major depressive disorder, and Otsuka for methylone (a relative of MDMA) in PTSD. These vouchers can compress what is normally a 10- to 12-month FDA review process into less than a month or two.

On April 20, with less fanfare, Governor Jared Polis (D) signed the bill into law in the Colorado Senate 26-31. The bill specifies that the moment the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reschedules an FDA-approved Schedule I drug, it automatically follows Colorado law. Pharmaceutical psilocybin will be legal in Colorado pending federal approval.

I am hopeful about this. Patients with treatment-resistant depression have been waiting a long time. So veterans with PTSD. Practitioners who have been carefully preparing for this work for years have also done so.

I’m worried too. Not about what’s coming, but about what we might accidentally release the rush to receive.

SB-31 specifically deals with natural medicine and marijuana, leaving the scope of Colorado’s Proposition 122, which was approved by voters. natural medicine program with healing centers run by its facilitators– Completely intact. He cares more about that tidiness than it looks. Most states pursuing a psychedelic policy are choosing only one path, choosing between prescription medicine and community-based facilitators, as if the two are incompatible. Colorado is choosing both.

This is rarer than people think, and more honest about how healing actually works.

The pharmaceutical path and the natural medicine path are not competing rivers. They are tributaries of the same slope.

Different people need different doors. A patient with treatment-resistant depression needs a gateway for insurance to cover psilocybin-assisted therapy. Anyone in the community who wants to grieve a loss or find their way back through ceremony needs another.

Both are valid. The question facing Colorado now is not which path wins, but whether we can sustain both with integrity as the federal pace quickens.

Here’s what I worry the temptation will be: now that medicalized access is coming, some may think that the job of expanding community access is done. Healing centers, licensing of facilitators, the painstaking, slow work of implementing Prop 122—all of that may be de-prioritised, the thinking goes, as patients will soon be able to get psilocybin from a doctor and a pharmacy.

This would be a profound mistake. Medicalized access and community access respond to different needs, draw from different lineages of knowledge, and respond to different types of suffering. To collapse the two is to misunderstand what these drugs are asking of us. The work of reform and opening access is not done. Colorado voters chose a broader path with Prop. 122.

So here is what I would ask at this particular time.

To Colorado legislators and regulators: Stick with the voters. 122 Prop. The careful work of implementation: licensing of facilitators, regulation of healing centers, training standards, fair access and ongoing regulating how ibogaine will be introduced and whether or not-it is precisely the work that makes a wider path real. Finance it. The workers Defend against the gravitational pull of a federal model that threatens to absorb everything in its orbit because of its pace and resources.

To my colleagues who will soon be prescribing or administering these drugs: Please, let’s not treat psilocybin-assisted therapy as the next SSRI. A one- to two-month FDA review does not give practitioners a month or two to be ready. A real willingness to skillfully hold non-ordinary states of consciousness, to care for settings and settings, to support subsequent integration takes much longer than a ticking clock. Prepare well, and train before you prescribe, not after.

To Coloradoans: next year regulation of natural medicine Prop. 122 will shape what you actually give in your community. Public input is important here. show me

To other states looking at Colorado: A wider path is possible. Federal acceleration does not require community-based access to be granted. It makes protection more urgent, not less.

Medicines are coming, faster than we expected. The question is whether we will meet them with the depth and attention that this moment demands of us, and whether we will keep faith with the wider path that the people of Colorado have already chosen.

We can hold both. But only if we choose.

Dr. Shannon Hughes is the co-founder and program director of Elemental Psychedelics, a Colorado-based women-led training organization for psychedelic practitioners. He served as a consultant to the Qualifications, Training and Licensing Subcommittee of the Colorado Naturopathic Medicine Advisory Board and founded the Colorado nonprofit The Nowak Society.

This article was first published by Colorado Newsline.

user photo Mark Groeneveld.

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More cannabis companies join Texas medical marijuana program as list of potentials hits 15

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May 18, 2026

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Texas public safety officials have tentatively approved a dozen cannabis providers to join the state’s medical marijuana program. It’s an important step in expanding access to medical cannabis, after lawmakers voted last year to grow the system from three licensed operators to 15, state officials said.

The companies selected cover nearly every corner of Texas, from the Dallas area and the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley and West Texas, reflecting what supporters hope will become a statewide network. Among the 12 suppliers selected to move forward in the final approval process are four companies added since December. Then the Texas Department of Public Safety, which oversees the “Compassionate Use Program,” released an initial list of nine conditionally accepted applicants.

When completed, the licenses will allow the companies, many of them based in Texas, to grow, manufacture, store and sell throughout the state.

“DPS will request additional information from these businesses and will not bill the distributor organization licensing fees until additional due diligence evaluations are completed and passed,” DPS officials said in a statement.

Read more at Dallas Morning News










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Aurora granted Plant Breeders’ Rights in Canada

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1 day ago

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May 17, 2026

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Aurora Cannabis has been granted Plant Breeder’s rights in Canada for two cannabis cultivars developed through its global breeding program. This certificate gives Aurora exclusive rights to grow, propagate and sell finished products produced from these varieties.

The two protected cultivars, SOT20R07-007 (known as Gas Granja) and SOT20R07-005 (known as Driftwood Diesel), were developed at Aurora Coastal, Aurora’s industry-leading research and development facility in Comox, British Columbia. The company carefully selected these cultivars based on their unique characteristics, how they grow and how consistently they perform. Farm GasT and Driftwood DieselT are the leading medical cannabis products available to patients in Germany, Poland, the UK, Canada and Australia.

© Aurora Cannabis

“These plant breeder rights recognize the extensive work behind our core breeding, genetic development and testing program,” says Lana Culley, Aurora’s Vice President of Innovation and International Operations. “They reflect a cross-disciplinary approach to developing cultivars that provide consistency, performance and reliability to medical cannabis patients around the world.”

Understanding plant breeders’ rights in Canada
Plant breeders’ rights are a form of intellectual property protection, similar to patents, that apply specifically to new and different plant varieties. In Canada, plant breeders’ rights are granted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and give growers exclusive rights to produce and sell a protected plant variety. This framework recognizes the significant scientific investment required to develop cultivars that are clearly distinct and produce the same results over time. For Aurora, plant breeders’ rights protect the cannabis genetics developed through its in-house breeding program, supporting ongoing innovation and long-term research.

For more information:
Aurora Cannabis Inc.
auroramj.com



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New Jersey Police Fired For Off-Duty Marijuana Use Still Haven’t Been Reinstated Despite Court Ruling In Their Favor

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May 17, 2026

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“We thought they were going to come in and do the right thing, and they didn’t. They’re doubling down, and they’re lying, and that’s even worse.”

Author: Sophie Nieto-Muñoz, monitor from New Jersey

Earlier this month a state appeals court ruled in favor of two Jersey City police officers, saying they shouldn’t have. they were fired for using cannabis outside of workBut it’s unknown what the next steps are in the year-long battle over New Jersey’s legalization of marijuana.

A spokesman for James Solomon, a Democrat who became the city’s new mayor in January, said the city is reviewing the policies of Solomon’s predecessor, Steve Fulop, arguing that federal law prevents armed police officers from using cannabis. But the officers’ lawyer, Michael Rubas, said that the council refused to return them to their old jobs, despite several judgments that they should be reinstated.

“I’m very upset with the way the Salomon administration is handling things. We thought they were going to come in and do the right thing, and they’re not,” Rubas said. “They’re doubling down, and they’re lying, and that’s even worse.”

Solomon’s spokesman, Nathaniel Styer, declined to comment on Rubas’ charges, but noted that the mayor’s view on off-duty police use of cannabis differs depending on the city’s operation under Fulop.

“We are reviewing these policies because they do not align with our views and values,” said spokesman Nathaniel Styer.

The dispute dates back to 2022, months after New Jersey’s legal recreational cannabis market opens. The state attorney general told police departments at the time that the state’s marijuana legalization law did not allow officers to be disciplined for off-duty cannabis use, but Fulop argued that federal law prohibits anyone using a controlled substance from possessing a firearm.

In September 2022, two Jersey City police officers, Norhan Mansour and Omar Polanco, tested positive for cannabis they said they purchased legally on the market. The city suspended and then fired them, but the administrative law judge and then the state Civil Service Commission he sided with the officers and ordered the city to reinstate them. The officers were replaced in their duties in 2024, but did not return to their previous positions.

The municipality appealed two judgments, and on May 1, the state appeals panel govern for the officers A separate decision involving a third police officer upheld that officer’s termination for purchasing cannabis from an unlicensed person.

Rubas said Mansour and Polanco are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages, and have not returned their firearms IDs or weapons.

Jersey City spokesmen did not respond to multiple requests to inquire about the officers’ weapons. The spokesperson of the General Prosecutor’s Office did not want to comment.

The officers still have to have their police licenses reissued by the state Police Training Commission, Rubas said, adding that if the city cooperates, the officers could return to their regular positions within a week.

Rubas said he contacted the Solomon administration several times, including shortly after Solomon took office, to try to resolve the issue. He said he hoped the city’s attitude would change after Fulop left office.

“Nothing has changed. It’s gotten worse,” he said.

This story was first published by the New Jersey Monitor.

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