Colorado is making its way through the final regulatory hurdles to launch psychedelic-assisted therapy in 2025. This week, a final decision on the fees for healing centers, cultivators and manufacturers was pushed back to allow more time for the public to weigh in.

After Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies and Department of Revenue finalized rules around training and licensing procedures, the final step to launch the voter-initiated psilocybin program will be setting these business license fees. The Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division must have the fees finalized and in place before Dec. 31 when it will begin accepting business applications. 

The rules were scheduled to be finalized during a rulemaking hearing on Monday, Sept. 16, but following comments received before the hearing, the division decided to continue the hearing until October. As such, the division will continue accepting comments on its draft fees until that hearing. 

---

---

“We think it’s important that everyone have clarity around what is going to be going before the state licensing authority before (it) considers the full record for rule adoption,” said Dominique Mendiola, the division’s senior director, on Monday. “This does mean, however, that final fees will not be effective as early as we had hoped to give applicants that line of sight as they prepare.”

Tasia Poinsatte, director of the Healing Advocacy Fund in Colorado, said the decision to delay and allow for additional feedback “shows the agency’s commitment to thoughtfully and diligently engaging with stakeholders to make a program that is truly safe, equitable and accessible.” 

---

---

The Healing Advocacy Fund is a nonprofit that was started to help with Oregon’s rollout of psilocybin therapy. It created a Colorado office following the 2022 election and has been engaged with the state throughout the rulemaking process. 

The fees proposed by the division would aim to cover the cost of nine division staff salaries and operational expenses, estimated at around $1.7 million annually. To incentivize early participation, fees in the first year will be lower than those received after Dec. 31, 2025. Different fee levels are proposed based on the type of business including psychedelic therapy facilitators, healing centers, cultivation facilities, manufacturers, testing facilities and more. 

Poinsatte said one of their main concerns is that the proposed fees for micro-healing centers will be too high in 2027.

“The Micro Healing Center license type is intended to make it possible for small mental health practices to add psilocybin therapy as a modality of care at their existing location,” Poinsatte said. “Implementation of these services is likely to have a slow start — particularly in rural communities — due to a lack of public education and understanding around psychedelic therapy, which presents challenges for the profitability and viability of these healing centers. High licensing fees will prevent many individual therapists and small practices from offering this service.”

As a potential solution, the Healing Advocacy Fund has suggested that the fees be tiered based on size or that a new fee category be created for sole proprietors.

As Colorado prepares to start offering psilocybin therapy next year, the Department of Revenue launched a survey to estimate the number of license applications it will receive. As of Monday, it had received 117 responses. Of these responses:

• 22 expressed interest in obtaining a healing center license, 
• 70 in a micro-healing center license, 
• 49 in a cultivation license, 
• 34 in a products manufacturing license and 
• Four in a testing facility license. 

While these numbers provide a baseline for the state, Poinsatte said she believes there will be fewer cultivation and manufacturing applications than what the state department is anticipating. 

“The scale of cultivation for this program is quite small because the therapy model focuses on a small number of moderate- to high-dose sessions with supportive care. Many people experience significant relief from just one or two sessions,” she added. “The bulk of the program is focused on the provision of support services surrounding the psychedelic experience, so we expect to see significantly more healing centers than cultivators or manufacturers across the state — contrary to the Department of Revenue’s predictions.”

The state department is expected to set the final hearing date in October.