Both cities currently have two-year moratoriums on psilocybin businesses, which expire at the end of this year. It will be up to voters whether to permanently ban psilocybin starting Jan. 1.
Psilocybin, found in psychedelic mushrooms, is used to treat mental health issues like PTSD and severe depression. It was approved for therapeutic use in Oregon in 2020, but municipalities are allowed to govern its use within their borders.
Melanie Masterfield, Sutherlin city recorder, said residents voted to put a temporary moratorium on psilocybin businesses two years ago so the city could learn more about it.
"When psilocybin first kind of came on the scene, it was close to an election year, two years ago, and we didn't know much about it, so [the City] Council directed us to just impose a two-year moratorium to kind of put a pause on it while we researched and kind of learned more about it," she said.
Over two-thirds of Sutherlin residents voted in favor of the temporary ban in 2022.
The coastal city of Brookings is putting a similar ballot measure to its voters this fall. Almost two-thirds of Brookings voters were in favor of a two-year moratorium in 2022.
"Psilocybin in any form, service centers of any type, are prohibited from operating within the city limits of Brookings. So that's what went before the voters in 2022, and then the voters approved that for that two years," said Brookings Police Chief Kelby McCrae, who worked on this ballot measure in his former capacity as interim city manager.
Now, residents in both cities will vote on permanent bans this election.
Psilocybin businesses include service centers, which are the only places the drug can be legally consumed, and manufacturing operations.
Masterfield said if voters decide not to ban psilocybin businesses, there will still be restrictions on where in the city they could be.
"There are time, place and manner restrictions that would apply," she said.
McCrae said if Brookings voters do not ban psilocybin businesses, then the city could either implement restrictions on where and when such facilities could operate, or it could leave those rules up to the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the regulation of psilocybin in the state.
Both Masterfield and McCrae said they haven't heard much input from voters either way regarding these ballot measures.
McCrae said he's heard more discussions in Brookings about the recent revisions to Oregon's Measure 110. The 2020 measure decriminalized small amounts of hard drugs while also funding addiction services. But earlier this year, the state legislature revised the measure. As of Sept. 1, possessing small amounts of drugs is once again a misdemeanor.
He said he's heard some people who "kind of lumped it all in together" rather than distinguishing between the statewide Measure 110 and the city's upcoming vote on psilocybin.
