Attorney Brett Phelps, speaking for the Psychedelic Bar Association’s New Mexico Working Group, testified that forcing tenants to disclose medical treatment collides with fair housing laws and could trigger direct lawsuits against the state.

Attorney Brett Phelps, speaking for the Psychedelic Bar Association’s New Mexico Working Group, testified that forcing tenants to disclose medical treatment collides with fair housing laws and could trigger direct lawsuits against the state. Disability Rights New Mexico also submitted legal analysis opposing the rule, while advocates noted that similar litigation in Oregon has already cost regulators hundreds of thousands of dollars. Psilocybin advisory board chair Ian Dunn, the sole Gen Z representative involved in developing the program, told officials that the rule creates two classes of patients: “Those who own property can make decisions for themselves. Those who do not must ask someone else.” Speakers also criticized session staffing ratios and training gaps that could rapidly deplete the Treatment Equity Fund. Requiring both a practitioner and a facilitator at individual sessions doubles bedside costs, Johnson said, while Dr. Maria Feeney noted that group rules requiring five staff members for eight patients defeat the cost-saving purpose of group therapy. Furthermore, Steinborn, Leeman and Wilson urged the state to mandate specific minimum hours in the 75-hour curriculum for end-of-life care, trauma-informed care, suicidality screening and managing challenging experiences, while Indigenous healers and local educators (including Patricio Dominguez, Equity Committee Chair DezBaa’, Dr. Courtney Hale and Cheyenne medicine woman Sage Romanos) called on the state to honor traditional curanderismo and Indigenous lineages rather than outsourcing training to out-of-state corporations. Amid the widespread pushback over patient entry bottlenecks and property owner mandates, several clinical educators and mental health practitioners praised the New Mexico Department of Health for establishing rigorous training, supervision and workforce transition standards. During oral testimony, Changa Institute founder and CEO Lisa Ginsburg applauded regulators for prioritizing patient safety and creating a reciprocity pathway that allows accredited out-of-state programs to help train New Mexico’s initial cohort of providers. Dr. Janice Phelps, founder of the California Institute of Integral Studies’ psychedelic therapies certification program, similarly commended the state’s clinical standards, arguing that relying on robust provider training is the best way to guarantee safety while loosening administrative barriers to access. In written comments included in the department’s exhibit binder, Santa Fe licensed mental health counselor Danielle Leonard urged the agency to retain three core provisions: requiring licensed therapists to serve as practitioners, maintaining graduated clinical practicum standards, and mandating at least 10 hours of no-cost, post-graduation mentoring. Because psilocybin sessions bring trauma and grief to the surface, Leonard wrote, “these provisions mean that New Mexicans in this program will be cared for by clinicians who are well trained, well supported, and accountable.” Similarly, Dr. Patricia Singh, an Albuquerque licensed professional clinical counselor and executive director of the outpatient substance use clinic A New Awakening, commended the department’s “thoughtful, clinically responsible regulatory framework,” specifically endorsing the transitional 40-hour practicum pathway for experienced applicants alongside temporary “other approved locations” to expand rural access. As regulators review the Oct. 2 record, 16 advocacy and clinical organizations have petitioned House Appropriations and Finance Committee Chair Rep. Nathan P. Small, D-Las Cruces, in a community letter to appropriate an additional $500,000 for the Treatment Equity Fund, allocate $500,000 for University of New Mexico palliative research and extend $1.5 million in previously appropriated development and research funds through fiscal year 2027. The regulatory debate comes as the New Mexico Department of Health’s Center for Medical Cannabis and Psilocybin moves forward with supply-side licensing, recently issuing the state’s first medical psilocybin producer permit to Sacred Alto Spores ahead of the program’s accelerated end-of-year launch.