Bringing Psilocybin Treatment to Minnesota
October 6, 2026
A bipartisan effort is moving the state closer to a regulated psilocybin treatment program.
Kurtis Hanna is a man on a mission. Three years ago, he was part of the group of advocates who lobbied the Minnesota Legislature to legalize cannabis for adult-use. He’s now at the forefront of work towards legalizing another Schedule I drug in Minnesota: psilocybin.
Psilocybin, of course, is the psychedelic substance contained in magic mushrooms. It’s “the THC of ‘shrooms,” as one friend put it. Its legal status and journey to possible legalization share some important parallels with, but also key differences from, the story of cannabis legalization.
Like cannabis, psilocybin is still a Schedule I drug, carrying serious penalties under federal law and state law, though Minneapolis has made it a low police priority, effectively decriminalizing possession.
At the same time, an increasing number of studies have shown psilocybin showing promise in helping people struggling with addiction, PTSD, anxiety, and more. That has led some states to legalize it in limited ways.
As in cannabis, Oregon and Colorado have led the way. Oregon was the first state to legalize psilocybin, and now has a thriving network of psilocybin service centers that have served 16,000 patients since opening in 2023.
However, unlike adult-use cannabis legalization, advocates in Oregon, Colorado, and now Minnesota have focused on creating access to psilocybin in a treatment facility setting. That reflects the very different way that psilocybin use has been studied and used therapeutically: in an occasional, controlled setting with a trained facilitator guiding the patient through the experience.
The Oregon model reflects this structure. Patients meet with a licensed, trained facilitator for a preparation session, then an all-day psilocybin administration session at a licensed facility, and finally an integration session the next day. The psilocybin is sold only in the treatment center and used on-site.
Back in Minnesota, Kurtis Hanna and other advocates, like Maren Schroeder, have been building the legal framework to adopt a model fairly similar to Oregon’s. It’s a multi-year process.
In 2023, Hanna lobbied successfully for the Legislature to create a Psychedelic Medicine Task Force. That Task Force’s work resulted in a report (Jan. 1, 2025) which recommended that the Legislature “create a state-regulated clinical program for the therapeutic use of psilocybin-containing mushrooms,” as well as removing criminal penalties for use and possession of psilocybin and allocating more funding for more research into all three psychedelics it had considered: LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA.
In the recently-completed 2026 legislative session, Hanna and his allies took the next step. His draft bill would have established a pilot program legalizing access for 1,000 patients to access psilocybin in a therapeutic setting. Though that bill did not become law, "we made more progress than I anticipated," as he told me: he secured Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) sponsors in both the Senate and the House, and the bill passed the Minnesota House with only 15 “no” votes. That’s an unusual bipartisan win in a deeply divided legislature, and it is a direct result of Hanna’s careful positioning of psilocybin access as a bipartisan veterans’ issue.
As a result, a smaller step did become law in Minnesota in 2026. It directs the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to study and issue “recommendations on administering a psilocybin therapeutic use program in which individuals 21 years of age and older who have qualifying medical conditions may access and use psilocybin under supervision of a facilitator at a treatment facility.” MN Session Law (2026), Sec. 116. The OCM’s report will “assess the feasibility of administering a psilocybin therapeutic use program, describe the viability of and methods for determining and updating a list of qualifying medical conditions, and include recommendations for program development and administration,” and is due to the Legislature by January 15, 2027.
In other words, OCM’s mission has been expanded to help the Legislature scope out whether, and how, it would regulate psilocybin in addition to cannabis. That report is due just in time for the next legislative session. It’s a smart move, because, as with cannabis, any bill would require agency implementation. This approach identifies OCM as the state agency that would oversee and regulate psilocybin in Minnesota. Perhaps OCM would even change its name.
One thing is certain: Hanna, now the Board President of the Psychedelic Access Project, will work to move this issue forward.
Research Notes and References:
Minnesota Session Law (2026), Sec. 116, available at https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2026/0/Session+Law/Chapter/123/#laws.0.116.0
Minnesota’s Psychedelic Access Project: psyap.org
Legislative Report of the Psychedelic Medicine Task Force, Jan. 1, 2025 report: https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2024/mandated/241756.pdf
Interview of Kurtis Hanna by Jen Reise (June 10, 2026)
Oregon Health Authority – Oregon Psilocybin Services Data Dashboard: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/preventionwellness/pages/psilocybin-data-dashboard.aspx
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