Oregon Tries to Shut Down Mushroom Church’s School

At press time, Myco-Method’s website still advertised its program.

Psilocybin mushrooms. (Serrgey75/Shutterstock)
By Anthony Effinger

Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission issued a cease-and-desist order against Myco-Method, one of the many programs in Oregon that train people to guide psychedelic mushroom trips. The order means Myco-Method must stop marketing its program and enrolling students until it gets a license or an exemption from licensure, HECC said.

Myco-Method program director Shasta Winn says HECC has no authority because the program isn’t a school.

“Myco-Method is only a written curriculum,” Winn said in an email. “It’s a training used by Saba Cooperative, our nonprofit interfaith religious cooperative, for teaching how to utilize psilocybin as a tool to access the source of nonhuman intelligence that heals and transforms.”

At press time, Myco-Method’s website still advertised its program, saying students who take it can be licensed by the state as facilitators because the curriculum has been approved by the Oregon Health Authority, a claim an OHA spokesman confirms.

But without HECC approval, students won’t be allowed to submit claims to the state for lost tuition if Myco-Method were to close, the commission said.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.