BEND, OR -- Deschutes County voters chose not to ban psilocybin manufacturing and service centers in unincorporated areas. Psilocybin facilities were made legal in 2020 under state measure 109, but that measure also allowed communities to opt out, if voters approved.
County Commissioner Tony DeBone is glad people had their say in the matter, “When we exercised the option Measure 109 says local jurisdictions shall have an opportunity to put an opt-out measure on the ballot. So, we exercised that.”
The recently re-elected Debone says that with the ‘No’ vote on Measure 9-152, it becomes a land-use issue, “Our planning commission and our staff has put a proposed code package together for ‘where would psilocybin services production and processing happen in rural Deschutes county?’ And we just had a work session on that the other day in preparation for a public hearing.”
Debone supported a local ban but says the county is moving forward, thanks to additional time provided by the election, “We, the planning commission, land-use, and the public needed to digest…what is this thing with psilocybin and where would it be allowed. You know, the services…So, I’m fine, let’s move forward, the people have spoken. And we’ve got more clarity and we’ve been able to do our homework on the land use.”
That public hearing is set for this Monday the 21st.
