The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division (NMD) has completed its rulemaking for the state’s new natural medicine program and will begin accepting license applications on December 31.
The NMD’s final rules are now in effect and will guide the licensing and regulation of natural medicine healing centers, cultivations, manufacturers, testing facilities, and their owners and employees.
The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) will license and regulate facilitators of natural medicine services. The program’s initial application and license compliance fees were adopted October 25 and will take effect December 31. Based on stakeholder feedback, the division intentionally kept fees lower in the first year of the regulated program to lower barriers to entry and incentivize participation.
Natural Medicine includes: Psilocybin, psilocyn, ibogaine, mescaline, and dimethyltryptamine (DMT)
Personal possession, cultivation, and use provisions are already effective. There are no limits on personal possession limits. Any person over 21 years of age can cultivate natural medicine in an enclosed and locked space no bigger than 12
feet by 12 feet on private property. An adult (21+) can share with another adult (21+) in the context of “counseling, spiritual guidance, community-based use, supported use, or related services. No one can sell natural medicine. but this does not preclude payment for bona fide harm reduction or support services.
“As a new division, we are grateful for what we have learned from the diverse perspectives of stakeholders who participated in our listening sessions and rulemaking meetings,”said Dominique Mendiola, senior director of the NMD and the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. “We are only the second state in the nation to legalize natural medicine — after Oregon — so we are committed to standing up a regulatory framework that reflects both the will of the voters and the direction of the Colorado General Assembly through proactive collaboration with stakeholders.”
As the division prepares to accept applications at the end of the year, most of the division staff, including the leadership team, will serve both the NMD and the Marijuana Enforcement Division. These staffing decisions will provide relief to each agency’s budget, keep costs lower for license fees and applications, and create lean, efficient regulatory agencies.
More information about the natural medicine license application process will be posted on the NMD website.
The establishment of the NMD follows the enactment of Senate Bill 23-290, which entrusted the Department of Revenue with the responsibility to regulate and license various aspects of natural medicine operations in Colorado. The division will collaborate closely with DORA and the Natural Medicine Advisory Board, facilitated by DORA, to develop rules and processes.