Post: Exposing Colorado’s psychedelic conflicts of interest

Luke Niforatos Psilocybin mushroom advocate Kevin Matthews talks with 9News reporter Ryan Haarer about his plans to go national. Psilocybin mushroom advocate Kevin Matthews talks with 9News reporter Ryan Haarer about his plans to go national. Psilocybin mushroom advocate Kevin Matthews talks with 9News reporter Ryan Haarer about his plans to go national. As Colorado develops its regulatory framework for the psychedelics industry, we now see that it is being undermined by many of the same competing interests that have taken hold of the state’s profit-driven THC drug and marijuana industry.

Most recently, Kevin Matthews, the president of Denver’s Psilocybin Review Panel, found himself at the center of controversy. Despite ostensibly serving in an impartial role for the betterment of his community, it was revealed that Matthews continues to work for Healing Advocacy Fund. Healing Advocacy Fund is the lobbying arm of New Approach PAC, which spent millions of dollars to push through the passage of Proposition 122, which legalized “medical” psilocybin statewide in 2022.

In other words, the New Approach PAC, a political entity bent on legalizing psilocybin (and other drugs) commercially, is paying and influencing the man who leads Denver’s regulatory framework for psilocybin. Now that the drug has been legalized statewide with Proposition 122, we should avoid making this mistake at the state level.

We should be concerned about Colorado’s track record of oversight for our “medical” substances. Ean Seeb, our “marijuana czar,” was a marijuana industry tycoon before taking the job regulating the industry. How does this protect […]

Exposing Colorado’s psychedelic conflicts of interest