ENTERPRISE — Wallowa County voters will have the chance to decide whether or not they want psilocybin distribution and use legal in unincorporated areas of the county, now that the county commissioners have agreed to put it on the November ballot.

The commissioners held the second of two required public hearings Wednesday, Aug. 17, when three people showed up in person and one via Zoom. The three at the meeting all were against banning psilocybin and the one on Zoom did not express an opinion but was seeking information.

The commissioners held the first hearing on the issue Aug. 3, at which Dr. Renee Grandi provided medical information on psilocybin therapy.

“Dr. (Renee) Grandi came in last time and gave a lot of good information for us,” commission Chairwoman Susan Roberts said.

But, she emphasized, the government had stopped serious research on psilocybin several years ago, “and they’re just now starting up again.”

She emphasized that the ballot issue will not make it impossible to ever have psilocybin therapy, if research should definitively show the drug is helpful. But that’s not the case yet, she said.

“I think what people are saying is they’d like to have more time on that research,” Roberts said.

She said that as research grows and education on psilocybin increases, the voters could reconsider the issue.

Personal experience

Matt Kurtz, of Joseph, one of the three who attended the hearing in person, said psilocybin therapy helped eliminate depression and suicidal tendencies he struggled with from childhood.

“It ended up changing my life. Eight years later now, I do not have a single bout of depression,” Kurtz said. “Medically, it worked for me; it changed my life and that’s why I had to show up today and speak to you guys.”

He agreed psilocybin has its down side.

“Is it a drug that can be used to get high? Absolutely. But there’s a lot of drugs around that allow people to do that,” he said. “Psilocybin is quite different. If you want to take that every day in a high dose … you’re not going to want it. It’s an animal. It’s powerful stuff, I will grant that. But it can be powerfully used in really positive ways. I think allowing it to be in a more regulated therapy setting is a great thing.”

Kurtz said he didn’t have a facility available. He took psilocybin at home on his family’s ranch.

“I was alone and it was a little bit scary,” he said. “But it changed my life. I would love for folks to have the opportunity to change their lives.”

Kurtz said he believes it can do a better job than many prescription drugs.

“I was on Prozac for 10-20 years and nothing. But (psilocybin) changed my life,” he said. “I think it’s, quite frankly, extremely arrogant to prohibit others from having that opportunity. I grant that it’s dangerous and I grant that regulation’s needed, but we’re not outlawing video poker, booze, cigarettes and all these other things that cause so much damage in our community. … I do believe that psilocybin, while it has its dark side, has an extremely positive side to be explored.”

“This is something I am so passionate about I will be knocking on as many doors as I can throughout this fall and tell my story to the community because that’s how I feel about it.”

Not arrogant

Kurtz and Rusty Hogg recommended a couple documentaries Netflix has on psilocybin.

But Roberts said she’s watched the documentaries and has become informed about the drug.

“Everybody assumes we’re arrogant and we haven’t done that and that’s not true,” she said.

A Vietnam-era veteran, Roberts also said she had acquaintances who’ve benefited from psilocybin.

“One thing I want to point out is it’s not arrogance on our part,” she said. “We represent all the people in the county and I understand your feelings. Having served in Vietnam in the Marine Corps, I also had a lot of friends who used it.”

Hogg agreed.

“They swear by it,” he said.

But Roberts also recalled people who got high on it and nearly suffered serious injuries, thus the need to have it well regulated.

“In doing this, we’re not saying we’re going to do this forever,” she said. “We’re often told that because we live in a frontier county, our voters are not very bright. That’s not the case. But the law says we either go permanent or we don’t do it. … We either do one or the other.”