Just a handful of votes made the difference in whether Philomath will allow psychedelic mushroom businesses to operate in town. Turns out, it will.
The proposed ban on psilocybin-related businesses and psilocybin product manufacturing was decided by a 16-vote margin — not close enough to trigger an automatic recount.
A "yes" vote was for the ban, and a "no" vote indicated support for the businesses.
In the final tallies, no votes on Ballot Measure 2-147 totaled 882 (50.4%) and yes votes came in at 866 (49.5%), according to the Oregon Secretary of State website. The measure was put forth by the Philomath City Council.
Preliminary vote counts on the measure were quite close and favored yes votes early on.
“We talked about this at the City Council meeting briefly Monday night,” City Manager Chris Workman said by phone. “I think the consensus was that the vote seems to reflect the vote of the City Council. … They were pretty well split.”
Workman said people can see the positives and negatives of psilocybin, and the vote in Philomath reflects the pros and cons of it. With councilors divided on the matter, they chose to put it to the public, anticipating the outcome would be close either way it went.
This doesn’t necessarily mean a magic mushroom company will pop up in Philomath any time soon. Workman said he hasn’t heard from any prospective psilocybin businesses about setting up shop in the community.
Corvallis saw its first center open two years ago.
“We're a small community. We're within a reasonable driving distance to other psilocybin centers,” he said. “It's a fairly expensive procedure, not typically covered by insurance, so I just think the likelihood of one landing in a community the size of Philomath is fairly low.”
In an emailed response, Mayor Christopher McMorran said the results show just how important every single vote is, especially in local elections. He echoed Workman’s assertion about the split among councilors and said they sent it to the voters because they didn’t have a clear consensus.
“I'd say that these razor-thin election results proved that to be correct,” McMorran said. “My main takeaway is that I'm happy to finally be able to put this issue to bed.
“It's been a controversial topic for several years that has taken a lot of council and staff time to address. Now that the voters have spoken, I'm hopeful we can move forward and use that council and staff time on other pressing issues facing our community.”
Personally, McMorran said he is “very neutral” on the topic and didn’t campaign for or against the measure, partly because he doesn’t expect a huge impact on the town either way.
“The psilocybin industry has been struggling in general, and I think the chances that a facility will open up in Philomath are slim, even with the ban lifted,” he said.
Oregon voters legalized psychedelic mushrooms in 2020 for use at state-licensed facilities, as did a majority of Philomath voters at the time. But shortly before psilocybin became legal in January 2023, voters had second thoughts. In 2022, they voted to ban psilocybin-related activities for two years.
Councilors extended the ban for another two years to provide enough time for a permanent ban to be presented to voters. An ordinance allowing city officials to set time, place and manner restrictions was approved in November 2024 just in case voters changed their minds again.
Workman said the city’s restrictions are logical, sensible safeguards to have in place, and that the council invested considerable time in crafting them to not be overly burdensome or restrictive for businesses while protecting public interests.
“Anytime you get a new industry, little known like that, councils tend to be a little bit more prescriptive on time, place, manner restrictions,” Workman said. “And then over time, if they work out well and they're not a negative impact on the community, those regulations and time, place, manner, restrictions can loosen over time.”
The regulations, among other things:
* Require business registration with the city
* Set hours of operation between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
* Regulate public view, odors, lighting and outdoor storage
* Create a 1,000-foot setback from residential neighborhoods, schools and facilities that predominantly serve children
* Regulate signage
“I feel good about those rules,” McMorran said. “Even without a ban, it's not going to be a free-for-all with no regulations.”
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