Tag: oregon

America’s First ‘Shroom Clinic’ Opens In Oregon

America’s first licensed health clinic to sell ‘magic mushrooms’ opened in June in Oregon and has been swamped with surging demand. The waitlist for the clinic exceeds 3,000 people, some of whom are searching for ways to treat depression and PTSD. 

No prescription or referral is needed for Epic Healing Eugene, but customers must be over 21 to receive psilocybin services. 

AP News said some customers complained the ‘mind-bending’ experience is too costly: 

“A client can wind up paying over $2,000, which helps cover service center expenses, a facilitator and lab-tested psilocybin. Annual licenses for service centers and growers cost $10,000, with a half-price discount for veterans.” 

Even though The Oregon Psychiatric Physicians Association opposed legalizing psilocybin in 2020, voters thought otherwise and also decriminalized the possession of hard drugs. 

Epic Healing Eugene’s owner Cathy Jonas told AP that providing legal access to mushrooms is a ‘dream come true’: 

“The plant medicines have communicated to me that I’m supposed to be doing this thing.”

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Opponents of Measure 114 gun laws say case is about “individual rights” in trial opening

In opening statements Monday, lawyers for two people suing over Oregon’s new gun laws said Ballot Measure 114′s provisions are the “most significant threat to [the right to bear arms] Oregonians have faced in nearly 165 years.”

“This case is not about public health, public safety or public concern,” plaintiffs’ attorney Tony Aiello told Judge Robert Rascio. “This is about individual rights. This is about the individual right to self defense and the right to bear arms to secure that right.”

Aiello said plaintiffs in the state trial plan to show that Measure 114, approved by voters last year, effectively limits Oregonians to owning only antique firearms. He said Measure 114 regulates firearms that were plentiful prior to 1859, the year Article I, Section 27 of the Oregon constitution — the section protecting the right to bear arms — was ratified.

The new laws would ban high capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, require a completed background check to buy or transfer a firearm and require a person to take training and receive a permit to purchase a firearm. Raschio, an Oregon Circuit Court judge based in Harney County, blocked the new laws from taking effect in December pending this week’s trial.

In their opening statement, lawyers defending the new rules for the Oregon Department of Justice said the court must determine if large capacity magazines are considered “arms” under the state constitution, and thus protected, a question they said had already been resolved by the Oregon State Court of Appeals.

“The Court of Appeals rejected the idea that semiautomatic firearms are protected arms,” attorney Anit Jindal said. “Indeed, evidence at trial will confirm that large capacity magazines were not commonly used for self defense in 1859.”

In his opening statement in defense of Measure 114, Jindal said the new restrictions are a reasonable public safety response to the risk posed by large capacity magazines. They plan to call witnesses who will show how those magazines allow shooters to continue firing without reloading and have increased the lethality of mass shootings.

“Taken together, the testimony of defendant’s experts will demonstrate to the court, that large capacity magazines increase the number of firearms homicides and the frequency and fatality of mass shootings,” Jindal said.

He added that they will also show that large capacity magazines are rarely used in self defense, that the permit-to-purchase system is a reasonable public safety measure and that time restrictions in that requirement are consistent with the history of the right to bear arms.

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Oregon medical group blames Libs of TikTok after being exposed for denying woman breast cancer treatment over her gender critical views

After an Oregon breast cancer patient was dismissed from the medical practice where she was getting treatment due to her refusal to believe men are women, the medical group doubled down and backed their initial reaction, which was to ban her from the practice. 

The Richmond Family Medicine Clinic, part of OHSU, in Portland, Oregon, said that they are taking “measures to guard against harassing behavior.”

In an email obtained by The Post Millennial, the medical clinic also complained that the account from their former breast cancer patient as to how she was dismissed was shared by Libs of TikTok.

Marlene Barbera, who was set to receive a mastectomy later this month due to her breast cancer, took issue with a trans flag displayed in the office and had asked if she could be treated in a place that did not have a trans flag. In response, she was banned from the practice. Barbera has also had trouble seeking treatment elsewhere, due to her objection to trans ideology.

Barbera shared the information on her own account as well.

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‘Jealous’ transgender woman murdered three sex workers because they were ‘more attractive than she could ever plan to be’, criminologist suggests

A transgender woman who killed three sex workers in 1990 may have been motivated by jealousy, a criminologist has suggested. 

Donna Perry – who used to be known as Douglas Perry before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2000 – murdered 26-year-old Yolanda Sapp, 34-year-old Nickie Lowe, and 38-year-old Kathy Brisbois. 

Their naked or partially exposed bodies were found dumped on the banks of the Spokane River in Washington state. 

When finally arrested connection with the crimes five years ago, she claimed that she had transitioned into a female to stop her male persona from being violent.

‘Douglas didn’t stop, Donna stopped it,’ Perry told police about the killings, according to an affidavit filed in January 2014. ‘I’m not going to admit I killed anybody, I didn’t. Donna has killed nobody.’

When asked if Doug was responsible, she responded: ‘I don’t know if Doug did or not, it was 20 years ago and I have no idea whether he did or did not,’ according to ABC News. 

And crime expert Brian Frederick told Channel 5’s latest episode of Making a Serial Killer. which is available on My 5, that Perry may have picked the victims based on their looks. 

‘I can imagine that there was also a little bit of jealousy,’ he told the documentary.

‘He picked some attractive victims, perhaps more attractive than he could ever plan to be as Donna and he felt that they were squandering this beauty by giving sex to other men who didn’t necessarily have the purpose that he had. He was mission oriented.’

Jim Dresback, a former Spokane detective, said that Perry’s former girlfriend Claire-Anne – who was also a sex worker who suffered with cocaine addiction – may have served as motivation as well.

‘It was interesting that Claire-Anne was booked in to jail on the night that two of these people were killed,’ he told the programme.

‘Now she’s back in jail again and that makes Doug Perry mad and then he finds somebody to take out on. 

‘And the first people he’s gonna look at are the people that maybe he thinks are standing in the way.’

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Portland Goes Full China: Store Requires Looking at Camera to Enter

A convenience store in Portland, Oregon has implemented a digital face scan system that requires customers look at a camera before they are able to enter.

“Please look at the camera for entry,” a computerized voice says.

“Facial recognition in use,” the sign under the camera reads.

China has hundreds facial recognition stores.

It’s convenient to pay for your purchase with just your face, until your social credit score doesn’t permit you to enter the store.https://t.co/aTYt8eXuus pic.twitter.com/5FyxsZcR07

— Songpinganq (@songpinganq) July 10, 2023

The door remains locked until the customer consents and looks up at the camera.

Social media users have reacted to the development by drawing comparisons to China, which regularly requires citizens use facial recognition technology to access society. In communist China, citizens need to scan their face to buy products, and their social-credit scores get adjusted accordingly.

But with the democrat-run Portland having some of the highest crime rates in the United States, some stores have turned to the technology to save their businesses.

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Portland’s Multnomah County to give fentanyl users tin foil, straws, pipes to smoke drug

The county covering most of Portland, Oregon will be distributing tin foil and straws to fentanyl users in the city. 

According to a local report, the Multnomah County Health Department will be distributing the drug paraphernalia along with glass pipes for smoking meth and crack as well. Along with those, “snorting kits” will also be made available. 

The Oregon Legislature passed a bill that decriminalizes the distribution of drug paraphernalia if the materials are for harm reduction purposes.

It has not been signed into law by the governor of Oregon yet, however, residents of Portland have reportedly become frustrated about the situation with regards to drug use. Many reports have shown an increase in fentanyl overdoses as well as a growing number of residents wanting to bring back criminal penalties for the open use of drugs. 

Spokesman Sarah Dean, of Multnomah County, confirmed with Willamette Week that the policy to distribute the “smoking supplies” is new. Dean said that the rise of fentanyl being smoked instead of injected has decreased the demand for “harm reduction” services related to overdoses. 

Dean said handing users smoking supplies discourages them from injecting the drug, which is also a vector for disease. She stated, “Several decades of research have also shown that providing supplies for safer drug use does not increase illegal drug use.”

The amount of fentanyl in the county, according to Dean herself, has risen substantially. A policy that was going to criminalize and limit the use of fentanyl itself was dropped after being introduced by Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland just recently. 

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18,000-Year-Old Oregon Rockshelter May Be Oldest North American Site of Human Occupation

In 2021, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania was identified as the oldest human occupational site in North America, dated to at least 16,000 years old. In 2022, it was Cooper’s Ferry in Idaho , which was also dated to 16,000 years old. Now, that title might be usurped by Rimrock Draw Rockshelter, which is displaying evidence of occupation to at least 18,000 years ago! Analysis of blood residue on a scraper tool crafted by humans and extracted from the rockshelter in southeastern Oregon revealed the presence of animal proteins on the tool.

‘Magical Preservation’ at Rimrock Draw Rockshelter

Under an official partnership agreement with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), archaeologist Patrick O’Grady from the University of Oregon’s Archaeological Field School and his colleagues have been conducting excavations at Rimrock Draw Rockshelter since 2011.

“It’s not so much that we have such old dates, but that we’re getting consistent results,” archaeologist Patrick O’Grady, who led the excavation, said. “This site is beautiful in that sense because … for the past 11 years, we’re actually seeing something that’s preserved through time that dates from about 7,000 years back to 18,000 years. And that’s magic.”

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Oregon Partially Repeals Ban on Adults Fueling Their Own Cars

After years of marginal reforms, a dire labor shortage, and dislocations from natural disasters and the pandemic, Oregon politicians have finally agreed to open up the entire state to self-service gas pumps.

This past week, the Oregon Senate passed H.B. 2426, which allows all gas stations to designate at least half their gas pumps as self-service, meaning motorists can opt into fueling their vehicles if they feel up to the challenge. It also ends the requirement that a gas station attendant physically hand motorcyclists the nozzle before they pump their gas.

The bill, approved by the Oregon House in March, now goes to Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, for approval.

For years, Oregon was one of two states in the union (New Jersey being the other) that mandated full-service gas stations—meaning an attendant was required to fuel most drivers’ vehicles.

Supporters of the full-service mandate claim it’s a productive job creation measure, a form of consumer protection, a necessary health and safety measure, and a valuable cultural quirk all rolled into one.

Reformers have therefore had to tread carefully when arguing that drivers and gas station owners deserve more freedom in their fueling relationship.

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Cops Bust Psilocybin Grow Operation in Northeast Portland Mansion

On June 8, court documents show, police busted a psilocybin grow house and major interstate mushroom and weed distribution operation in a 5,000-square-foot mansion bordering a Northeast Portland country club.

Oregon voters legalized psilocybin mushrooms in 2020 by passing Measure 109. But the measure only sanctions use of the hallucinogen in tightly regulated therapeutic settings. Such niceties have done little to discourage the expansion of a “mushroom underground,” with state-licensed therapists offering guided trips in private homes and Airbnbs. Psilocybin mushrooms are easily obtained across Portland, even after the shuttering of a retail operation, Shroom House, on West Burnside Street.

A probable cause affidavit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Friday offers some insight into where that supply might be coming from—and alleges that interstate psilocybin traffickers have set up shop in Portland.

It’s not clear from the affidavit what led police to the $1.3 million home bordering Columbia Edgewater Country Club, which features panoramic views of the golf course, a “unique triple barrel-vaulted ceiling,” and parking for 16 cars, according to a real estate listing online.

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Taxpayers May Soon Be Filling the Funding Gaps in Oregon’s Psilocybin System

So far, just three psilocybin service centers—offices where people can go on legal mushroom trips—have been licensed by the state of Oregon.

That’s bad news for law-abiding people itching to avail themselves of the much-advertised benefits of psilocybin: relief from depression, alcoholism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and end-of-life dread.

It’s also bad news for taxpayers, who may soon find themselves underwriting a shroom system that was supposed to pay for itself.

Proponents of Measure 109, the initiative that created Oregon’s legal psilocybin program, designed it to be funded by fees, not taxpayer dollars, so it would be palatable to more voters. Service centers, mushroom growers, and psilocybin testing labs are all required to pay $10,000 a year for their licenses. Facilitators, the people who sit with tripping subjects and guide them into the psychosphere, pay $2,000 a year.

The problem is that very few people are getting licenses of any kind to cover the cost of running the Oregon Health Authority’s Psilocybin Services unit, in large part because of the high fees. Very few licensees means very little fee revenue, which means the state has to find cash someplace else to keep the program running.

That other place could be the state’s general fund. OHA has asked for $6.6 million to fill the program’s budget gap for the fiscal biennium starting July 1, according to a 13-page “policy option package,” or POP, that’s now sitting in the Legislature (Salem budgets two years at a time).

“Without the additional funding, the sustainability of the work would be jeopardized,” OHA says in the POP document. “There would be insufficient staff to continue to implement the regulatory program, review license applications and conduct licensure inspections. Consequently, psilocybin businesses seeking licensure could experience financial hardship.”

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