The city of Aspen is joining other Colorado municipalities in deciding how it wants to enforce certain aspects of the state’s new psilocybin law.

In 2022, Colorado voters approved a statewide measure legalizing the use, cultivation, manufacturing, storage, transportation and distribution of psilocybin mushrooms. The law allows people over the age of 21 to possess, share, cultivate and manufacture mushrooms for natural medicinal purposes without selling them.

Proposition 122, “Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances,” also created a state licensing program for licensed natural medicine establishments such as healing centers, cultivation facilities, manufacturers, testing facilities and people who guide psilocybin therapy sessions. The state will begin issuing licenses on January 1, 2025.

State rules require licensed establishments to be at least 1,000 feet from child care centers, schools and other residential child care settings. Although local governments cannot restrict state-approved mushroom use, they can strengthen state restrictions within their jurisdiction.

At an Aspen City Council work session Monday, city staff asked council members to evaluate whether and how they want to regulate the proliferation of mushroom-use licenses in Aspen. Council members could decide to regulate where these facilities operate through urban zoning regulations.

Assistant City Attorney Luisa Berne said the council could decide to restrict licensed operators downtown to avoid mushroom use in residential areas where some people may have home therapy practices.

“If we don’t decide to regulate it, will we see it appearing in residential areas? Bern said. “My gut answer is yes, because there seem to be a lot of therapists doing sessions out of their homes… so it would be appropriate to keep them outside of, say, residential areas, to regulate them in a specific area.

State regulations would require licensed facilities to be at least 1,000 feet from the Aspen School District, Yellow Brick School and Wildwood School. But the municipal council could choose to increase the minimum distance from schools or nurseries.

Colorado Springs elected officials are consider a prescription it would ban recovery centers within a mile of schools, daycares and drug and alcohol treatment centers, making it nearly impossible to open centers in almost the entire city.

“In some ways, we’re actually very fortunate that almost all of our child care centers are located in Yellow Brick or Wildwood,” Berne said. “It shouldn’t be very difficult to regulate.”

The city cannot prohibit the transportation of mushroom products within its borders, including in and out of the city. Nor can it create a local licensing process, like Aspen’s, overseen by the Local Licensing Authority, which regulates municipal laws related to alcohol and cannabis.

Council members made no decisions at Monday night’s meeting but requested more information from staff on what regulations they can impose. Mayor Torre said he doesn’t yet have a strong opinion on what regulations should be in place, but he believes council members should impose some to potentially exclude permitted facilities from residential neighborhoods.

Councilman Bill Guth also wanted to impose regulations to prevent licensed facilities from becoming “quasi-retail” operations. The new state law prohibits the sale of mushrooms but allows licensed establishments and individuals to charge for therapy sessions in which mushrooms are used.

“I think there should probably be some local guidelines on this, but I don’t have a lot of strong feelings about it,” Torre said. “Having a practitioner with a small home office…seems harmless enough, but the possibility of this being a larger operation in a residential area is something that would concern me.”