Building the ROI Case for Psilocybin
State legislatures across the country are all facing one of the hardest problems in public policy today: behavioral health spending keeps rising, outcomes for the hardest to treat cases remain stubbornly modest (at best), and there's no clear solution.
Most aren't looking to fund a new program. They're looking for a better return on dollars they're already spending.
That's the case CPP is building: psilocybin therapy stands to deliver better outcomes, at a lower long-term cost, than many of the options states are already spending tens of billions of dollars on.
Treatment-resistant depression is one of the most expensive conditions states fund through Medicaid, years of medication adjustments, hospitalizations, and intensive outpatient programs, often with modest results. Clinical trials of psilocybin therapy show remission rates above 50% in patients who failed multiple prior treatments, typically in one to two sessions. The treatment cost is a fraction of a single hospitalization. When you put those numbers next to each other, the question stops being "can we afford this" and starts being "why aren't we doing this."
I made this case publicly this week in response to New Mexico's news:
"The framing that psilocybin therapy is too expensive has failed to compare it to anything. Compare it to the tens of billions of dollars states are spending on medication cycles, repeated hospitalizations, and chronic treatment that produces modest outcomes, and the calculus inverts completely. Psilocybin therapy isn't a luxury alternative. It's about becoming the most cost-effective intervention in the behavioral health toolbox."
New Mexico just became the first state legislative body in the country to put public dollars directly behind that argument: $630,000 to fund psilocybin treatment for low-income patients (!!), with $300,000 more for clinical research. They got there because advocates built the economic case first and brought legislators along.
Oregon is next.
The state's psilocybin program has served over 18,000 clients with an exceptional safety record -- the most established licensed and regulated program in the country. The 2027 legislative session is the window to make direct public funding a reality here, and CPP is spending 2026 building the research foundation, legislative relationships, and coalition needed to walk into that session with the ROI case already made.
If this work resonates with you, please considering making a gift to support CPP today.
Together, we can give legislators the economic case they need, and help make psilocybin therapy accessible to every Oregonian who stands to benefit.
With gratitude,
Sam Chapman
Executive Director