Legal Foundations
General Support Around Law
Risks and Liability for the Society
U.S. federal law does not define clear distinctions between possession and distribution, leaving legal liability open to interpretation.
Some societies take a harm-reduction approach, ensuring that discussions about substances remain separate from sourcing or selling them.
Best practices include:
Asking members to agree (e.g., by raising hands) not to sell or source substances within society spaces.
Encouraging members not to attend events under the influence of any substances.
Establishing clear steps for handling individuals who arrive under the influence, including assessing their condition, offering support, and ensuring safety.
Creating a harm-reduction approach ensures that asking someone to leave does not put them in greater danger.
Designating trained individuals within the team to support those experiencing altered states.
Managing External Relationships
Societies must decide on their stance regarding corporate advertising and cross-marketing with other groups.
Some organizations maintain a directory of local guides and integration coaches, allowing professionals to disclose their services at their own risk rather than under official society endorsement.
Educating members on how to identify a trustworthy guide can be more effective than making direct recommendations.
Emphasize that the society is primarily a harm reduction and peer support group rather than a facilitator network.
Addressing Sensitive Disclosures
If a member admits to engaging in illegal activities (such as domestic abuse), it is important to define how the society handles such disclosures.
Certain facilitators, such as licensed social workers, may have a legal obligation to report such incidents, especially if children are involved.
Establish clear disclosure policies to inform members about what must be reported and what remains confidential.
If members repeatedly admit to illegal activity:
One option is to clarify that the society does not necessarily involve law enforcement but will address serious concerns internally.
Example: “If you’re talking about harming yourself or others, we are going to address it.”
Given that many participants have histories of trauma and pain, society leaders must have protocols in place for handling difficult situations.
Community Accountability and Legal Protections
As decriminalization progresses, societies have an opportunity to build stronger networks for legal access to medicines.
Establishing directories of trusted resources can help members navigate legal and therapeutic options safely.
Societies must also be cautious of newly certified guides seeking clients through the community. Consider:
Empowering members to vet potential guides carefully.
Defining clear boundaries for facilitators involved in both integration circles and private practice.
Using disclaimers and waivers on events and communications to protect the society from liability.
Political and Legal Literacy
Understanding legal frameworks is essential for society leaders. Key terms include:
Decriminalization: Lowering penalties but not fully legalizing.
Legalization: Full legal acceptance of use and sale.
Medicalization: Legal use in therapeutic or clinical settings.
Religious Protections: Special exemptions for religious psychedelic use.
Deprioritization: Shifting law enforcement focus away from psychedelics.
Special Access Programs (SAP) & Section 56 Exemptions (Canada): Permitting restricted psychedelic use under medical or research circumstances.
In some countries, cartels and underground networks still control access to substances, meaning societies should be aware of local dynamics.
In certain regions, underground operators require informal agreements with psychedelic organizations.
Societies should educate members about the risks of engaging with these networks.
Engaging with External Organizations
Societies should maintain relationships with various stakeholder groups that influence psychedelic policy and public perception:
Law enforcement agencies (understanding their approach to psychedelics in your area).
Religious organizations (some may oppose psychedelic use, while others may support it for spiritual purposes).
Wellness communities (some traditional therapist networks may be skeptical or opposed to psychedelic practices).
Other psychedelic societies (some may be recreational-focused, while others may be professional networks).
Local Indigenous communities (who have stewarded psychedelic medicines for generations and deserve respect and collaboration).
Politicians and policy makers (many may have ties to anti-drug initiatives like DARE and need education on harm reduction perspectives).
Healthcare providers (keeping emergency responders and paramedics informed on community initiatives).
Legal Resources for Societies
Know Your Rights: Society leaders and members should understand their rights when engaging with law enforcement.
In most jurisdictions, you are legally allowed to decline questioning by police without a lawyer present.
Legal Support Networks: Various organizations exist to help psychedelic societies navigate compliance and protect members:
Psychedelic Bar Association – Legal professionals specializing in psychedelic-related cases.
Mushroom Lawyers Signal Group – A network of attorneys offering legal guidance.
AEP (Association of Entheogenic Practitioners) – Provides support for religious and spiritual psychedelic organizations.
Psychedelic Legal Resource Directory (psychedelics.top200lawyers.com) – A directory of lawyers specializing in psychedelic law.
Local Community Legal Support: Societies should establish connections with lawyers familiar with grassroots activism to ensure compliance and mitigate legal risks.
By proactively addressing these initial legal considerations, psychedelic societies can create a safer and more structured environment while protecting their members and leadership from unnecessary risks.
How To Create a 501c3 & Other Country Equivalents
Why Create a 501 c3?
Be able to apply for gov’t grants
Be able to take tax exempt donations
This would be for bigger donations, most people offer donations that are much smaller, and those people often don't write up those donations - and if that's how things are working, it may not be worth opening a 501c3 until much larger donors come and then the capacity of the organization can expand
Could be valuable to remain autonomous for as long as possible and be funded by the community if thats work
Its recommended if you want to start a 501c3 to do it with 2 or 3 people who already have experience creating a 501c3
Main benefit is ability to take large donations and offer the tax deduction
There are many different tax designations: you can also become a membership organization and that is a separate tax designation, if you want to be doing policy work there's another.
501c4 is a political organization
501c6 is membership organization
Members get an opportunity to vote on decisions
501c3 is the most labor intensive and expensive
A 501c3 cannot use more than 20% of its funds (includes time of paid workers) to any policy work.
Funds need to go to charitable causes
General Steps:
Find a group of people who are willing to do this on a volunteer level
You’ll really want to vet these people, make sure you align with vision and mission and what you want to contribute to within the movement.
President, Secretary, Treasurer are the required positions. ED can be a hired position or be the president.
Having a hired ED is valuable so that they have the bandwidth to organize the org.
Having a really clear mission statement and clear goals and values that your organization is committed to
LegalZoom is a helpful service to take care of everything for you ~$1400 to have paperwork submitted for you. There are cheaper options where you would have to submit your own forms. This way you don’t have to pay for a lawyer.
They send you annual reminders to keep your paperwork up to date
Once you’ve submitted your paperwork, you dont have to wait for approval before receiving donations.
Make sure youre staying up to date or it can cost a lot
Create a set of bylaws & articles of incorporation - this is your guiding document
you have an annual reporting requirement, you need a way to handle voting and get things done in a formal fashion. Bylaws help the organization long term should someone that is in charge step away. So that the original founding people all agreed on that this is the way things will go.
Template linked here
Those documents can also be edited by a majority of the board
Voting procedure
Size and capacity
Fiscal year
Frequency at which you meet (quarterly, bi-monthly)
You may also want to just start with a fiscal sponsor - another non-for profit that gathers tax exempt donations for you and they take a percentage of whatever you raise, they help you with guidance, legal and financial oversight and steer you in the direction of your own status.
DIY Style
It’s also possible to do this diy style. Some orgs don't have enough resources to get the 501c3 status - here is a way to do it for cheaper - could be $7/800
Was helpful that some of the board members already had experience in this
They had an accountant (CPA) volunteer to help us present a budget
There is usually a guide for every state to start a nonprofit
Board Governance
How do you have the needs of all board members met, how are decisions being made, how are people held accountable to decisions
Documenting things like this and voting processes from the get-go is valuable so that agreements are made and are clear
Making sure that people are coming to meetings and meeting requirements
Agreement to accomplish the missions and vision
Are you actions, and ways you're iterating in alliance with the mission and vision that has been set from the beginning - this is why having signed documents is actually very helpful.
Can also only have a consensus model; unanimous voting - nothing happens until common ground is found
Can have all board meetings open to the public
Other archetypal roles: Reformer, builder, healer, resistor
Other Legal Structures
Church
Yes, you heard that right. It’s possible to create a psychedelic church .
Many folks dont enjoy working for non-profits for all of these reasons and churches can be an alternative.
508c1a - very different process, depends on how you want to organize your organization
Creating an LLC
Allows you to take money for events and protect people legally
Turns the organization into an individual
You can get fiscal sponsorship this way
Different states charge different amounts for LLC costs
$50 in Colorado, $800 in California
Has to be connected to the individuals
Benefit:
If your org is getting some income that you have to pay taxes this makes it easier to do that - unless you want to do a nonprofit
Reporting requirements are very low
You can start as an LLC and then eventually transfer it to a non-for-profit when you're ready
Creating a CO-OP
What’s a CO-OP?
Organizations that are owned and or governed by their workers or community members, or a combination of both. They are not governed or owned by people who are investing in the, philanthropically.
Equity means ownership, co-ops put community first
The board is democratically elected by community members
Why would a psychedelic society want to be a CO-OP?
Psychedelic societies are formed by the community
They have different stages of evolution - may not be the first thing to do
May want to incorporate as a 501c3 first and then bring in a co-op board
You need to have a well functioning community and board before turning into a co-op
People who want to talk about psychedelics and meet
Want to actually have a society with a name
Now we want to incorporate and open a 501c3 and incorporate bylaws
And then can become a co-op
But without a strong culture, it could take a lot of bandwidth
Having a co-op in a decriminalized state is valuable for sharing medicines, and an alternative to commercial and legal shops.
Aldo great for protecting facilitators
In a co-op there is some thing that is being traded between people, would be valuable if facilitating or medicine sharing a goal of a particular organization
Ie spore trading
Could integrate service centers into psychedelic societies
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