Psychedelics & Cannabis
Psychedelics and cannabis law is the legal framework that supports your work in an industry that’s evolving faster than the rules meant to govern it.
It’s the compliance questions you face before launching a product or service.
The contracts that need to hold up under heightened regulatory scrutiny.
The risk decisions that matter long before enforcement ever becomes an issue.
We work with entrepreneurs, facilitators, practitioners, creatives, and operators across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Colorado to help them build legally grounded businesses in emerging psychedelic and cannabis spaces—without losing sight of their values, vision, or community impact.
What Psychedelics & Cannabis Law Means:
This area of law isn’t about theory or hype, it’s about navigating real, day-to-day realities in a highly regulated and rapidly shifting landscape:
A cannabis business structuring operations to comply with state regulations while staying adaptable as laws change
A psychedelic facilitator or educator seeking clear boundaries around services, disclaimers, and informed consent
A wellness brand exploring plant medicine–adjacent offerings without crossing regulatory lines
A creative or media project addressing psychedelics or cannabis that needs thoughtful risk management and IP protection
We help translate these scenarios into contracts, policies, and governance documents that are understandable, enforceable, and built for real-world use.
Psychedelics and cannabis businesses often operate in legal gray areas—where what’s permitted, prohibited, or undecided can shift quickly depending on jurisdiction. Our role is to help you understand where you stand, identify risk thoughtfully, and move forward with intention rather than fear.
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Entity formation and operational structuring appropriate for regulated industries
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Contracts and agreements designed with compliance, liability, and enforcement risk in mind
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Policies, disclosures, and consent frameworks that support ethical and lawful practice
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Guidance on advertising, branding, and public-facing communications
We don’t offer shortcuts or blanket assurances. Instead, we provide grounded legal guidance that respects both the law and the emerging nature of this space.
Our approach to psychedelics and cannabis law is careful, collaborative, and context-driven. We understand that many clients in this space are building something new—often at the intersection of healing, creativity, and commerce—while navigating legal uncertainty.
With experience advising clients across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Colorado we help you assess risk, establish clear boundaries, and build legal systems that support long-term sustainability. Whether you’re laying foundations or refining existing operations, we serve as a steady legal partner so you can move forward with clarity, integrity, and confidence.
Statement on Psychedelics Medicines, Justice, and Responsibility
The contemporary resurgence of psychedelic medicines exists within a long and painful historical arc. Long before modern legal frameworks, these substances were, and remain, sacred medicines stewarded by Indigenous peoples and traditional cultures across the world. Colonialism, racism, and the deliberate eradication of Native cultures severed these medicines from their ceremonial, spiritual, and communal roots. The War on Drugs compounded this harm, criminalizing practices that had sustained communities for generations while disproportionately targeting Indigenous peoples and communities of color, resulting in incarceration, cultural loss, and lasting intergenerational trauma.
Today, evolving legal and regulatory frameworks are creating new opportunities to engage with psychedelics in clinical, spiritual, and commercial contexts. While this moment represents meaningful progress, it also demands humility and accountability. Access to legality does not erase history, nor does it confer moral authority. Participation in this space—whether as practitioners, entrepreneurs, researchers, or investors—carries an obligation to understand the struggles that preceded legalization and the communities that bore the cost of prohibition.
We believe that psychedelics are not merely emerging assets or regulatory categories; they are sacred medicines with deep cultural lineages. Those who choose to work within this field have a duty to learn from Indigenous knowledge holders, to acknowledge past and ongoing harms, and to engage in practices that are ethical, restorative, and respectful. Our work is guided by the principle that legal progress should not only enable compliance and innovation, but also contribute, where possible, to healing, justice, and cultural respect.
DISCLAIMER:
Illegality and Enforcement Risk
Psychedelic substances (including, without limitation, psilocybin and other entheogens) remain illegal under federal law and under many state and local laws. Conduct involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, possession, use, or facilitation of these substances may expose individuals and organizations to criminal, civil, immigration, child-welfare, professional-licensing, and other penalties, including forfeiture and imprisonment. Federal enforcement priorities can change without notice.
Cannabis remains illegal under federal law notwithstanding state-level legalization frameworks. Participants in state cannabis programs may face federal enforcement and collateral consequences, including banking, tax, immigration, and firearms-related restrictions.
Colorado-Specific Notice
Colorado’s evolving regulatory framework, including measures commonly referred to as the Colorado Natural Medicine Act, is complex and subject to change. Compliance with Colorado law does not ensure compliance with federal law or the laws of other states or localities, nor does it eliminate legal risk.
Religious Exercise and RFRA-Related Considerations
Some clients may explore religious frameworks, including “psychedelic churches,” in reliance on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and related constitutional protections. Recognition of religious exemptions is highly fact-specific, uncertain, and contested. RFRA and related defenses do not guarantee immunity from investigation, enforcement, or prosecution. Any religious-entity strategy requires rigorous, good-faith religious purpose, governance, and compliance measures and still carries material legal risk.
Federal Controlled Substances Act and Preemption
Activities involving Schedule I substances are prohibited under the Controlled Substances Act regardless of state law. Federal preemption, asset forfeiture risk, and ancillary-liability theories (including conspiracy or aiding-and-abetting) may apply even to indirect or non-plant-touching activities.
No Facilitation of Unlawful Conduct
We do not advise, assist, or facilitate the purchase, sale, cultivation, manufacture, distribution, possession, transportation, importation, exportation, administration, or use of illegal substances, nor do we connect clients with suppliers or venues. We will decline or withdraw from any engagement that would require or reasonably appear to require participation in unlawful conduct.
Compliance Limitations and No Guarantees
Regulatory compliance analyses are limited by rapidly changing statutes, regulations, guidance, and enforcement practices. We cannot and do not guarantee any outcome, approval, exemption, safe-harbor status, licensure, or immunity from enforcement.
Past results do not predict or guarantee future outcomes.
Banking, Tax, Insurance, Licensing, and Immigration Risks
Participants may face adverse actions or restrictions by financial institutions, payment processors, insurers, landlords, professional licensing boards, child-welfare authorities, and immigration authorities, as well as adverse tax treatment (including limitations under federal tax law). These risks exist even when activities are permitted under state law.
Jurisdiction and Licensing; Advertising Notice
We provide services only in jurisdictions where our lawyers are duly licensed and where we are permitted to practice. Content may be considered attorney advertising in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Do not rely on this site as a substitute for legal advice from competent counsel licensed in your jurisdiction.
Third-Party Resources and Links
References or links to third-party resources are for convenience and informational purposes only. We do not endorse and are not responsible for third-party content, policies, or services.
Harm-Reduction and Educational Context
Any discussion of harm-reduction principles is solely for educational purposes and is not an instruction, encouragement, or assistance to obtain, use, or distribute illegal substances.
No Confidentiality Without Engagement
Unsolicited information you send to us may not be treated as confidential or privileged. Do not submit confidential information until we confirm our representation in writing.
User Responsibility
You are solely responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable federal, state, tribal, and local laws and regulations, and for obtaining qualified legal advice specific to your circumstances.