This bill, titled the "psychedelic substances act" (Senate Bill 5201), creates a new, statewide regulatory framework for adult (21+) access to certain psychedelic substances, initially psilocybin, and establishes licensing, testing, labeling, and rulemaking regimes. It adds new chapters in Title 18 (licensing facilitators, clinical facilitators, service centers) and Title 66 (manufacture, testing, and related controls), establishes a Washington psychedelic substances board within the Department of Health to advise DOH, and creates a regulated program at the Liquor and Cannabis Board for manufacture and testing. The act sets training, practicum, supervised practice, associate license categories, examination and renewal requirements, authorized locations for administration sessions, mandatory preparation and post‑administration integration sessions, disclosure and client‑consent rules, confidentiality limits, and specific transport and storage rules. The bill modifies existing statutory schemes and procedures and creates new administrative penalties and disciplinary procedures rather than new criminal offenses for licensed, compliant activity. It designates DOH and the Liquor and Cannabis Board as disciplining authorities under the Uniform Disciplinary Act for their respective licenses; allows civil penalties (up to $5,000 per violation for licensing requirements and up to $500 per day for laboratory violations); makes certain violations class 1 or class 2 civil infractions; and establishes dedicated fee and penalty accounts to fund administration and enforcement. It also amends several existing RCW provisions (including RCW 69.50 and RCW 49.60.180) to exclude lawful activity under the new chapters from certain controlled‑substance definitions and to prohibit employment discrimination for lawful, sanctioned psychedelic use absent visible impairment. The act includes procedural and policy limits and protections: it directs DOH and LCB to consider cost and flexibility when adopting rules; provides limited immunity from arrest/discipline for certain health professionals, service center clients, and caregivers acting in compliance with the chapter; preempts local taxes or fees on manufacture, sale, or services (legislature retains taxing authority) while allowing local zoning and reasonable regulations; and sets multiple deadlines (for example, rulemaking and license application start dates by October 31 and November 1, 2027, respectively) and temporary waiver authorities that expire by mid‑2030. Several important definitions, detailed licensure criteria, full rule content, exact new chapter citations, and some sections referenced (including the text of section 6 defining terms, and other later sections) are not included in the extracted facts, so some operational specifics and cross‑references remain uncertain.

If enacted, the bill builds a statewide regulatory system that lets adults 21+ access psilocybin-based services through licensed facilitators, service centers, manufacturers, and testing labs. The Department of Health will license facilitators, clinical facilitators, and service centers and must create training, exams (offered at least twice a year), preparation and integration session requirements, limits on home use, and inspection/enforcement routines; the Liquor and Cannabis Board will license manufacturers and laboratories and set testing, labeling, packaging, and tracking standards. Start-up steps and deadlines are laid out (board appointments by Sept. 1, 2025; research and public information published by Dec. 31, 2025; rules and forms by Oct. 31, 2027; licensing applications accepted from Nov. 1, 2027), new fees will fund program administration through designated state accounts, and licensed activity conducted under the rules is shielded from state criminal or civil prosecution while specified professional and client protections, disclosure duties, and employer non‑discrimination safeguards apply. The most affected parties are the Department of Health and the Liquor and Cannabis Board, which must build new licensing, inspection, education, and enforcement programs and likely need staff, training systems, and rulemaking capacity that are intended to be paid for by license and permit fees; prospective facilitators and clinical facilitators face defined training and supervised-practice hours (with associate licenses and temporary waiver periods available), service center operators and manufacturers must meet facility, storage, transport, and labeling/testing rules, and laboratories must be accredited and licensed with daily penalties for violations. Local governments lose the power to tax these activities and face limits on banning licensed operations. Important implementation details that will affect costs and timelines—such as exact fee levels, full licensing standards, some definitions, and specific rule content—are not provided in the excerpts and will shape the real-world burdens and timelines once finalized.