By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press
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SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s pioneering experiment with legalized magic mushrooms took a step closer to reality as the first “facilitators” who will accompany clients as they experience the drug received their state licenses, authorities said Tuesday.

Voters approved the regulated use of psilocybin in a 2020 ballot measure, and anticipation has been building over the past 2 1/2 years for the day — expected to come later this year — when people can gain access to the drug that studies indicate has therapeutic value.

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Hundreds of people have invested thousands of dollars apiece in this budding industry, and some worry that the rollout is proceeding too slowly.

“We thank you for your dedication to client safety and access as we move closer to opening service centers,” Oregon Psilocybin Services Manager Angie Allbee said in a statement Tuesday to three people who received the state’s first facilitator licenses.

But to date, no service centers — where customers would access psilocybin in controlled, calm environments with music, eye masks and mats — have been licensed. Nor has any laboratory where the products must be tested for potency. The psilocybin may come in the form of whole dried mushrooms, ground homogenized fungi, extracts and edible products, the Oregon Health Authority says.

Tori Armbrust applied for a license to grow magic mushrooms on Jan. 2, the first day the health authority began accepting applications. In March, she became the first person to receive a manufacturer license. Allbee at the time congratulated Armbrust “for representing women leading the way for the emerging psilocybin ecosystem.”

Armbrust paid $10,000 for the license, which is good for only one year. To renew it, she will have to pay another $10,000. Between the license fee, renting a space in Portland to grow the mushrooms and setting up utilities and other elements, the 33-year-old said she has already spent about $25,000 of her life savings.

And she has yet to earn a dime.

She is growing psilocybin mushrooms, with the first harvest expected in a few weeks.