Skip to main content
Story: FRANK LI’S GREAT ESCAPE
Date: March 20
What happened: At first glance, Dr. Frank Li didn’t look like the kind of person the Oregon Health Authority should greenlight to open a psilocybin service center, where people go to take legal trips on psychedelic mushrooms. Li had run a chain of pain clinics in Washington until 2016, when state regulators suspended his medical license, alleging that drugs his clinics prescribed had contributed to the deaths of 18 people while in his care. In six hours of interviews over multiple visits by WW, Li contended he’d been targeted by Washington state officials during an overzealous crackdown on prescription opioids. He says he saw 33,000 patients hooked on opioids by other doctors and got 22,000 of them clean before the staate shut him down. After his own bout of depression, Li found that psilocybin could help people with a range of problems, so he moved south to Oregon and set up Immersive, a well-appointed shroom boutique in Slabtown.
What has happened since: Li says facilitators at Immersive have hosted people on 423 psilocybin journeys this year, individually and in groups. Some people take large “hero” doses to look inward for solutions to life’s woes, while others microdose and do yoga, meditate or hold sound baths to get a fresh perspective. There are groups for women, first responders and the LGBTQ community. Li is most proud of helping some clients kick drug and alcohol habits with just one or two mushroom experiences, an assertion supported by clinical trials. One person stopped using methamphetamine after just three trips, ending a 15-year habit, Li says. Because of state regulations, legal tripping isn’t cheap, but Li offers scholarships and a sliding fee scale for individuals in group trips ranging from $499 to $759, magic fungi included. “It’s one thing to hear what you should do from others, but when you get the lessons from inside yourself, you hear it,” Li says. “People listen to solutions that come from within.”