How to read a category
Each entry below states three things. Includes is the rule that admitted a record. Excludes is the boundary — the neighbouring thing that looks similar and was filed elsewhere, which is usually more informative than the inclusion rule. A listing here does not tell you is the important one: it names, specifically, the questions a reader will want answered that this index cannot answer.
Categories are descriptive. They are not tiers, grades, or endorsements, and no ordering among them is implied. Earlier versions of this index carried tier labels; those were retired because a tier reads as a quality judgement and no quality judgement was ever made.
Known defects in this taxonomy
The taxonomy accreted during the survey rather than being designed in advance, and it has three defects. They are published rather than repaired, for a reason worth stating plainly: repairing a category assignment after the fact would mean filing records into categories no reviewer put them in, and a snapshot that quietly improves itself is no longer a record of what was found.
Four category pairs cover the same ground.
Banking and Banking & Financial Services; Capital Markets and Capital Markets / VC; Facilitator Training and Education & Training; Research Infrastructure and Research Collaborators. Each pair arose because the survey introduced a second label mid-way and never reconciled the first.
How it is handled. Both labels are published as recorded, and each category page names its counterpart. Merging them now would silently reassign records to a category no reviewer put them in, and the whole point of a read-only snapshot is that it reports what was recorded.
Two identifier prefixes are used by two different categories each.
RC identifies both Research Collaborators and Retreat Centers; CM identifies both Capital Markets and Capital Markets / VC. An identifier prefix in this dataset therefore does not determine a category.
How it is handled. Record identifiers are published as recorded and are unique within the set; only the prefix is ambiguous. Do not infer a category from an identifier.
One category has a single member.
Research Collaborators holds one record. A category of one is a filing decision rather than a class.
How it is handled. Published as recorded, and labelled as such on the taxonomy page.
Professional services an organisation in this field buys
Legal 20 records
Includes. Law firms and individual attorneys whose published practice description includes psychedelics, entheogens or the state programmes regulating them.
Excludes. General-practice firms with no published psychedelic practice, and non-lawyer consultants who advise on regulation.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about competence, bar standing, malpractice history, current client conflicts, or whether the firm still does this work. Attorneys move; three entries here describe practices that migrated to another firm listed in the same category.
Technology 7 records
Includes. Software and technical services built for or adapted to psychedelic services — records systems, background checks, session tooling.
Excludes. Research platforms and CRM, which have their own categories.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about security, regulatory compliance, uptime, pricing, or whether a state accepts the product for a required process.
Money — banking, capital and grantmaking tools
Banking 3 records
Includes. Banking providers and banking-policy references relevant to cannabis-adjacent and psychedelic businesses.
Excludes. Investors and payment processors.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about whether an institution will open your account, its current risk appetite, or its fees. One entry here is a federal bill rather than a bank, and is recorded as policy context.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Banking & Financial Services. Search both.
Banking & Financial Services 4 records
Includes. The same subject as Banking. This is a second label that accreted during the survey and was never reconciled.
Excludes. Nothing distinct from Banking.
A listing here does not tell you. See Banking. Treat the two categories as one when searching; the split is an artefact of the survey, not a distinction with meaning.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Banking. Search both.
Capital Markets 1 record
Includes. Investment banks and capital-markets intermediaries serving psychedelic issuers.
Excludes. Venture funds — though the survey did not hold that line, see the overlap note.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about assets under management, deal performance, or current activity.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Capital Markets / VC. Search both.
Capital Markets / VC 5 records
Includes. Venture and specialist funds investing in psychedelic companies.
Excludes. Philanthropic funders.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about fund size, whether the fund is still deploying, or whether it still exists. Three of the five entries here had no reachable website when links were last checked — a rate high enough to be worth reading as a signal about this segment.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Capital Markets. Search both.
Fundraising CRM 3 records
Includes. Donor-management and fundraising database products.
Excludes. General CRM used for sales rather than donors.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about cost at your scale, migration difficulty, or ownership changes.
Grant Management 3 records
Includes. Software and services for finding, tracking and administering grants, used by nonprofits in this field.
Excludes. Grantmakers themselves.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about price, fit, data handling, or whether the product is still supported.
Research and clinical infrastructure
Academic Research Centers 20 records
Includes. University-based centres and institutes with a named psychedelic research programme.
Excludes. Individual laboratories without a named centre, and commercial research organisations.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about funding status, publication record, whether the named director is still in post, or whether the centre is still active. Several entries record a founding year and a named lead; both age quickly.
Clinical Research Orgs 12 records
Includes. Contract research organisations and trial-site networks with published psychedelic trial work.
Excludes. Academic centres running their own research.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about trial quality, regulatory findings, current capacity, or whether the described trial work is ongoing.
Research Collaborators 1 record
Includes. A single entry: a data-governance and compliance collaborator. The category exists because one record did not fit anywhere else.
Excludes. Everything else.
A listing here does not tell you. A category with one member is a filing decision, not a taxonomy. It is published as it was recorded rather than merged, because merging it now would rewrite the original assignment.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Research Infrastructure. Search both.
Research Infrastructure 2 records
Includes. Data platforms and survey tools used to run research.
Excludes. The research organisations themselves.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about compliance posture, security, or suitability for regulated data.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Research Collaborators. Search both.
Delivery, training and the people who do the work
Education & Training 3 records
Includes. Conference producers and general educational programming.
Excludes. Facilitator curricula.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about whether an event will run again, or whether the organisation is still operating.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Facilitator Training. Search both.
Facilitator Training 22 records
Includes. Programmes that train psilocybin facilitators, including those built against state curriculum requirements.
Excludes. Conferences and general psychedelic education, which sit under Education & Training.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about state approval status, accreditation, cost, completion rates, or whether a graduate can be licensed anywhere. State approval in particular is a live, checkable fact held by the state, not by this index — and it is exactly the kind of claim the descriptor rule withholds here.
Overlaps. This category covers ground also covered by Education & Training. Search both.
Mental Health Workforce & Staffing 10 records
Includes. Job boards, staffing intermediaries and practitioner directories serving this field.
Excludes. Individual practitioners.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about whether listed practitioners are credentialed, whether a directory verifies its own entries, or whether the board still has postings.
Retreat Centers 14 records
Includes. Service centres, retreat operators and the registries that list them.
Excludes. Clinics whose published model is medical rather than service-centre based.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about licensure, safety, staffing, incident history, pricing, or whether a centre is open. This is the single category where the gap between what the index records and what a reader wants to know is widest, and the honest answer is to check the state licensee registry — one entry in this category is that registry.
Community, harm reduction and tradition
Community Infrastructure 8 records
Includes. Communications, public affairs, lobbying and convening organisations that serve the field as a whole rather than one segment.
Excludes. Advocacy organisations whose primary work is harm reduction.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about who funds them, whom they represent, or what positions they take.
Harm Reduction 12 records
Includes. Drug-checking services, peer support lines, festival and event support, and harm-reduction education.
Excludes. Treatment providers.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about coverage area, hours, current capacity, or clinical supervision. For anything urgent, treat this as a starting list and confirm directly.
Indigenous / Ceremonial 10 records
Includes. Indigenous-led organisations, sacred-plant advocacy bodies, land conservancies and religious-use organisations.
Excludes. Commercial retreat operators using ceremonial framing.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about standing to speak for any community, relationship to any recognised tribe or church, legal status under RFRA or state law, or the position of any body toward any other. This is the category where an outside index is least equipped to characterise anything, and the descriptor rule withholds more here than anywhere else.
Back office
Accounting & Finance 3 records
Includes. Accountants and financial-services providers who publicly describe working with cannabis, psychedelic or plant-medicine businesses.
Excludes. General accounting practices, and investors — those are under Capital Markets.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about licensure, professional standing, or whether a firm will take your engagement.
HR & People Ops 4 records
Includes. Payroll, benefits, employer-of-record and workforce-management providers used by organisations in this field.
Excludes. Recruiters and job boards.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about cost, jurisdictional coverage, or willingness to serve this sector — which is the actual constraint for most organisations here.
Insurance 5 records
Includes. Insurers, brokers and benefit administrators offering products aimed at psychedelic services, facilitators or service centres.
Excludes. General commercial brokers with no published psychedelic line.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about whether a policy would actually cover your activity, whether the carrier is admitted in your state, or whether the product still exists.
Translation & Language 3 records
Includes. Translation and interpreting providers used for clinical, research and multilingual community work.
Excludes. General localisation agencies with no clinical or research offering.
A listing here does not tell you. Nothing about certification, clinical interpreting qualifications, or data handling.