The Success Story: Low Prices and Lean Operations

Some psilocybin service center operators say that they have sidestepped rising costs by keeping costs low. Dr. Eric Lee, the owner-operator of the modest Space Psychedelic Clinic in Northeast Portland, offers a starkly distinct perspective. “My sense is that everybody’s struggling except me,” he said bluntly. “We charge a low price, so we’ve been at $900 since we opened. I’m renewing for the second year and we’re doing really good.”

Lee reported that in January alone, his gross monthly income was approximately $19,000, with profits around $10,000-$11,000 after expenses. “I see us doing better and better and better,” he said. “The past two months, December-January, have been our best months.”

Lee says his success stems from a lean business model. “I work as the worker here, and I’m also the owner, and I’m also the manager…I do it all, and I don’t need to pay another person,” he explained. “I have no banking debt. I own the building. I put myself in a very financially advantageous  position.”

Lee attributes other centers’ struggles to unrealistic pricing and expectations. “Psychedelic entrepreneurs are some of the craziest entrepreneurs. Like, mushrooms are $15 a bag…You want to turn this into a $4,000 thing? What you want is not what the world needs, and that’s the bottom line,” says Lee.

Lee also dismissed complaints about costly bureaucracy. “Any government agency – that’s their job, to be a pain in the ass,” he said. Medical residency was way harder says Lee who  estimates that Space requires just two to three hours work a day. “I think people are really not setting the businesses up as things that people want to use, charging too much, and their expectation is that people want a big, luxurious package –  that’s just not what the people want.”

Despite his present success, Lee expressed skepticism about the Oregon program’s long-term viability under current funding structures. “If you try to charge $20,000 (for a service center license, up from $10,000 per annum) next year, I’m gonna have to go to another state… The way the law is written, long-term, is what is going to constrain my success as an entrepreneur.”