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Provided by Allison Hoots
Allison Hoots works as an attorney advising on contractual, transactional, employment, corporate/business formation, healthcare, constitutional, and intellectual property law.
She has unique experience advising in all areas of the psychedelics space, including practitioners as psychedelic assisted therapy providers, risk reduction support service providers, ketamine practitioners, and therapists, as well as other harm reduction and psychedelic endeavors. She advises churches on liability issues and defensibility of the ceremonial use of psychedelic sacraments, pursuant to the right to religious exercise and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
She is a founding member of the Psychedelic Bar Association, where she received the "Legal Scholarship Award" in 2025.
Allison is Head Policy Counsel for New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives for drug policy reform in New York State.
Allison is the primary drafter of NY Bill A2142, a psilocybin permit model based in a public health framework. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A2142
Allison is Executive Director of Sacred Plant Alliance, a self-regulating organization of religious practitioners dedicated to the legal, safe, ethical, and sincere ceremonial use of psychedelic sacraments: https://www.sacredplantalliance.org/
Allison is Law and Drug Policy Reform Advisor for the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and was lead author of “Guide to RFRA & Best Practices for Psychedelic Plant Medicine Churches.”: https://chacruna.net/chacruna_guide_rfra_best_practices_psychedelic_churches/
Allison’s previous government experience at both the state and federal levels gives her valuable insights into practices and priorities of agency investigations. She spent two years as an investigator for the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, investigating alleged violations of ERISA & ACA. Allison interned at the New York State Division of Human Rights & Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, investigating alleged violations of state & federal non-discrimination laws.
Allison worked at entertainment law firms & a non-profit music organization to advise clients on copyright & trademark issues.
Allison was Co-Chair of the Defined Benefit Plan Subcommittee for ABA Tax Section Employee Benefits Committee October 2019-June 2021. She was Co-Vice Chair of this Subcommittee 2016-2019. In May 2013, she was a speaker for “Tax Bridge to Practice – Introduction to Employee Benefits” panel, ABA Tax Section Meeting.
Allison has been an attorney since 2011 and is licensed in New York, Pennsylvania, & District of Columbia.
Hoots, Allison. “The Legal Definition of Religion in the Context of Modern Religious Exercise with Psychedelics: Protection, Double Standards, and Potential Expansion under RFRA.” Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology, edited by Jeffrey Breau and Paul Gillis-Smith. Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2025. https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/publications/psychedelic-intersections/legal-religious-exercise-hoots
Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines & Hoots, A. (2021). Guide to RFRA and Best Practices for Psychedelic Plant Medicine Churches. San Francisco, CA: Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. https://chacruna.net/chacruna_guide_rfra_best_practices_psychedelic_churches/
Licensed in New York, Pennsylvania, and D.C.
Legal Scholarship Award
Psychedelic Bar Association
2025
Provided by Chambers
Allison Hoots is the founder of Hoots Law Office and frequently sought out by companies in the psychedelic space to advise on a wide range of issues including employment, intellectual property and liability among numerous others. She is able to speak on state and federal level regulations.
Provided by Chambers
On religious exemption use, Allison is best in class.
On religious exemption use, Allison is best in class.