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Massachusetts activists have filed a pair of initiatives to legalize the possession of certain psychedelics and allow for licensed facilities to provide supervised services that could go before voters on the state\u2019s 2024 ballot.<\/p>\n
Massachusetts for Mental Health Options, which submitted paperwork to form the ballot committee<\/a> last month, officially submitted the measures on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The two initiatives are nearly identical, except that one would allow adults 21 and older to cultivate their own psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca.<\/p>\n Overall, both would remove criminal penalties for low-level possession of five entheogenic plants and fungi, while establishing a licensing scheme for psychedelic service centers where professionals could administer the substances in a regulated environment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re facing a severe mental health crisis in Massachusetts and across the country. First responders are on the frontlines\u2014not only in helping others but oftentimes suffering themselves from trauma and burnout,\u201d petitioner Sarko Gergerian, a police lieutenant and psychotherapist, said in a press release. \u201cNatural psychedelic medicines have the potential to heal us in ways that no other therapy can. The need for this is overwhelming, and I pray this will appear on the ballot next year.\u201d<\/p>\n The new statewide push in Massachusetts comes amid a sizable local psychedelics movement that has seen six cities across the commonwealth move to decriminalize natural plants and fungi.<\/p>\n The campaign is being backed by the New Approach PAC, which has financially supported successful psychedelics reform efforts in other states like Colorado.<\/p>\n Here are the key details of the Natural Psychedelic Substances Act:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cA growing body of research from some of the nation\u2019s most respected medical research institutions shows that psychedelics hold tremendous promise in treating depression, end-of-life anxiety, and other serious mental health challenges,\u201d Franklin King, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said. \u201cEvidence is likewise clear that the current legal scheduling of naturally occurring psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin is neither appropriate nor scientifically based.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI see the effects of the mental health crisis in the emergency room every day, and believe psychedelic therapy offers a potential option to help address this crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cThis ballot question will make these tools readily available in a safe and responsible context.\u201d<\/p>\n After the attorney general prepares a summary of the measures and completes a public comment period, the campaign will need to collect an initial batch of 74,574 valid signatures from registered voters and turn them into the secretary of state\u2019s office by the first Wednesday of December.<\/p>\n At that point, the measure or measures would be set to the legislature, which could choose to enact them, propose a substitute or decline to act. If lawmakers decide not to pursue the reform by the first Wednesday of May 2024, activists would then have until the first Wednesday of July to submit at least 12,429 additional valid signatures.<\/p>\n Notably, the version of the initiative that allows for home grow is being endorsed by Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, an organization that has spearheaded a half dozen local psychedelics reform measures in the state and that previously criticized<\/a> the statewide ballot campaign for a lack of consultation in the lead-up to the filing. The group is neutral on the measure that lacks a home cultivation option, however.<\/p>\n\n
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