{"id":68283,"date":"2023-09-06T09:53:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T17:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/09\/06\/massachusetts-attorney-general-clears-2024-psychedelics-legalization-ballot-initiatives-and-releases-final-summaries\/"},"modified":"2023-09-06T19:46:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T03:46:22","slug":"massachusetts-attorney-general-clears-2024-psychedelics-legalization-ballot-initiatives-and-releases-final-summaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/09\/06\/massachusetts-attorney-general-clears-2024-psychedelics-legalization-ballot-initiatives-and-releases-final-summaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Attorney General Clears 2024 Psychedelics Legalization Ballot Initiatives And Releases Final Summaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Massachusetts attorney general\u2019s office has determined that a pair of 2024 psychedelics legalization ballot initiatives<\/a> have met state constitutional requirements, and it\u2019s now releasing final summaries of the measures and allowing activists to begin collecting signatures to qualify them to go before voters next year.<\/p>\n

In a press release on Wednesday, the office said that it vetted 42 initiative petitions and approved 34 of them, including that psychedelics reform measures that were first submitted to the state last month.<\/p>\n

The proposals from the Massachusetts for Mental Health Options campaign are nearly identical, except that one would give adults a home grow option and the other would not. Accordingly, the final summaries<\/a> largely mirror each other with that one policy distinction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the Attorney General\u2019s decision to certify both of our petitions,\u201d the campaign said in a statement shared with Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. \u201cWe believe that Massachusetts voters should have the opportunity to expand mental health access to natural psychedelics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch from top health care organizations like Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical School show promising results that natural psychedelics can be successful in treating anxiety, depression and PTSD. In particular, we know veterans and first responders who suffer mental health issues need more help and tools for treatment,\u201d advocates said. \u201cThe ballot question we are proposing will offer relief and hope to those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measures would both create a regulatory framework for lawful and medically supervised access to psychedelics at licensed facilities. Both would legalize the possession and gifting of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ayahuasca, but they would not otherwise provide for commercial retail sales of the substances.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a key point that the campaign wanted to drive home as the attorney general\u2019s office drafted the summaries. An attorney for the Massachusetts for Mental Health Options campaign urged the office to make slight revisions to initial versions to emphasize that the initiatives would not create a system like the state\u2019s marijuana market, according to a copy of the draft that had track changes comments.<\/p>\n

Mason Marks, a law professor at the Florida State University College of Law and co-founder of the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School, shared the draft document with Marijuana Moment last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposed law would license and regulate facilities offering supervised use of these psychedelic substances and provide for the taxation of proceeds from those facilities\u2019 sales of psychedelic substances,\u201d the final summaries for both<\/a> measures<\/a> say.<\/p>\n

The campaign behind the initiatives is being backed by the national 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