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The governor of Massachusetts is promoting the testimony of activists who spoke in favor of her veterans-focused bill that would, in part, create a psychedelics work group to study the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin<\/a>.<\/p>\n During a hearing before the legislature\u2019s Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs on Tuesday, psychedelics reform advocates urged members to pass the Honoring, Empowering, and Recognizing our Servicemembers and Veterans (HERO Act) that Gov. Maura Healey (D) introduced last month.<\/p>\n This comes as lawmakers are also being asked to consider a separate proposal to legalize substances such as psilocybin and ayahuasca for adults. If legislators decline to enact that reform, activists will have a chance to collect additional signatures to place it on the state\u2019s November ballot.<\/p>\n The psychedelics-related provisions of the governor\u2019s veterans bill, meanwhile, are more limited in scope. The proposal wouldn\u2019t immediately create a framework for legal access, but it would require the Executive Office of Veterans\u2019 Services (EOVS) to convene a working group to study \u201calternative therapies for mental health treatments for veterans\u201d and exploring \u201cwhether psychedelic therapy is associated with improved outcomes among veterans with diagnosed mental health disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n At Tuesday\u2019s hearing<\/a>, Emily Oneschuk\u2014a Navy veteran and campaign director for Massachusetts for Mental Health Options (MMHO) that is behind the psychedelics ballot push\u2014testified about her own transformative experience with psilocybin-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire process helped me weave the disparate and difficult pieces of my life together in a way that I couldn\u2019t access in traditional talk therapy and the effects of that retreat stay with me to this day,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen this work for myself, for my peers and for countless others who ran out of options and I\u2019m hoping to make it accessible to the people who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n Oneschuk\u2019s testimony was one of several examples of psychedelics-centered comments referenced<\/a> by the governor\u2019s office in a press release Tuesday that broadly advocated for the enactment of her veterans bill.<\/p>\n Sam Chapman, executive director of the Healing Advocacy Fund, was also quoted in the governor\u2019s release, saying that the HERO Act \u201csupports the study of psychedelic medicine as a new tool for mental health care for those struggling with PTSD, including our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMassachusetts veterans answered the call to serve their state and country, and they deserve to have access to the care they need when they return home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Winthrop Police Department Lt. Sarko Gergerian submitted testimony for the hearing criticizing \u201cbarriers in place at the federal and state level that have for too long prevented the creation of a scientific evidence base around psychedelic medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill offers a good step in correcting the errors of the past\u2014a move that will add to the scientific base related to these therapies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The panel that would be created under the governor\u2019s legislation would need to \u201cevaluate literature, research trials and expert opinions to determine in psychedelic therapy is associated with improved outcomes regarding mental health treatment for veterans.\u201d And it would be required to issue recommendations \u201cregarding the provision of psychedelic therapy to treat veterans with mental health disorders in Massachusetts.\u201d<\/p>\n The legislation limits the scope of psychedelics that should be studied to psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine.<\/p>\n The secretary of EOVS would need to appoint to the working group two members representing medical centers that serve veterans, two members representing health insurance companies, two members representing veterans service organizations, one member representing an organization that\u2019s currently studying psychedelics therapy and any additional members seen fit to complete the research.<\/p>\n The working group would need to file a report with findings and recommendations with the clerks of the House and Senate and two joint legislative committees no later than January 1, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe HERO Act represents a visionary commitment by our administration to redefine the landscape of veterans\u2019 services for Massachusetts,\u201d the governor said broadly of her legislation. \u201cAt its core, the bill ensures that veterans receive proper support by expanding benefits, modernizing services, and reaching more veterans and families.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTogether, we can ensure that Massachusetts not only does right by our veterans, but leads the nation in providing the best veterans\u2019 services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2014 Rather than wait until 2025 for a working group to make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for a specific population, however, the measure from MMHO activists that\u2019s now before the legislature would create a regulatory framework for lawful and supervised access to psychedelics at licensed facilities.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Massachusetts officials certified that activists submitted enough valid signatures to force legislative consideration of the psychedelics legalization initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n The campaign\u00a0first filed two different psychedelics reform initiatives in August<\/a>, and after the state attorney general determined that\u00a0they both met the constitutional requirement for ballot placement<\/a>\u00a0the following months, activists decided to pursue the version that included a home cultivation option.<\/p>\n The legislature will now have the choice to enact the reform, propose a substitute or decline to act. If lawmakers decide not to legalize psychedelics by May 1, activists would then have until July 3 to submit at least 12,429 additional valid signatures to put the proposal before voters on the November 2024 ballot.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a local psychedelics reform group, Bay Staters for Natural Medicine (BSNM), says it\u2019s preparing to offer lawmakers a revised version of the initiative this spring. The group, which previously expressed support for the ballot measure version allowing home cultivation, is now proposing to strike language on creating a regulatory commission to oversee the program, and it also wants to give localities that authority to restrict psychedelics services in their areas.<\/p>\n BSNM has helped enact local policies to deprioritize enforcement of laws against psychedelics in six cities: Salem<\/a>,\u00a0Somerville<\/a>,\u00a0Cambridge<\/a>,\u00a0Easthampton<\/a>,\u00a0Northampton<\/a>,\u00a0Amherst<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Provincetown<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately, in the Massachusetts legislature, a Republican lawmaker\u00a0filed three psychedelics reform bills last year<\/a>, including proposals to legalize substances like psilocybin and reschedule MDMA pending federal approval while setting a price cap on therapeutic access.<\/p>\n There are several other pieces of psychedelics legislation that have been introduced in Massachusetts for the session by other legislators, including\u00a0separate\u00a0measures\u00a0to legalize certain entheogenic substances for adults.<\/p>\n Another\u00a0bill\u00a0would authorize the Department of Public Health to conduct a comprehensive study into the potential therapeutic effects of synthetic psychedelics like MDMA.<\/p>\n Rep. Mike Connolly (D) also filed a bill in 2021\u00a0that received a Joint Judiciary Committee hearing<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0studying the implications of legalizing entheogenic substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca<\/a>.<\/p>\n Oregon Democrats Propose Recriminalizing Drug Possession And Expanding Treatment Access<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Massachusetts Governor Touts Activists\u2019 Support For Her Veterans Bill That Would Create Psychedelics Work Group<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Massachusetts is promoting the testimony of activists who spoke in favor of her veterans-focused bill that would, in part, create a psychedelics work group to study the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin. During a hearing before the legislature\u2019s Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal AffairsContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":71926,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71927,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71925\/revisions\/71927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Massachusetts Governor Touts Activists\u2019 Support For Her Veterans Bill That Would Create Psychedelics Work Group<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"