Next week, Massachusetts could become the third state in the country to decriminalize psilocybin, a psychedelic mushroom. Oregon was first, in November 2020, followed by Colorado in November 2022. As of today, 26 Local governments have also done this, or acted to prioritize policing and punishing those who use so-called “magic mushrooms.”

If it passes, Massachusetts Question 4 would allow persons 21 years of age or older to possess or use a personal quantity of five specified psychedelic substances derived from mushrooms or plants, and to cultivate plants and mushrooms containing them. It would also create a commission and advisory council to regulate the licensing of departments that administer them and establish a sales tax regime.

A recent survey by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that 43 percent of voters support the measure. It is exactly the same part that is opposed to it. This impasse contrasts dramatically with the disproportionate funding that the “for” and “against” campaigns have received. Massachusetts for Mental Health Options, the leader of the Question 4 campaign, has received more than $7 million in donations. Contributions to the Coalition for Safe Communities, which opposes it, total just over $100,000.

Caroline Cunningham, general consultant for the Question 4 campaign, believes that many donations to the campaign come from people with direct investments in the psychedelic industries. There are profits to be made by making plant-based psychedelic products (Question 4 does not allow retail sales) and providing therapy that uses them, she says.

The top individual donor, with $1.25 million, is All One God Faith Inc., best known as the maker of Dr. Bronner’s soap. The company’s CEO (cosmic engagement officer), David Bronner, is the grandson of its founder. He is a board member of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a nonprofit organization established in 1986 to foster “evidence-based” approaches to psychedelics.

Opponents of Question 4 have no problem with scientists and doctors exploring the potential benefits of psychedelics, they say. Boston is a hub for this type of research, Cunningham says. What they don’t like are the provisions regarding personal use.

Lt. Sarko Gergerian of the Winthrop, Massachusetts Police Department is a strong advocate for Issue 4, not as a spokesperson for his department, but as a citizen. A mental health counselor and police officer, he received training in the therapeutic use of psychedelics and observed their benefits. Personal use is already a reality, he says. “What Question 4 allows us to do is carefully and intentionally bring these practices into the light, where we can have a little more insight and a little more control over what’s happening.”

This is not a local problem

The issues at stake around question 4 are not strictly local. Massachusetts for Mental Health Options is funded by the same PAC who supported campaigns to legalize psychedelics in Colorado and Oregon. In a recent article On his company’s website, Bronner recounts progress toward state programs allowing psychedelics in therapy. “It is absolutely crucial that we win big in Massachusetts, which will hold a runoff in California in 2026,” he wrote.

The movement to include psychedelic drugs in behavioral health programs is not coming from the margins. The FDA recognized the potential of MDMA (a synthetic psychedelic stimulant also known as ecstasy), LSD and psilocybin to improve treatment outcomes. Cunningham is not wrong about the profit potential; The American psychedelics market could approach $7 billion by 2027.

The legislative and regulatory frameworks necessary for a national commercial market for these types of drugs and therapies are being developed in a “rapid and disparate” manner, according to a survey of state legalization efforts published in JAMA Psychiatry. He predicts that psychedelic drugs will be legalized in the majority of states by 2037, if not sooner.

For some critics of these measures, research and therapy are one thing; “recreational” use is another. Question 4 does not allow people to buy psychedelics at retail locations, but it does allow people to use them, grow psychedelic plants and mushrooms, and share what they grow. Supporters and opponents have different views on what might result.

Grown on site

Question 4 allows home growers to have a growing area of ​​up to 12 feet by 12 feet. “It’s the size of an average bedroom here in Massachusetts,” says Cunningham. Allowing growers to share the harvest from a plot of that size, she says, would create an unregulated and dangerous “gray market” for psychedelics.

A information sheet of the Coalition for Safe Communities outlines other concerns about personal use, including risks to children and pets from home-grown psychedelics and drivers under the influence of hallucinogens. Cunningham points out a study showing that calls to poison centers related to psilocybin have increased in cities where it has been decriminalized.

Gergerian is less concerned about such impacts. It’s legal for Massachusetts residents to make wine at home, he says, and serve it to their children at the dinner table. He doesn’t deny that people can make mistakes with the psychedelics they use or grow. “But we are talking about individual situations,” he said. More than 100,000 people die every year after taking it correctly prescribed medications. Almost 180,000 die every year from excessive alcohol consumption. Yet, Gergerian says, “on every corner is a liquor store. »

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Research and practice

With permission from his department, Gergerian participated in MDMA-assisted therapy training provided by MAPS. The federal government had approved a research protocol in which 120 “healthy normals” receiving this training would take MDMA themselves to understand what the patients would experience. Gergerian describes his experience with psychedelics as magical and profound.

Research so far has shown that psychedelics can help with issues including depression, late-life distress, PTSD, suicidal tendencies, and alcohol use disorders. Opponents of Question 4 agree that these findings should be further investigated – in studies supervised by doctors.

Gergerian believes citizens should have the opportunity to obtain such relief on their own. His undergraduate studies included religion, and he observes that plant-based psychedelics have a long history of ceremonial use in indigenous cultures.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), limited research suggests that psychedelics do not generally lead to an addition. She would like to see more efforts made to resolve this issue. NIDA also recognizes that there are safety concerns related to use outside of research contexts that warrant further research. In 2023, Australia became the first country to allow the prescription of MDMA and psilocybin to treat mental health disorders.

Currently, the Drug Enforcement Agency considers psilocybin to be a Appendix 1 drug, that is, a drug “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” (Fentanyl is not on this list, although it is the most dangerous of a group of synthetic opioids that have played a major role in reduce life expectancy in the United States)

Cannabis is also a Schedule 1 drug. Legalization of psychedelics at the state level creates the same conflict between state and federal laws that accompanied the legalization of marijuana. Last year, states that legalized personal marijuana use collected more than 4 billion dollars tax revenues related to cannabis.

Massachusetts is not yet considering retail sales of psychedelics, but scientific and commercial interest in their therapeutic uses has reached the general public. Question 4 arises as scientists, regulators and investors try to figure out what’s next. On Election Day, the next step for Massachusetts will be in the hands of voters.

Oregon’s bill allowing personal use of psychedelics is part of a broader effort to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all drugs. Public drug use became sufficiently problematic that the state withdrew from the experiment. enact a bill that recriminalized possession, making it a misdemeanor. Gergerian recently shared the stage at a conference on psychedelic medicine with a Denver chef. An audience member asked the chief if there were any problems with legalizing psilocybin. He responded that Colorado and Denver do have a lot of problems, but psilocybin isn’t one of them, Gergerian said.