Legislators Revive Policy Reform in Massachusetts

A rare confluence of legislative action on Beacon Hill has sparked a resurgence of psychedelic policy reform efforts in Massachusetts since the defeat of 2024’s Question 4 therapeutic and decriminalization legislation. Lawmakers have now introduced a dozen bills at the Massachusetts State House, creating a labyrinth of proposals that range from limited therapeutic pilot programs to full recreational legalization. 

This flurry of activity, punctuated by two major public hearings scheduled for the coming weeks, signals that a significant policy change, most likely focused on psychedelic-assisted therapy, may be imminent.

Advocates of psychedelic policy reforms across New England are heralding the renewed interest from lawmakers as proof that support for this legislation remains strong despite the regional losses, setbacks, and whistleblower allegations about Question 4 that have plagued the local psychedelics community in recent years. The legislative push comes after Massachusetts voters rejected the broader Question 4 ballot measure, prompting legislators to pursue more narrowly tailored reforms.

The most critical bills are a set of five pilot program proposals, four decriminalization measures, a task force bill, and a single full legalization bill, demonstrating the wide range of approaches being considered.

Historic Hearings Set to Drive Discussion

On September 29, the Joint Committee on Revenue held a public hearing on House Bill 4050. This bill is the most far-reaching proposal, aiming to fully legalize psilocybin within a regulated framework, including retail sales for recreational use, without any initial decriminalization steps.

The unique bill, sponsored by Representative Patrick Joseph Kearney (D-Scituate), is notably modeled after a similar piece of legislation, New York bill A2142: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to promoting the health and well-being of the citizens of the state of New York by establishing a comprehensive framework supporting public health and safety through regulated adult use, support services, and cultivation of psilocybin-containing fungi. Originally filed in New York and further proliferated by advocates in Connecticut, A2142 is coincidentally set for a hearing before the New York State Assembly in Manhattan on Tuesday, September 30.

The September 29 hearing in Massachusetts featured testimony from a number of grassroots advocacy stalwarts – including New York resident Joe McKay, a former New York Fire Department veteran and a 9/11 first responder.

“[On] September 11, 2001… I was one of the many who responded to the World Trade Center. It was no doubt the worst day of my life,” said McKay, who testified remotely via video call as a representative of Clusterbusters, a cluster headache advocacy group. 

“In the months following, we worked on the pile, breathing in that toxic air, while searching for the missing,” McKay continued. I had never experienced such intense feelings of grief, and I thought I had hit rock bottom and that things couldn’t get any worse. Then I had my first attack. I ended up in the emergency room and, six weeks later, I was diagnosed with cluster headaches, otherwise known as the suicide headache. It’s said to be the most painful condition known to medicine.”

“Being desperate,” he added, “I searched on the Internet and found a patient advocacy group called Clusterbusters … I was at the end of my rope, and I was willing to try anything … I ended up with a small dose of psilocybin mushrooms … [and] the next day, the excruciating pain that I had felt for over a decade was gone. I was in remission.”

Massachusetts Legislation Follows a New York Playbook

HB 4050, the Massachusetts version of the proposed New York psychedelics legislation, is designed to provide cultivation licenses specifically to local psilocybin mushroom farmers. It would create a personal license model for use that would require eligible applicants and participants in the program to pass an extensive “driver’s ed style” safe and responsible use course.

That bill would legalize psilocybin for adult use through a regulated framework focused on public health and safety. Adults would need to obtain a permit after completing a health screening and an educational course. This permit would allow individuals to legally cultivate, possess, use, and share psilocybin with other permitted adults.

The state Department of Health would oversee the program, licensing cultivators and issuing permits. While the bill suggests psilocybin could treat conditions like PTSD, eligibility is not restricted to these ailments. The state would also certify entities to provide supportive services.

Possessing or selling psilocybin without a license or permit would remain a violation, carrying a reduced maximum penalty of a $250 fine and up to 15 days in jail. This measure aims to reduce penalties for illegal use rather than broadly decriminalize psilocybin.

A “Regulated Psilocybin Advisory Board” would be established to recommend program guidelines and develop a long-term plan to ensure services are safe, accessible, and affordable for adults 18 and older. The board would also monitor federal laws. Additionally, the health department would implement a tax structure for providers to cover administrative costs, including an educational course on the risks of psilocybin use.

Potential Roadblocks for HB 4050

Allison Hoots – author of New York’s original psilocybin personal license framework – was consulted by Massachusetts advocates and provided guidance on policy language for HB 4050. In an interview earlier this week, Hoots highlighted the enduring stigmatization of “non-medical” use of psilocybin as a potential roadblock for the personal license framework that she designed. 

“I think the individual user permit model addresses actual use unlike any other state legal framework to date and would create the circumstances for the most impactful and effective outcome,” said Hoots, who is also the founder of the Sacred Plant Alliance – a nonprofit organization for sacramental churches providing education to its members and the public about best practices and self-governance. “I am hopeful states will adopt these models that empower and give more freedom to individuals who are educated consumers.”

“That said,” Hoots clarified, “I understand that there is going to be some hesitancy around this kind of shift in drug policy. Ultimately, I am hopeful that legislatures will see the public health framework as the ideal framework for drug policy reform.”

Pilot Programs Poised for Success

Later this fall, on November 10, lawmakers in Massachusetts will convene again for a separate, psychedelics-dedicated hearing to receive spoken testimony on two pilot program bills: House Bill 4200 and House Bill 2203, which focus on psilocybin only.

Additionally, Senate Bill 1400 recently made waves after advancing out of the Massachusetts Public Health Committee following a unanimous vote in mid-September. The expansive, therapy-oriented bill would establish a state-regulated psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program. What stands out most about SB 1400 is the broad use of the term “psychedelics,” unlike other bills up for consideration, which focus on a specific substance like psilocybin or MDMA. 

This particular phrasing has led local and national advocacy leaders alike to call for the inclusion of ibogaine as one of the approved substances for therapeutic use, should the bill reach Governor Healey’s desk before the end of the calendar year.

Bryan Hubbard, Executive Director of Americans for Ibogaine and co-founder of the Texas Ibogaine Initiative, applauded the advancement of SB 1400 out of committee in a September 13 statement urging Massachusetts lawmakers to “join the emerging vanguard of states researching ibogaine’s unique effectiveness in combating the opioid epidemic and traumatic brain injury.” 

“Lawmakers’ continued dedication to this issue is encouraging, moving beyond the failed Q4 ballot campaign to advance better legislation for psychedelic healing in the Commonwealth,” said Jamie Morey, co-founder of the grassroots psychedelic advocacy organization Mass Healing, and former member of the Question 4 campaign who later filed finance violation complaints against the campaign. 

Law Enforcement Endorses Targeted Decriminalization

A key component in proposed policy initiatives that is gaining unexpected momentum is the targeted decriminalization of specific substances. This language may be incorporated into any final pilot program legislation signed into law. This approach is boosted by the groundbreaking endorsement from the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) for House Bill 2506.

HB 2506, sponsored by Representative Steven Owens (D-Watertown), is a piece of legislation aimed at decriminalizing just psilocybin for specific, high-need populations. It would remove criminal penalties for the cultivation, possession, use, and gifting of psilocybin for veterans, current and former members of law enforcement, and patients diagnosed with PTSD and other serious conditions. The legislation is being championed as an essential step toward addressing the widespread mental health crisis affecting first responders and military personnel across the Commonwealth.

Law enforcement officers, who frequently face severe job-related stress and trauma, have become unlikely yet vocal advocates for this reform. Supporting the move, Lieutenant Diane Goldstein (Ret.), Executive Director of LEAP, emphasized the existing evidence base: “There’s substantial evidence that psychedelic-assisted therapies can successfully treat forms of depression and PTSD that are otherwise very difficult to address. These issues can affect anyone, but law enforcement is particularly susceptible.”

Goldstein further argued that the bill is a matter of public safety, ensuring that “healthier communities make for safer police officers, and healthier police officers make for safer communities.”

The movement is also driven by active-duty officers. Police Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian, a sworn police officer with more than 15 years of service, stressed that the job’s daily stressors contribute to “complex mental health challenges that our profession has long struggled to address.”

Gergerian views HB 2506 as an opportunity for Massachusetts to lead by example, stating, “By passing this bill, it will ensure that both officers and civilians can get access to the care they need, while building a model for other states to follow. Healing shouldn’t be a crime, and psychedelic therapy shouldn’t be the future of mental health care – it should be the present.”

Decriminalization efforts have also received support from the professional medical community. The Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (MPS) endorsed three other bills (S 1113, H 1858, and H 1726) that seek to decriminalize the simple possession of a small amount of psilocybin, marking the first time any branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has formally backed psychedelic decriminalization legislation of any kind on any level of governance.

The Long-Term Outlook: Task Forces and Legalization

While a therapeutic pilot program with incorporated decriminalization seems the most probable path to law, other long-term solutions are also moving forward.

A task force to study full legalization is also likely to be incorporated into a final bill. House Bill 1624, sponsored by Representative Mike Connolly (D-Cambridge), aims to establish an interagency body to study how to best fully legalize psilocybin and other natural psychedelics, with a focus on maximizing equitable access and developing recommendations for pardons and criminal record expungement.

Full legalization, represented by HB 4050, is the longest shot this session, though its favorable recommendation from the Joint Committee on Revenue would be a significant milestone, creating a foundation for future reform.

Morey, who co-authored HB 4050, highlighted the gap that the legislation is attempting to fill: “Our bill with Rep. Kearney for a permit-based adult use model for individuals with qualifying conditions offers a commonsense, public health–focused solution reflecting the reality of how most people have historically and currently use psilocybin: outside of medical settings, unsupervised, safely, and at home.”

Morey concluded that they hope legislators will agree that such a framework “is entirely appropriate for a substance proven to be significantly safer than alcohol by any measure.”

Ultimately, many local and state-level advocates involved in crafting these legislative initiatives believe that the final bill to reach the governor’s desk will be a composite of the most popular, narrowly defined proposals—a therapeutic pilot program, some form of targeted decriminalization, and a task force to study the more expansive future of psychedelic policy. The upcoming hearings are thus not just about the bills being discussed, but about building the foundation for a new, regulated landscape of psychedelic access in the Commonwealth.