Bill aims to legalize psychedelic mushrooms, other plants
Published: 01-25-2023 8:07 PM |
Massachusetts could become the third state in the country to decriminalize the use of several psychedelic plant-based substances, such as psilocybin mushrooms, should state lawmakers approve bills recently introduced in the Senate and House.
The bills were introduced by state Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville, and state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, in partnership with Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, a group founded in Somerville in 2021 that advocates for decriminalization of plant-based psychedelic substances. The group has helped pass local decriminalization resolutions in Northampton and Easthampton in recent years.
Psilocybin mushrooms, known colloquially as magic mushrooms or shrooms, have powerful psychoactive effects if ingested that can last hours. They are currently listed as a “Schedule I” drug by the U.S. Justice Department, the same classification as heroin. Proponents of decriminalization claim that psilocybin can help treat mental health disorders and addiction to other drugs such as opiates.
Bay Staters for Natural Medicine cites several academic studies to back up its claims, such as a 2020 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that concluded psilocybin was effective in treating major depressive disorder. Other academics have challenged the results of the study, citing negative side effects, occasional worsening of the illnesses being treated and problems with the psilocybin research itself.
“When I started out in Somerville, we were just meeting once a week on the internet to share stories of how psilocybin has helped us with depression, addiction, cluster headaches, rare neurological conditions, you name it,” said James Davis, the lead organizer for BSNM. “And we had a receptive audience in a few city councilors who had also experienced those traumas in their own communities.”
In April 2021, the Northampton City Council voted on a resolution to decriminalize psychedelic plants, which placed possession at the lowest level priority for local law enforcement and that no city department may allocate funds or resources to enforce laws against possession. A similar resolution was passed by Easthampton in October of that same year. Amherst also attempted to pass a decriminalization resolution in 2022, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
The two bills in the House and Senate, known as HD.1450 and SD.949, would make it legal to possess, ingest, obtain, grow, give away “without financial gain to natural persons 18 years of age or older,” and transport no more than 2 grams of any of the plant-based substances listed.
If passed, Massachusetts would become the third state in the union to decriminalize such substances, following Oregon and Colorado.
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In 2020, Oregon became the first state to legalize the therapeutic, supervised use of psilocybin after 56% of voters approved a ballot measure.
Colorado voters, meanwhile, passed a ballot initiative last November to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for people 21 and older and to create state-regulated “healing centers” where participants can experience the drug under supervision. The initiative would take effect in 2024.
“We’ve come out of a very long period where we were in that ‘war on drugs’ mentality, and it’s only very recently that we’ve flipped the switch on that,” Sabadosa said. “There’s going to have to be a lot of conversations because not everybody is following that closely.”
Davis said that ensuring state lawmakers are fully informed of the issues will be key in determining if these bills are successful.
“I think the biggest hurdle is education, because a lot of lawmakers are just not very familiar with the studies and with the substances themselves,” he said. “Our philosophy is more transparency overall.”
In addition to psilocybin, other substances that would be decriminalized by the bill include ayahuasca, mescaline and ibogaine. Ayahuasca is a brew made using several leaves indigenous to South America that contain the chemical dimethyltryptamine or DMT, which has powerful psychoactive and hallucinogenic effects. Mescaline is a chemical that can be found in many cacti species, such as peyote. BSNM discourages the use of peyote on its website, citing the plant’s risk of extinction.
Ibogaine, a chemical found in plants indigenous to central Africa, is used in some countries for addiction treatment where it is legal, such as Mexico. Companies are already looking to invest in ibogaine for treatment clinics, according to British newspaper The Guardian.
Sabadosa noted the bill aims for decriminalization, rather than full-on legalization, and prevents the selling of these substances for financial gain.
“That’s done strategically to prevent what we’ve seen with the widespread commercialization of cannabis,” she said. “I think that this might be an interesting and new approach, and I’m very excited to work on it.”
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.