Lawmakers advance bill to create regulated psychedelics therapy program
Psychedelic policy reform advocates in Massachusetts scored a big win last week, as a landmark bill that could usher in a new era of psychedelic-assisted therapy was advanced by the legislature’s Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery. The move marks a historic first for the commonwealth, with the unanimous vote to advance Senate Bill 1400, A proposal to legalize therapeutic access to psychedelics, being the first time the committee has approved such a significant measure addressing plant medicine.
The bill, which was not opposed by any committee members, represents a major step forward for advocates who have long pushed for the therapeutic use of psychedelics, such as psilocybin and MDMA.
Jamie Morey, executive director and co-founder of the group Mass Healing, expressed optimism and gratitude following the vote. “Senator Friedman’s bill is a potential lifeline for countless Massachusetts residents suffering from treatment-resistant conditions and trauma,” she said in a media release.
Morey added: “I am so grateful to the members of this committee who chose science over stigma and compassion over unfounded condemnation of psychedelic medicines, which research shows can be safe, effective treatment options.”
Morey, who also founded Parents for Plant Medicine, further highlighted the Bay State’s strong history of pioneering medical advancements and its “world-class academic and medical institutions,” asserting that Mass is “poised to help lead the way in advancing psychedelic therapy, research and policy reform.”
For many, the push for psychedelic therapy is deeply personal. CJ LoConte, an Army veteran, founder of Truxtun Health, and co-founder of Mass Healing, shared how the treatment has been “a miracle” for him and his fellow veterans.
“Just the news of legislation like this moving forward lifts spirits in the community,” LoConte said. “It makes us feel seen. It’s about time we matched our words about supporting veterans with meaningful action.”
The sentiment reflects a growing national movement among veterans who are seeking alternative treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition for which MDMA-assisted therapy has shown significant promise. A bipartisan coalition of veterans groups and more than 80 federal lawmakers recently lobbied for the FDA approval of MDMA for PTSD treatment, drawing national attention to the issue.
Ibogaine included in expansive psychedelics legislation
What distinguishes S.1400 from 11 other psychedelics-related bills up for consideration at the State House this year is its broad scope. While most of the legislation filed focuses solely on psilocybin, the active psychedelic compound found in “Magic Mushrooms,” S.1400 would allow for the therapeutic use of a wide range of psychedelics, including ibogaine and MDMA, through FDA-approved pathways.
This expansive approach aligns with new research and legislative efforts across the country, with the inclusion of ibogaine being particularly noteworthy following the Texas state legislature’s passage of a $100M private-public partnership-funded ibogaine research program earlier this year. Ibogaine, a psychoactive substance derived from the iboga plant, has shown therapeutic potential for treating opioid addiction, traumatic brain injuries, Parkinson’s disease, and more.
Bryan Hubbard, Executive Director of Americans for Ibogaine and co-founder of the Texas Ibogaine Initiative, praised the bill’s foresight: “Ibogaine holds breakthrough therapeutic potential for PTSD, substance dependence, and a host of other neurological conditions for which we have no good answers.” He also expressed hope that Massachusetts would “join the emerging vanguard of states researching ibogaine’s unique effectiveness in combating the opioid epidemic and traumatic brain injury.”
The Texas legislature’s recent passage of legislation to conduct FDA-approved clinical trials of ibogaine, backed by an unprecedented $50 million investment and bipartisan support, has brought the substance into the national spotlight, especially after Hubbard’s high-profile appearance alongside former Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this year.
The committee’s overwhelming support for the bill tracks with public opinion polls that show widespread support for therapeutic access to psychedelics nationally and among Massachusetts voters. This support comes despite the lopsided failure of the scandal-plagued mutil-million dollar Yes on 4 psychedelics ballot measure campaign last year, demonstrating a sustained and evolving public interest in these treatments.
The push for this bill and no others
Notably, S.1400’s passage through committee is the latest in a series of historic milestones in Massachusetts. The state saw a record number of psychedelics-related proposals filed this past January. Then, in July, the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (MPS) endorsed three psilocybin decriminalization bills—a first for any branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to formally back such legislation.
Progress aside, it’s been a contested road up to this point. Earlier this year, healthcare executive Colin Beatty testified in favor of S.1400 but against decriminalizing psychedelics in the ways proposed by other bills. At a June 30 joint committee hearing, he said, “Our bill … stands apart from the ballot initiative and from the other 10 or so bills regarding psychedelics that are currently being proposed.”
Beatty is the CEO and co-founder of Control Z Healthcare, a Massachusetts-based mental health care and substance abuse treatment startup. He said S.1400, which he helped write, “is not decriminalization. … It’s not enabling recreational use or to grow at home, and it’s not an extension of the cannabis dispensary businesses that some of the other bills would enable.” (Ed. note: Only one of the 12 psychedelics-related bills filed in Massachusetts this year, H.1003, would fully legalize psilocybin, including retail sales.)
Beatty’s testimony back in June went on to describe the failed 2024 ballot initiative as “a mistake representing an irrational exuberance about the potentials of psychedelics.” The executive continues: “That would have opened the floodgates to growing mushrooms at home, to uncontrolled use in non-medical unmonitored settings to pseudo mental health care and unscrupulous sellers of commodity psychedelics.” (Ed note: Question 4 would not have legalized the retail sale of psychedelics.)
Requests for comment sent to Beatty went unanswered.
Questions about the proposal to legalize therapeutic access to psychedelics
Some grassroots advocates, like Moore, Morey, and LoConte, said they hope that more psychedelics bills will be favorably reported out of committee this year. In the meantime, some are calling aspects of S.1400 into question. Entheogen Melanin Collective (EMC) Co-Founders Julian Fontaine Fox and Imani Turnbull-Brown have questions about key policy issues they feel have yet to be addressed.
“The Entheogen Melanin Collective celebrates this progress,” Fox and Turnbull-Brown said in a joint statement, “but we are alarmed by the prohibitionist rhetoric and anti-decriminalization stance promoted by Control Z, the private healthcare company that authored and stands to profit from this bill.”
They continued: “Criminalizing drug use deepens inequities, fuels stigma, and ignores addiction as a public health and trauma issue. … Until Massachusetts centers equity, evidence, and community voices, we cannot call this a true victory.”
Next up for S.1400 is consideration by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. That bodes well for psychedelics advocates, as the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Cindy Friedman, also chairs that body.
