Our hearts need help
The number one cause of premature death in the United States is heart disease, resulting from a toxic combination of unhealthy foods, environmental pollution in our local communities, and chronic stress from financial dislocation (among other factors). By hosting events that get more people out in nature hiking and relaxing together and educating on ways to improve our food choices, we are confident that this renewed chapter of our work will improve lives and model impactful public policy. We are also confident that it can accelerate and compliment the work of other organizations too.
Mission (mostly) accomplished
From our founding, our community has had the incredible fortunate of bringing together social entrepreneurs from every walk of life to celebrate psychedelics as a natural medicine. Yet this was always just one part of our holistic health mission. Our founders agreed that our initial focus would be creating the cultural space for people to experience plant medicines safely and responsibly. We have meaningfully achieved this goal in the Bay State. Every major region of the Commonwealth now has a community that has formally recognized the benefits of plant medicines, and there are virtually no arrests that occur for growing and sharing personal amounts. We will continue this education through personal mentorship and hosting community events that welcome this discussion.
Natural Tools for Responsible Healing
Humans have used psychedelic plants and fungi for more than 10,000 years. Non habit-forming by their nature, our ancestors used them across North Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and the Americas. President Nixon banned these plants and fungi through the Federal Controlled Substances Act without scientific basis to purposefully target people and organizations that were protesting the Vietnam War as well as Black and Brown Americans
There are many species of psilocybin “magic” mushrooms across the world, including species native to the North Eastern United States. These fungi catalyze spiritual experiences that help people work through depression, trauma, addiction, and painful neurological conditions like cluster headaches and traumatic brain injuries (Griffiths, R.R. et al., 2006, Journal of Psychopharmacology)
Many people who have used psilocybin describe it as one of the five most meaningful experiences of their lives, comparing it in significance to the birth of their first child. As the safest and most sustainable, natural psychedelic, we offer harm reduction and mentorship with our world-class mentorship network.
Spiritual Sacraments Deserving of our Respect
Several forms of cacti contain mescaline, a molecule known to catalyze spiritual experiences often described as divine. This molecule has served as a source of inspiration for humanity for decades, catalyzing the discover and isolation of MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) and inspiring authors like Aldous Huxley.
San Pedro cacti are the most abundant and sustainable source of mescaline, growing across the Southwestern United States. These cacti are often kept as home decor, though many of the cacti sold at stores like Home Depot have been systematically bred to have very low amounts of mescaline.
Peyote is another common source of mescaline, and it has served as a sacrament for indigenous people for hundreds of years in combination with medicine ceremonies. We advise refraining from purchasing and consuming peyote because this species of cacti is at risk of extinction across the Southwest due to poaching by international collectors as well as the meat, gas, and mining industries. Finding more sustainable alternatives shows respect for the people who kept this tradition alive. Ultimately, we need to expand cacti education so that more people join the effort to replenish this incredible species in the wild. Cactophiles graft (ie. strategically cut and place atop) peyote "pups" (ie. the cacti) on other species so that they can grow together far more rapidly than do alone in the wild.
A Powerful Hallucinogen with a Rich History
This brew is made from the leaves of shrubs and the stalks of vines native to the Americas. Traditionally prepared by a curandero healer, this plant medicine is often referred to as "mother aya" and catalyzes significant spiritual experiences that many describe as life-changing encounters with the divine
Federal religious freedom laws should be expanded to bring much-needed transparency to the U.S ceremonies that are currently hosted outside the guardrails of the law. This decriminalization would allow bad actors to be rooted out while maintaining a safer, accountable way honors ayahuasca's use as an indigenous, ancestral practice. DMT, the active ingredient, can also be prepared through simple processes that also reduce the environmental toll of harvesting the vines and importing them (often illegally) from South America
It is the opinion of our board that use of Ayahuasca outside of authentic, indigenous ceremony is not advisable. DMT can cause significant vomiting, gastrointestinal episodes, and extremely powerful hallucinations that last many hours. In the United States, many organizations and individuals offering ayahuasca have virtually no connection to its ancestral history, fail to carefully screen people for potential side effects with medication, and engage in spiritual narcissism (the belief that the profoundness of a psychedelic experience has made one all-knowing or enlightened). Many of these retreats or ceremonies also encourage the use of Kambo and Bufo, poisons that catalyze hallucinations but require the torture of Monkey Tree Frogs and Sonoran Desert Toads. Just because something feels profound does not excuse actions and behaviors that are abusive.
A Life-Changing Medicine with Meaningful Risks
A shrub native to the jungle region of Gabon, Cameroon, Angola, and the Congo in Africa, Iboga root bark ("ibogaine") can be used to catalyze profound spiritual experiences and relieve symptoms of withdrawal for opioid and alcohol addiction in profound ways. Carefully constructed legalization is necessary to bring transparency to supply chains and prevent unsustainable poaching of this ancestral plant medicine and robust medical use framework.
We advise that ibogaine only be used by people who are well-positioned in their lives to move past addiction because it resets tolerance to opiates so well that people returning to opiate use could be at heightened overdose risk. Having strong cardio-toxic effects on the heart, it should be used with guidance of a nurse after a medical screening
Depression and Trauma
Nearly one in five of our neighbors regardless of age suffer from depression, often resulting from rumination patterns plant medicine can help disrupt. A 2020 meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials going back two decades found that psilocybin use combined with a form of counseling is substantially effective in treating PTSD, depression, anxiety linked to terminal illness, and social anxiety linked to autism (Luoma, J.B., Chwyl, C., Bathje, G.J., Davis, A.K., Lancelotta, R. (2020), Journal of Psychoactive Drugs). Other studies confirm this result, finding that psychedelic plants can reduce distress, suicidal planning, and suicidal ideation (Hendricks, P.S., Johnson, M.W., Griffiths, R.R. (2016), Journal of Psychopharmacology).
Psychedelics are not a cure for any mental health challenge. But for some, they can help catalyze symbolic and physiological relief that can help people change environments and mindsets that are holding them back. We advise carefully preparing for the experience and reaching out to our mentorship network if you need advice.
Opiate Addiction
Every four hours in Massachusetts, we lose a friend, family member, or neighbor to an opioid overdose, and for several years these tragedies were the number one cause of death for Americans under age fifty. Another 2022 study backed up these results, noting a 55% reduced risk of opiate addiction (Pisano, V. D., Putnam, N. P., Kramer, H. M., Franciotti, K. J., Halpern, J. H., Holden, S. C. (2017), Journal of Psychopharmacology). Ibogaine, another psychedelic plant, can also substantially reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms and achieve sustained reduced use of alcohol and opioids in beneficiaries (Brown, T.K., & Alper, K. (2018), American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse; Noeller, G.E., Frampton, C.M. & Yazar-Klosinski, B. (2018), The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse)
Another 2022 study backed up these results, noting a 55% reduced risk of opiate addiction. Ibogaine, another psychedelic plant, can also substantially reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms and achieve sustained reduced use of alcohol and opioids in beneficiaries (Argento et. al, 2022, International Journal of Drug Policy).
Alcohol, Food, and Tobacco Addictions
Smoking kills one in five of our friends, family members, and neighbors, and it costs our state governments hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid expenses every year. A Johns Hopkins found that smokers achieved an 80% abstinence rate over six months with psilocybin mushroom assisted coaching —a 45% higher success rate than the most effective smoking cessation medication. More generally, these plants help people set goals and work through many destructive behaviors, including unhealthy eating and other addictions such as alcoholism.
Neurological Disease
Many people suffer from cluster headaches, an extremely debilitating condition that drives many to suicide. A study by the American Academy of Neurology interviewed patients who tried psilocybin in the absence of any known cure. Five in seven reported psilocybin ended the headaches and one in two reported a complete termination of the ailment (Sewell, 2006, Academy of Neurology). Research points to these plants alleviating dementia, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and even symptoms of Lyme disease. These benefits may result from psilocybin (and lions mane) mushrooms' neurogenerative properties — they can help our brains grow new cells and pathways
Tendency Toward Crime
A 2018 pilot study suggests that psilocybin use combined with psychological can decrease authoritarian tendencies and improve feelings of connectivity with nature, though this effect may be the result of lifestyle changes associated with psychedelic use. A 2022 study of 200,000 inmates corroborated these results, finding substantially lower rates of participation in vehicle theft and participation in illegal substance sales after use of these plant medicines (Lyons, T. and Carhart-Harris, R.L. (2018), Journal of Psychopharmacology). A 2014 study of over 25,000 people found that psychedelic plant interventions reduce the likelihood of people returning to jail for crime (Hendricks, P.S., Clark, C.B., Johnson, M.W. (2014), Journal of Psychopharmacology).
When a city "decriminalizes" with Bay Staters, it means its city council has formally requested that the police department and municipal employees treat arrests for growing and sharing psychedelic plants the lowest priority of law enforcement (while treating all controlled substance possession as an issue of public health). Arresting people destroys lives, wastes taxpayer dollars, and makes issues associated with substance use in our communities worse
Decriminalization is education. More kids will talk to their parents and teachers about risks. More patients will talk to their doctors and therapists about safe use. And more people will get help with their addictions, potentially using plant medicine as a tool to help them, rather than suffer in silence and stigma. We chose to positively embrace psychedelic plants for having uniquely beneficial properties because a 2010 study in the Lancet found that psychedelics are often used in cultural contexts that have a low-risk of dependency and negative health consequences (see below).
Our mission does not stop at these plants and fungi, however, as we believe in the eventual legalization of MDMA, LSD, and 5-Meo-DMT for production by our world-renown universities. Many of the most harmful controlled substances in our society, such as amphetamines and opioids, are already manufactured legally. But we are failing to contain the illegal production of these compounds because we do not have an effective harm reduction and health infrastructure. To end the drug war as much as we can within existing cultural boundaries, ending all possession arrests and allowing adults to grow and non-commercially share plant medicines at the local level is a strategy achieving concrete change
Our grassroots community group, Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, has partnered with the communities of Somerville, Cambridge, Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst, Salem, Medford, and Provincetown to pass local measures making arrest for growing and sharing mushrooms the lowest priority of law enforcement.
As a result of this work and public education on mushrooms more broadly, there are very few arrests that happen across Massachusetts for growing and sharing mushrooms. People who are growing personal use amounts are at low risk of criminal prosecution because police departments, even in cities that have not passed measures, are more focused on violent crime.
That being said, there are still serious legal consequences for selling controlled substances. We urge people to follow state and local laws and exercise careful judgement to be safe with their use if they chose to break those laws.
As a result of our work, these cities unanimously voted to tell their police departments to end arrests for growing, non-commercially sharing, and using all naturally occurring psychedelics AND possession of all controlled substances:
Somerville (Jan. 14, 2021):
Abolished its entire narcotics unit (Nov. 2021)
Cambridge (Feb. 3, 2021)
Northampton (Apr.1, 2021)
Easthampton (Oct. 20, 2021)
Provincetown (Dec. 11, 2023)
Medford (Feb. 6, 2024)
These cities passed versions of our measures telling their police departments to end arrests for growing, non-commercially sharing, and using naturally occurring psychedelics AND issued statements that the entire "war on drugs" is a flawed approach from a public health and justice perspective:
Amherst (July 18, 2022)
Salem (May 11, 2023):
Only psilocybin mushrooms, not DMT, Mescaline, nor Ibogaine
Berkeley, CA (July 12, 2023):
Only possession and cultivation, not sharing
Portland, ME (Oct. 2, 2023)
Worcester, MA (Apr. 4, 2022):
Human Rights Commission acknowledged benefits for veterans and police and urged the police department to treat this as the lowest priority of law enforcement
No. They are important and can benefit society but will generate much private profit.
Please be careful if someone tries to sell you an expensive training program or persuade you to invest in a start-up in this field. You may want to review our featured article in USA Today, which elaborates challenges for people trying to profit in this field or reach out to us for further education.
Mushrooms and Naturally Occurring Psychedelics
This venue is and will remain for likely a long-time illegal. Ironically, it is that barrier between potential buyers and sellers that is keeping the sale of mushrooms possible at all by deterring more people from growing their own. Mushrooms are relatively easy and low-cost to grow. With a standard grow bag from Amazon, for example, and legally accessible spores, a person can grow hundreds of grams of mushrooms (which is far more than they would ever use personally).
This is actually true of most plants, produce, and crops. The prices tend to crash because they are easily overproduced. However, unlike any other crop that is in-demand all the time to make the food we eat every day, people rarely do mushrooms. Most people will only do several grams of mushrooms their entire lives. That makes it very different from cannabis, which many of its users smoke every day or at least several times per year.
The illicit market price of mushrooms varies from place to place but is usually no more than $10. In many places, mushrooms are as little as $0.50 per gram. A lot of people also just give them away. Let's assume that there are no costs to selling them and growing them (and there are so that's a generous assumption). That means this business is only making $30 at best of off each consumer in their lives under the rosiest of assumptions: That is not a hot investment.
In Oregon and Colorado, legally grown mushrooms are 5-8 times more expensive per gram. There is mandatory testing and other bureaucratic requirements. As more people become educated on this, that type of regulated regime won't be able to compete with people who grow and share their own.
Guide and "Trip Sitting" Services
In Oregon, there has been very low-demand for guided services, which calls into question whether the services will be a financially solvent enterprise. While Michael Pollan's book "How to Change Your Mind," piqued the interest of hundreds of thousands of Americans, there is little evidence that legislative reforms on the local or state level suddenly change people's minds about whether to engage in an experience. Many people who invested in expensive trainings and opening up centers have severely regretted those choices and lost substantial life savings. Mentorship, life coaching, and harm reduction services are already legal and many mental health professionals casually offer advice as well. There is already substantial competition in this area of services, so it is important to have realistic expectations as an entrepreneur.
It depends. Not all forms of "legalization" are positive. For example, Oregon and Colorado's legalization systems steer a lot of use into an underground facilitation space where there are scam artists and spiritual narcissists who take advantage of people. This is because the legal services themselves are extremely expensive.
There is more than enough research to know that criminalizing these plants and criminalizing substance use more broadly is a failed public health strategy that makes unsafe use more likely. And psychedelics have proven benefits for relieving mental health issues, particularly when combined with life coaching, counseling, and talk therapy after an experience. A meta-analysis from two decades of clinical trials concluded that these plants have statistically significant effects for treating depression and PTSD (PubMed).
And while research is important on everything — including the known-carcinogen alcohol that kills tens of thousands a year—it is difficult for researchers to get money for clinical trials on psychedelics because of prohibition and stigma. That's why the former Chief Psychiatrist of Mass General Hospital, Jerry Rosenbaum, has endorsed decriminalization alongside Bay Staters (DigBoston). Bay Staters advocates for local and state measures to legalize research at our world-renown universities. We don't just talk the talk. We walk the walk.
Improved public dialogue and education about the responsible use of psychedelics.
There are many countries and localities where the war on drugs has been ended in a variety of ways. Jamaica, Nepal, the Bahamas, the Netherlands, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Costa Rica and New Zealand all allow decriminalized access to psychedelic plants—many Americans with the means to afford retreats already go to these countries for ceremonies and treatments, as do some veterans with the help of American nonprofits. Portugal has long decriminalized possession of all controlled substances, but the public health authorities have not embraced growing and exchanging psychedelic plants as a means to reduce addiction and improve mental health. Across the world, many laws are ambiguous or riddled with loopholes that allow creative entrepreneurs to offer retreats and services including in Spain, Poland, Italy, Iceland, and Austria.
Similarly, laws against psilocybin in the United States have many loopholes that render prohibition an impossible proposition. In all but three states—California, Georgia, and Idaho—it is legal to buy psilocybin spores for microscopy research purposes. The cities of Denver, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor, Somerville, Cambridge, Northampton, Easthampton, Seattle, San Francisco, Arcata, and Detroit are among those that have deprioritized enforcement. Four of these are cities in Massachusetts that have also deprioritized possession of all controlled substances. The state of Oregon and City of Baltimore have functionally decriminalized possession of all controlled substances, and many localities across the United States unofficially adopt decriminalization because the addiction crisis is so acute.
In Denver, the first U.S. community to decriminalize, an official policy review panel of the city found that there were no adverse public health consequences. Denver hospitals have not reported any uptick in visits or accounts of people acting violently. They recommend training for first-responders in how to respond to people having uncomfortable experiences, strongly recommending harm reduction practices that are long overdue for all controlled substances including alcohol. There has been no detectable increase in calls to poison control, reported use by children, or any other adverse impact in other cities. In Oakland, California, which decriminalized shortly after Denver, the County Health Department reported that there were only two hospitalizations for hallucinogens — which is not a statistically significant departure from before the measure passed and could be due to random chance.
Increasingly, people are growing their own to ensure that they have a sustainable supply: especially people with neurological conditions like cluster headaches that require consistent access. For other controlled substances like ibogaine and ayahuasca, it is all about who people know. It can be very difficult to source or receive an invite to a ceremony.
For our part we cannot and do not condone any illegal activity.
Most people obtain psilocybin mushrooms by sourcing them from a mutual friend or acquaintance, and many of these distributors also sell illicitly grown cannabis or illicitly manufactured substances like LSD, DMT, MDMA, MDA and others. Many distributors connect with clients on platforms like instagram, using cryptocurrency or the dark web to facilitate purchases. These markets are far from ideal with many people vulnerable to being ripped off, sold a low-quality product, or very tragically sold controlled substances cut with fentanyl or methamphetamine. Fortunately, psilocybin mushrooms cannot be cut with these other substances
Most people who try psychedelics only do so a few times throughout their lives, making this a market very unlike cannabis or other controlled substances. This rare frequency of use makes profiting off the home growing of psilocybin mushrooms a difficult, low-margin proposition. We envision communities where people can grow their own and share with friends but do so in an informed and safe way with reverence for how powerful they are. This will always be preferrable to profit-focused, commercial sale like what happens in Oakland and Vancouver. More transparency means improved public safety.
We recommend that, if you chose to use using psilocybin mushrooms, to do so for the first time with a trusted friend or trusted facilitator who has had the experience before, which is why our network of expert mentors provide harm reduction and mentorship services. Our team is specially trained to help you determine if this experience is safe for you, help you set goals, help you set up a comfortable environment, serve as a source of comfort during the experience, and help you integrate lessons into your life style going forward. This experience is not for everyone, and many of the spiritual benefits are most pronounced when combined with coaching and ongoing mental health alternatives. That is why setting up an appointment with your therapist in the week following an experience, when the brain has neuroplasticity, is recommended.
Massachusetts voters rejected a nearly 30-page ballot question on psychedelic policy in late 2024.
This policy was put forward by New Approach PAC, a D.C.-based lobbying entity that created “Massachusetts for Mental Health Options” (MMHO) and filed to create the ballot question without meaningfully consulting local advocates. The ballot question campaign was managed by Dewey Square Group (DSG), another lobbyist organization, and donors were mostly non-residents.
A core tenant of our mission is to educate on the responsible use psychedelics. As we reviewed the policy and carefully evaluated the actions of the lobbyists over the first six months, we made the decision to oppose the policy. In Colorado and Oregon, the lobbyists had made changes after the ballot questions' passage by voters that had restricted harm reduction education, shut down small businesses, and made the treatments cost thousands. We mobilized thousands of our neighbors to ask the legislature to change the ballot question. We did our best to collaborate around necessary changes to earn our support. The lobbyist organizations behind the ballot question chose not to make changes and misrepresented their law.
Failed Regulatory Structure
The ballot question would have created a five-person unelected agency to issue regulations, modeling the structure that New Approach PAC previously created for the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) and within the Oregon Health Authority. The CCC is now facing receivership for its failure to carry out legally required duties, and the agency is widely criticized for causing severe financial harm to small businesses owners and social equity applicants. The CCC remains without a director, and top staff have taken medical leave for allegedly harassing one another. Many Massachusetts voters saw believe the way in which we legalized cannabis was not wise. And they voted no on Question Four to avoid a repeat of these mistakes.
In Oregon, the chair of the agency that New Approach PAC created with a similar ballot question was forced to resign when it became public that his romantic partner was selling the training he was regulating. Given these conflicts of interest, Provincetown and Medford called for the state to make progress on this issue without creating another unelected agency and cited the fact that many voters feel misled. Compounding this mistrust is the fact that the Massachusetts ballot question would have allowed this agency to be run by unelected individuals who have only lived here for 90 days.
Lack of Affordable Options
At a time when most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, the cost of psychedelic treatments under similar regulatory measures to what was proposed by Question Four have been too expensive. For example, the average price per session in Oregon, with just a few grams of mushrooms is between $2,000 and $3,500. That is why most Oregon clients have been wealthy individuals from outside the state, and it is part of the reason why Oregon businesses are seeing extremely low demand for the services.
Our coalition's bills, S.1009 and H.3605 would have made access to psychedelics and educational services accessible. Passed by the legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health, a historic feat, our framework for legalization is a better long-term model. Many of our community partners and volunteers opposed the ballot question so that we can focus on a better policy.
Exclusion of Small Businesses
In Oregon, businesses are shutting down due to high regulatory costs imposed by its unelected agency, including over 100 hours of training, center licenses that cost $10,000 or more per year, individual licenses costing $2,000 per year, the costs of insurance, and the inability to deduct costs on federal taxes. In Colorado, where the PAC is alleged to have used illegal tactics to push through the ballot question over the concerns of indigenous and patient advocacy groups, businesses are publically questioning whether they should open at all due to fears that the law will simply force them into bankruptcy.
The taxpayers of Oregon have had to pay more than $3 million in subsidies for every year of the program’s existence because it is not creating revenue for the state. Because Question Four did not lay out a clear path for a competitive business environment, many residents voted no to send a message that they want a better approach to psychedelic policy.
Exclusion of Mental Health Professionals
Much like Oregon service centers, licensed mental health professionals would have been meaningfully excluded from being part of these treatments in their official capacity, limiting the ability to integrate treatments, insurance, and research in the future. People trust their healthcare professionals, and they ought to be able to offer harm reduction education, facilitation, or integration services without having to fear that their professional license will be revoked or paying tens of thousands in fees. Therapists should not have moonlight in a way that could risk their career if they want to act as a therapist as they administer these treatments.
Exclusion of Indigenous and Religious Services
Within the nearly 30-page ballot question, there are several provisions that would have effectively excluded Indigenous ceremony and religious ceremony that currently enjoys protection under the first amendment. Organizations offering services in Massachusetts would have to engage in lawsuits costing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to challenge these provisions in court, effectively forcing them to adhere to Question Four.
The first provision was the one gram molecular restriction on psilocybin. For group ceremonies, this limit on growing and sharing is far lower than what is necessary to indigenous rites. The second provision is a ban on advertising of services that do not pay the required tens of thousands of dollars in fees annually. This means any incorporated entity including churches and nonprofits would have been required to register with the unelected agency and its requirements because they cannot make any transfer that is "not advertised or promoted to the public and is not part of a business promotion or other commercial activity" (Line 554-555). This opened up the possibility of legal action and being shutting down by the Attorney General's office for posting about ceremonies on social media, for example.
Listen and hear the concerns of people in our network for whom these medicines are sacred:
"I am a Boston parent originally from Mexico City and Oaxaca, where curandera traditions for healing with psilocybin mushrooms go back a thousand years... indigenous practioners would be criminalized by the out-of-state ballot question." - Tania D., Boston
"My mother is Mazatec, from Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca, Mexico, where Psilocybe mushrooms are used in traditional healing rituals... [this ballot question] authored in secret by an interest group outside our state does not provide any exemption from its licensing regime for people exercising their first amendment rights to religious practice."
- Diana Xochitl Munn, Somerville
A renown expert on Psychedelic Law, Dr. Mason Marks of Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center on Bioethics, made the case that the heavy restrictions and licensing requirements abridge indigenous and religious practice:
"Because the petitions significantly limit the quantities of natural psychedelic substances that can be given away or otherwise transferred between individuals, they would require religious organizations and practitioners that use these substances to become licensed “psychedelic therapy centers” and “facilitators” under the petitions’ regulated program. Other state-regulated psychedelic programs, such as Oregon’s Psilocybin Services Program, impose similar licensing requirements on religious organizations. Some religious groups in Oregon have objected to the imposition...
Unlike in Colorado, religious organizations in Massachusetts would likely be unable to practice under the personal use provisions of the proposed petitions because the petitions do not decriminalize the sharing of psychedelics beyond small personal use amounts. Most religious organizations would immediately exceed the personal use limits and would therefore be required to become licensed 'psychedelic therapy centers.' "
Failure to Protect Grow Rights
Question four would have likely led to more arrests, not less. Right now there are virtually no arrests for personal growing and sharing, yet this law would have increased law enforcement attention and action. After the PAC-led cannabis legalization in Massachusetts more people were arrested for growing after the ballot question came into effect, not less. In fact, the multi-state corporations that dominate the cannabis industry have explicitly lobbied with allied lawmakers to file legislation that put more pressure on law enforcement to crack down on home growing. Oregon also serves as an instructive example of how cultural blowback would increase law enforcement's attention, seeing as 7 in 10 counties and hundreds of cities banned psilocybin and the state recriminalized possession just a short time after passage by voters.
The PAC and its lobbyist group also made explicit threats to lobby to remove any mention of cultivation from the law if it were to be passed by voters. Its allied lawmaker Senator Gomez also said this quiet part out loud at a recent staged rally by the PAC's lobbyist firm, Dewey Square: "Asked about regulating psychedelic use and promoting safety among people who cultivate the substances at home, Gomez said that will be addressed through future policymaking on Beacon Hill. 'Once the ballot question comes, the Legislature’s going to have to come in and create policy behind it, and making sure that we have to amend anything of that nature,' Gomez told the News Service after the event."
Cultivation was mentioned in this law to mislead psychedelics supporters.
The limits were so low that it did not realistically protect growing.
Most transportation would have remained illegal, even though that would obviously occur.
There are no personal arrests happening now.
This law would create a profit motive for criminalization.
There will be opportunities to pass other legislation that protects innovation, personal cultivation, and services in this space. This last legislative session, Massachusetts filed a record number of bills, and nearly all of them protected service affordability and innovation, unlike the DC PAC's ballot question.
The PAC initially filed two versions of the ballot question to confuse the public. One that included no mention of cultivation and another that did with confusing restrictions. When we started raising concerns publically, it forced the PAC to include the confusing restrictions so that it could sell this to psychedelic supporters as "grow rights." The restrictions were purposefully confusing so the PAC could brand this ballot question as "strict medicalization" to some psychedelic skeptics.
One provision mentioned that individuals who own their own residence could grow mushrooms in a 12 by 12 foot space. And yet prosecution and jail time would still await people who transport mushrooms away from their residence. Most people under 65 do not own a residence, so most people who grow mushrooms could have still been evicted or prosecuted for their growing. This ballot question would have set up a law meant to be broken, which still leaves people open to prosecution.
Another provision states that individuals could grow up to one molecular gram of mushrooms. That would have failed to protect a standard grow amount, since common grow bags produce far more than this restriction. People who may have misunderstand this confusing law could have still been evicted, pulled over, arrested, and face substantial jail time for a standard grow bag.
The ballot question, which was approximately 30 pages long, was put forward by a DC-based lobbyist group without meaningful engagement with local groups or our coalition. It is common for these types of organization to "meet" with local groups, posing as collaborative while withholding the full agenda or text of the law. We chose to oppose this ballot question after carefully weighing potential positive and negative impacts (see "Why did we oppose question four?" in the FAQ section).
Psychedelic reform likely does have the majority support of Massachusetts voters, just not in the form that was offered by this specific ballot question. For example, an informal Boston Globe Poll in 2021, found nearly 9 in 10 voters supported the decriminalization of personal growing amounts of psychedelics. The table above also suggests that our efforts (and the efforts of others) to educate on the drawbacks of this specific proposal made a substantial difference. After all, Massachusetts voters had shown an openness to legalizing cannabis several years before; voters in other states voted in similar ways on the question of legalizing cannabis and psychedelics; yet Massachusetts voters rejected this ballot question down by a factor more than 10% despite $7 million in spending by lobbyists?
Lack of Education
Our culture maintains a strong stigma against psychedelic use. This stigma deters people who could otherwise benefit from psychedelics from learning about them and deters caregivers, doctors, and therapists from studying their responsible use. There is also a logical basis for this stigma: there are potential harms to psychedelic use that we describe in this FAQ section from feeling physically and mentally disoriented. The lobbyist group behind Question Four spent over $7 million dollars hiring other lobbyist groups, paying individuals to try and sow division among grassroots advocates, and paying for defensive television ads. These ads emphasized that psychedelics would not be widely accessible, which probably reinforced stigma by taking a defensive posture rather than simply leaning into the benefits of psychedelic access can have for the addiction and mental health troubles our communities face.
In the course of decriminalizing psychedelics in eight Massachusetts cities, we have had tens of thousands of conversations with residents about psychedelics. This knowledge and expertise was taken for granted, and the lobbyist group wrote a law that ultimately did not earn our support. That $7 million dollars could have been far more effectively leveraged to educate people. In fact, many voters went into the ballot booth having no idea this was even on the ballot at all.
Mistrust of the Lobbyists
The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) has become a failed regulatory agency that has turned a plant with significant medicinal and spiritual benefits into a highly-potent, moldy, money-maker for multistate companies. We heard from many people that the way in which cannabis was legalized was slow, harmful to people they knew in the industry, and failed to address the legitimate concern of parents and families who know people who overuse cannabis. The CCC was created by the same DC lobbyist group pushing Question Four. While cannabis and psychedelics have meaningful differences, many voters rejected this law because it was 30-pages long and they did not trust the messenger. Our group, as a trusted and impactful organization, effectively educated people that this was not a positive step for access but rather a step back. It can take decades to change laws after they are passed (if ever). It is difficult to change the foundation and scaffolding of a broken house.
Ending the stigma around psychedelics benefits our communities' children and helps some parents become the best version of themselves. It also enables honest education with youth about the risks and harms of controlled substances. Bay Staters works hand in hand with youth advocates, including in Easthampton where our measure educated parents on keeping medications, cannabis, and these plants in lock boxes that children cannot access. Here are some additional benefits for kids:
Better Parents: a two-decade meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials has shown that mushroom assisted counseling can effectively treat PTSD, depression, and autism-linked anxiety. By easing intergenerational trauma, these compounds can help parents achieve more stable, nurturing environments for kids. In other words, these plants help heal the child within adults struggling with childhood trauma a chance to find peace and reconnect with their youthful innocence
No Increase in Use Among Children: Schools are educating kids about controlled substance use more honestly than ever before. Psychedelic use among teens is at 10 and 15 year lows despite social media and greatly increased social acceptance. Decriminalization in a dozen cities nationwide and one state has coincided with a 2% increase in use, and it is impossible to evaluate whether this effect has been causal: it likely has not been.
Honest Conversations: ending legal charges for using or distributing psychedelics will make kids less afraid to talk to their parents, teachers, and doctors. They will ask about the risks without fear of getting in trouble or call their parents if they do happen to try substances they shouldn't and are having a bad time. As with cannabis, supply chains will become more transparent with decriminalization so that telling on peers won't ruin said peers lives. This will make it easier for school administrators and parents to identify high-risk teens and take appropriate but non-criminal disciplinary action. Teens know that adults use drugs like alcohol and cannabis so "just say no" rhetoric makes us look hypocritical and makes drugs a "forbidden fruit."
Breakthrough Treatments: Parents of children suffering painful migraines, traumatic brain injuries, or terminal illness anxiety should be allowed to consult with care providers to help their children. Putting cluster headaches in remission for one in two sufferers and having an 80% clinical response rate for terminal illness anxiety, these plants may one day help countless suffering kids under the advisement of medical professionals. A study of 40 Brazilian adolescents who consumed the traditional plant ayahuasca (DMT) observed lower rates of substance use disorder and anxiety. Within indigenous traditions, breastfeeding women and young children are sometimes given small doses of these medicines, including peyote and ibogaine. Caution is extremely important but decriminalization allows greater research and education to occur: the threat of arrest is very real and holds back science.
Like any substance, psychedelics are not for everyone and are not suitable for all circumstances. People who have previously experienced psychotic episodes with cannabis or any controlled substances are well-advised to refrain from using these substances too. That being said, places that have decriminalized drugs, like Portugal, often see that decriminalization lifts the recreational “forbidden fruit” allure of drugs, reducing uncontrolled use and increasing the public’s awareness of harms.
People who experience a phenomena sometimes called “bad trips” often cite them as spiritually fulfilling experiences despite emotional discomfort. After all, processing trauma or the parts of ourselves that need improvement is never a walk in the park. In a controlled setting, like at home with a supportive friend, working through negative emotions, traumas, and fears can help people move past these feelings and heal. By normalizing these substances as the extremely powerful and spiritually-focused compounds they are, we can have honest and compelling dialogue with young people urging them to avoid use in uncontrolled settings. Maintaining an illegal market and “forbidden fruit” stigma makes unsafe use more likely.
The phenomena of flashbacks, where some experience psychedelic visual distortions after an experience has occurred, is not well understood. Like any extremely positive experience in life, such as an amazing relationship or favorite song, users may recall similar feelings at later dates. Needless to say, these feelings are very unlikely to inconvenience people in the moment. That being said, our team advices urges people to use psychedelics, particularly LSD, in moderation: no more than once or twice a year in large doses as a precaution.
Yes. And Bay Staters has raised funds and offered support for organizations across the state that work in criminal justice reform, reentry services for inmates, and mutual aid.
Deprioritizing arrests for cultivation and exchange of plant medicines as well as minor possession for all controlled substances marries this movement to the causes of racial and economic justice as well, since an Oregon Criminal Justice Commission report found the state’s policy of deprioritized arrests will reduce racial disparities in drug crime arrests by 95%. After all, controlled substances are often legal in practice for people of higher socioeconomic class. Officers do not incidentally find cocaine in the Porsches lining the streets of Beacon Hill brownstones. They find drugs on people caught up with the law for petty offenses, usually in high-crime and minority neighborhoods like Roxbury and Dorchester. Financially advantaged people are far less likely to have high stakes interactions with police despite using drugs at higher rates than people in poverty
Our team's analysis of three years of Boston Police Department data from a public records request found a near two to one racial disparity in controlled substances arrests, despite people of all demographics using drugs at similar rates. Witnessing racial disparities makes many officers feel a sense of guilt enforcing drug laws that were written by national politicians over five decades ago. Many understand encounters for controlled substance possession can go tragically wrong, endangering civilians and officers alike while further eroding trust in law enforcement.
Arrests are not a public health strategy. They strip people of jobs when they are not able to show up the next day, traumatize and degrade people who serve time in jail (where fentanyl is ironically quite accessible), and further marginalize people who cannot afford huge fines associated with possession. A single possession charge can result in years in jail and thousands in fines. For those who are already incarcerated, however, plant medicines can be a godsend. A 2014 study of over 25,000 people found entheogenic plant therapies reduce the likelihood of recidivism. This in-turn will lighten the load and reduce the scope of local law enforcement.
Yes, and the legal departments of Somerville, Cambridge, Northampton, Easthampton, and others have found no issues with our measures. Psychedelic plants are in the same federally controlled substances list as cannabis, and hundreds of cities have a rich legacy of experimenting with drug policy enforcement despite draconian federal and state laws. These federal drug laws were explicitly implemented to target Black Americans, anti-war protesters, and other politically threatening groups as Nixon's top domestic policy adviser John Ehrlichman admitted. Many federal drugs laws have questionable legality under the U.S. constitution, as the manufacture and distribution of many controlled substances often does not cross state lines and thus does not qualify as interstate commerce. Ironically, it is already legal both federally and in most states, including Massachusetts, to purchase psilocybin mushroom spores across state borders to study them under a microscope. But possession, cultivation, and ceremonies remain illegal. Our cities should decriminalize prevent corporate takeover of plant medicine locally and create momentum for equitable, statewide reform.
Following cannabis legalization by Colorado and decriminalization across many U.S. cities, President Obama’s Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued the “Cole Memorandum” which clarified that the federal government was going to direct scarce resources to explicitly focus on interstate commerce and violence caused by the underground markets that prohibition creates. It notes that outside these federal priorities, “the federal government has traditionally relied on states and local law enforcement agencies” to determine how to allocate scarce resources to enforce their own narcotics laws. This has reaffirmed a strong precedent and intention by the federal government to lean toward the constitutional value of federalism in allowing states and local governments to determine enforcement priorities. Moreover, statewide change can only gain the momentum in needs cities demonstrate leadership.
The support for this policy is overwhelming in Massachusetts. A poll of likely Massachusetts voters in 2017 by MassInc found 66% support for decriminalization, with another 10% undecided. Since then, views on drug policy across the nation have shifted substantially to the point where 66% nationally now support the same. A Boston Globe poll on our work suggests that nine in ten Massachusetts residents support our work
Many—yes. We believe that there are serious adverse consequences to drinking alcohol, using cocaine, using opioids, using methamphetamine, overusing cannabis, and huffing gas as just a few examples. But we do not pass moral judgement on people who do these things, and we believe that criminalization will always make use of these substances far, far less safe. We need to educate, not criminalize. Any substance, legal or not, can be misused. Many of us have first-hand lived experience with addiction and painful experiences with our loved ones. We take these issues very seriously and treat them with the reverence they deserve.
We also strongly discourage non-indigenous people from using peyote at this time because this sacred plant is on the verge of extinction. We strongly discourage the use of venom from Bufo Alvarius toads (so-called “Bufo”) and Phyllomedusa bicolor tree frogs (so-called “Kambo”). We urge people to leave these animals alone and instead explore man-made versions of these compounds that are far safer and more sustainable. Tree frogs and toads are not only on the edge of extinction, they are thinking, feeling beings who are exploited horribly in the supply chains. They are burned, stretched, run over, thrown in bags, crushed in transport, and dragged away from their families. No spiritual experience that comes from exploiting or torturing animals will make you a more enlightened person. Moreover, "Bufo" and "Kambo" experiences are extremely intense, sometimes inducing fatal vomiting. We recommend sticking to psilocybin mushrooms — a simple alternative
Like any substance, mushrooms are not for everyone and can have unintended effects. If taken without proper preparation, they can be dangerous. There are really three primary risk categories, and each category can be addressed by further ending stigma, educating people, and offering accessible services for therapeutic and spiritual use
Improper (Mind)Set and Setting
Every year, thousands of people injure themselves drinking alcohol excessively at parties, driving under the influence of sleep medications, and stepping down stairs carelessly while using prescribed medicines. For two to five hours on average, a moderate dose of psilocybin (2-3 grams) can lead to visual distortions and synesthesia ("mixing of the senses") that can make the user feel disoriented. Mushrooms can also bring up uncomfortable emotions that can lead to yelling, crying, and panic about the environment around us. To this end, we recommend that people only use a moderate dose of mushrooms when they are in a positive headspace and in a calm, relaxing environment — such as with a trained facilitator or a trusted friend in an environment like a house without much going on or a beach without a lot of people around. This reduces the risk of feeling physically disoriented during the experience. If you are nervous about these potential drawbacks, you may want to try microdosing (0.1 to 1g) to see how your body and mind feel before taking a moderate dose
Gastrointestinal Issues
Many mushrooms, including psilocybin, contain "chitin" in their fibers, which is the same material that exists in bugs' and lobsters' exoskeletons. These fibers can trigger mild to moderate allergic reactions for some individuals, which can lead to sharp pain in the intestines after the experience as the mushrooms are processed by our guts. One way to alleviate this pain include eating a high-fiber diet before and after your experience (think fruits, veggies, and grains over animal products). Another way is to take mushrooms with lemon and ginger, which anecdotally many have found reduces feelings of nausea. If you are worried about being allergic to mushrooms, it is recommended that both for psilocybin and gourmet varieties you start by eating just a small amount to see how your body feels and give it time to adapt before a moderate amount. While they are more difficult to source in the United States, some varieties of truffles also produce psilocybin too if you feel your allergies would jeopardize an experience.
Lasting Psychological Issues
One of the reasons why psilocybin and other psychedelics can have such strong benefits for mental health is that they can catalyze intense spiritual experiences that improve our connection to our sense of self and others. With this strength comes responsibility to take them in a mindset and environment that is conducive to personal growth. While rare, there are some people whose mental health and sense of wellbeing declines after using a psychedelic. For those who felt that a psychedelic experience was their "last hope," they can feel disappointed that it did not catalyze change in their lives. This underlines the importance of seeing these substances as one tool among many to live more grateful and engaged lives: not a cure-all. Others may have had adverse experiences during an experience, such as receiving tragic news in the elevated state, witnessing someone getting hurt, or having a fall themselves. There is also a disorder known as "Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD)," an extremely rare condition in which patients who have had previous exposure to a psychedelic feel as though the visual and perception effects last for days, weeks, or months after. We're here to be a supportive mentor if you are worried about these potential side effects and want to learn more
There are many MANY different types of mushrooms (including truffles) that have massively different molecular and allergen profiles. Therefore we recommend that you ask your physician, read up on other resources, and keep these tips in mind:
Start Low, Start Slow
If you believe that you are allergic to mushrooms of any variety but want to test that out, one option to consider is trying a small piece to see how it makes you feel. Since there are so many different varieties of mushrooms, there are many different potential allergens. Even if you have never had allergies before, it is a good idea to try a minor amount of a gourmet mushroom to give your gastrointestinal system (ie. stomach and gut) a chance to adjust. Remember the all important principle that is applicable to psychedelics too: you can always eat more but you cannot eat less.
Minor Reactions
Many mushrooms, including psilocybin, contain "chitin" in their fibers, which is the same material that exists in bugs' and lobsters' exoskeletons. These fibers can trigger mild to moderate allergic reactions for some individuals, which can lead to sharp pain in the intestines after the experience as the mushrooms are processed by our guts. One way to alleviate this pain include eating a high-fiber diet before and after your experience (think fruits, veggies, and grains over animal products). Another way is to take mushrooms with lemon and ginger, which anecdotally many have found reduces feelings of nausea. If you are worried about being allergic to mushrooms, it is recommended that both for psilocybin and gourmet varieties you start by eating just a small amount to see how your body feels and give it time to adapt before a moderate amount. While they are more difficult to source in the United States, some varieties of truffles also produce psilocybin too if you feel your allergies would jeopardize an experience.