Massachusetts Lawmakers Advance Psychedelics Pilot Program Bill As Committees Weigh Additional Psilocybin Measures

Massachusetts lawmakers have approved a bill to establish a pilot program
for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics. And two committees have
separately held hearings to discuss additional psilocybin-related measures.

Less than two weeks after advancing out of the legislature’s Joint
Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Hearing, the pilot
program legislation from Sen. Cindy Friedman (D) moved through the Joint
Committee on Health Care Financing on Tuesday with a “do pass”
recommendation.

The bill, S.1400, is light on specifics, leaving many details of the pilot
program up to regulators with the Department of Public Health (DPH). But in
general, it calls for a “pilot program to allow for the monitored mental
health care of clinically appropriate patients using psychedelic materials.”

It would involve the “on-site administration by a multi-disciplinary care
team in a supervised licensed mental health clinic setting.”

DPH could only issue licenses for up to three health facilities to
administer and study the psychedelics in the state. They would be tasked
with “establishing the best and safest clinical practices for psychedelic
mental health treatment programs in the commonwealth and for the purposes
of collecting patient outcomes data regarding the benefits of psychedelic
pharmacotherapy.”

“Eligible pilot program organizations must exclusively focus operations and
treatment on mental health and cannot be subsidiaries, affiliates or
members of cannabis industry organizations, psychedelic molecule
development companies or pharmaceutical companies,” the bill text states.

The department would be required to develop rules for the program,
including setting standards for people to apply to participate, patient
assessments and ongoing monitoring, clinical staffing and the
administration of psychedelic medicines.

“All pilot program participant organizations must track patient care
outcomes data related to the identification, diagnosis and psychedelic
treatment of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and
substance use disorder,” it says. “These data sets must be shared with the
department to assist in the refinement of best clinical protocols and final
regulatory frameworks for the safe use of psychedelic material in
Massachusetts.”

Jamie Morey, executive director and co-founder of the advocacy group Mass
Healing said the bill’s advancement “brings the promise of healing one step
closer for Massachusetts residents suffering from trauma, depression, and
other treatment-resistant conditions.”

“We thank Senator Friedman and the committee for seeing the desperate need
for new treatment options to help reduce deaths of despair and taking bold
action to put Massachusetts at the forefront of a mental health revolution
that will save countless lives,” she said.

The bill, as well as a separate measure to provide a more limited pilot
program for psilocybin therapy alone, will also be the focus of a hearing
on November 10 before the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use
and Recovery.

At separate hearings on Monday, lawmakers considered a psilocybin pilot
program proposal from Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa (D), as well as a broader
measure to legalize and regulate psilocybin for adults that’s being
sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kearney (D).

Members of the Joint Committee on Revenue took up the legalization measure,
while the Joint Committee on Public Health discussed the psilocybin pilot
program proposal. Members in both panels took testimony from experts about
the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic and ramifications of
criminalization, but did not act on the bills.

Graham Moore, educational director for Mass Healing, told the revenue panel
that “blanket prohibition can actually cause more harm than good.”

“The largest preventable cause of death in this state is tobacco, and
psilocybin has been shown to help people break that addiction among many
other improvements to behavioral health,” he said.

Joe McKay of Clusterbusters told lawmakers about how using psilocybin has
helped to manage cluster headache condition he began experiencing after
9/11, when he was one of many firefighters who responded to the World Trade
Center attack in New York City.

“I would take a low dose a few times a year to keep the attacks away. And
during one experience, I had this 10,000-foot view of my life and I
realized how I had changed since 9/11 and that I was living with PTSD. I
also realized that I was taking the painkillers to numb the emotional pain
and not the physical,” he said.

“I sought out help from an underground therapist, and today I no longer
drink alcohol and I have not taken a painkiller since,” McKay said. “And I
can honestly say that psilocybin healed me, both physically and mentally.”

While multiple cities across Massachusetts have enacted local psychedelics
decriminalization initiatives, voters rejected a statewide ballot measure
last year that would have legalized substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine
and DMT for adults.

Ahead of that vote, the governor signed a military veterans-focused bill
that includes provisions to create a psychedelics working group to study
and make recommendations about the potential therapeutic benefits of
substances like psilocybin and MDMA.

Meanwhile, the legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary in July held
a hearing on four of 12 psychedelics-related bills that were filed for this
session, with the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (MPS) endorsing one
that would decriminalize certain entheogenic substances.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
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Separately in Massachusetts, the state attorney general recently certified
and prepared summaries for dozens of proposed 2026 ballot
initiatives—including a pair that would roll back adult-use marijuana
legalization in the state.

Regulators are also working to finalize rules to allow for a new cannabis
consumption lounge license type, which they hope to complete soon.

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy last month approved
bills to provide employment protections for marijuana consumers and expand
the state’s medical cannabis program, in part by adding post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) and opioid use disorder to the list of qualifying
conditions.

State lawmakers have also been considering setting tighter restrictions on
intoxicating hemp-derived products and a plan to allow individual entities
to control a larger number of cannabis establishments.

*Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.*

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Committees Weigh Additional Psilocybin Measures appeared first on Marijuana
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