One question on track for November’s ballot would ask Massachusetts voters whether the state should legalize, regulate and tax the use of certain psychedelics for therapeutic purposes. A system already up and running in Oregon offers a glimpse of how some elements might play out.
Oregon voters in 2020 approved a law decriminalizing psychedelics and, after a two-year rulemaking period, the first treatment centers opened there last year. Colorado has since followed with its own psychedelics law.
“The demand for psilocybin services in Oregon is going to outweigh the supply and the ability to provide those services for years to come,” said Sam Chapman, who managed the Oregon ballot campaign and is now executive director of the Healing Advocacy Fund. “And there are service centers that have waiting lists of thousands of potential clients."
Supporters of the Oregon ballot measure joined representatives from the Massachusetts campaign to discuss their experiences in a virtual briefing Tuesday.
Healing Advocacy Fund data show Oregon is now home to 21 service centers, with 228 facilitators working there to oversee clients' experiences with psilocybin.
Similar to the Oregon model, the initiative poised to go before voters here would set up a system of state-licensed psychedelic therapy centers, where adults age 21 and over would be able to consume psychedelic substances under the supervision of a trained facilitator.
The Massachusetts proposal would also allow for some home-growing of psychedelic substances, which is not permitted in Oregon.
Some critics of the Massachusetts ballot question have raised concerns that the costs of psilocybin therapy would end up out of reach for many.
Attending a group psilocybin therapy session costs around $750 in Oregon, Chapman says, with an individual session averaging around $1,250. He said many service centers offer options for people who couldn't otherwise afford a session, from sliding scale fees to scholarships to patient access funds.
Oregon state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, who supported her state’s ballot measure, said there are also pilot programs that aim to expand access.
“We don't want this to be limited to people who are in a higher socioeconomic status, or any other particularly privileged group,” she said.
Steiner, a physician and alumna of the UMass medical school, said she would advise other states to "really take a very deliberate approach" to implementing psilocybin therapy, rolling it out in a "controlled, structured way." She said she was drawn to the concept both as a doctor and as a friend and relative of people with mental health conditions.
"I'm all about evidenced-based medicine, and the data of the efficacy of psilocybin therapy, especially in a controlled setting with the right facilitation for treating things like PTSD, certain kinds of substance use disorder, are really compelling, and I'm all about making sure we have all the available tools to do this," she said.
The Massachusetts ballot question is currently before lawmakers on Beacon Hill, where legislative leaders have set up a special committee to review the 10 different petitions that have made it to this point in the ballot process.
If the Legislature does not pass or offer up a substitute version for a ballot question by April 30, the campaigns behind them have until June 19 to collect another 12,429 voter signatures to put their proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot.
