The Massachusetts Joint Judiciary Committee held a hearing this past Tuesday, July 27 to discuss H 1494. This bill would authorize the state to create a 21-person task force to study the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. H 1494 wouldn’t legalize psychedelic possession or even decriminalize it. Rather, it would simply create a task force of people to study psychedelics’ potential. Should the task force consider psychedelics safe, they will also establish recommendations for implementing legalization.
H1494
H 1494’s sponsor, Representative Mike Connolly, D, spoke about reform efforts across the country to offer psychedelics and the benefits they have been shown to have.
During the bill’s hearing, Representative Connolly said, “It was the Nixon administration in the 1970s that classified entheogens [naturally occurring plant and fungi psychedelics] as Schedule I substances, without any real scientific basis. It was more to do with politics—it was more to do with systemic racism—that led to this classification and this criminalization.
“Today, when you hear some of the professionals, some of the researchers talk about this, they really feel like we lost several decades of potential therapeutic benefit because of these arbitrary political decisions,” Representative Connolly continued. “With this task force, there really is an opportunity for us in Massachusetts to bring policymakers and stakeholders together to make sure that as this research advances we can be ready with applicable policies.” Representative Connolly added that the goal is to not, “repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Task Force
Under H 1494, the task force would specifically evaluate the pros and cons of legal possession, consumption, transportation, and distribution of psychedelics. The task force would have until June of 2022 to establish the pros and cons of legalization. Should the task force agree on legalization and decriminalization efforts, they will establish recommendations based on their findings.
The task force would focus specifically on the impact psychedelic prohibition has taken on marginalized people. These include Indeginous, Hispanic/Latino, Black, Asian, the impoverished, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities. The final piece the task force would focus on is creating recommendations on issuing pardons and paroles. Plus the task force would give recommendations on expunging records and offering social equity measures.
“Given our status as a longtime leader in civil rights, freedom, academic research and advances in medicine,” Representative Connoly said, “it is important for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to be proactive about crafting policies to ensure that as the movement for legalization of psychedelics continues to advance—and as the clinical trials showing the therapeutic value of these medicines continue to pile up—that we are moving forward in an equitable, just and inclusive fashion.”
Future
There are currently three cities in Massachusetts that have already decriminalized psychedelic possession — Northampton, Somerville, and Cambridge. Other cities in the country that have decriminalized psychedelic possession include: Denver, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor, and Washington, D.C. California is looking to decriminalize possession of psychedelics through a bill which passed both the Senate and two Assembly committees.
Texas also approved a bill looking into the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics for certain health conditions this past session. It went into law without Governor Abbot’s, R, signature. Psychedelics sit where cannabis did a few years ago with more progressive states looking into research and decriminalization of possession. More could happen regarding psychedelics in the near future.
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