Massachusetts Governor Signs Bill To Create Psychedelics Working Group For Veterans Therapy

The governor of Massachusetts has 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.

Gov. Maura Healey (D) initially introduced the proposal—titled the Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing Our Servicemembers and Veterans (HERO Act)—last November. It cleared the legislature last month in amended form before being transmitted to her desk and being signed into law on Thursday.

In a press release, under a section titled “Modernization of Veterans Services,” the governor’s office highlighted that the legislation “establishes a working group to study the benefits of alternative therapies, such as psilocybin, for treating veterans’ mental health disorders.”

The psychedelics language wouldn’t immediately create a framework for legal access, but it would require the Executive Office of Veterans’ Services (EOVS) to convene a working group to study “alternative therapies for mental health treatments for veterans” and exploring “whether psychedelic therapy is associated with improved outcomes among veterans with diagnosed mental health disorders.”

The panel would need to “evaluate literature, research trials and expert opinions to determine in psychedelic therapy is associated with improved outcomes regarding mental health treatment for veterans.” And it would be required to issue recommendations regarding the provision of psychedelic therapy to treat veterans with mental health disorders in the commonwealth.”

This legislation expands and modernizes services for veterans and their families. It reinforces our commitment to serving all of our veterans. It makes sure that in Massachusetts, we’re honoring our service members and veterans with the respect they deserve.

— Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) August 8, 2024

Members would need to assess whether “psychedelic therapy is associated with improved outcomes among veterans with diagnosed mental health disorders” and “evaluate literature, research trials and expert opinions to determine if psychedelic therapy is associated with improved outcomes regarding mental health treatment for veterans.”

The working group would need to file a report with findings and recommendations with the clerks of the House and Senate and two joint legislative committees no later than January 1, 2025.

“We wholeheartedly support the Governor’s HERO’s Act as a crucial expansion of veterans’ benefits, their inclusivity, and necessary modernization of services,”Rebecca Slater, a veterans community facilitator at the Boston Psychedelic Research Group and co-founder of the Open Circle Alliance, said in a press release.

Those who serve our country deserve to have all the available options, including access to psychedelic medicine.

— Yes on Question 4 | Hope & Healing (@Yes4MA) August 9, 2024

“We are especially enthusiastic about the creation of a working group to study the benefits of psychedelic medicine to treat PTSD making good on the promise of cutting-edge research from leading medical institutions like Mass General Hospital and Johns Hopkins,” she said.

The Senate and House of Representatives had previously approved differing versions of the overall veterans legislation and psychedelics provisions, and bicameral negotiators on a conference committee agreed to the final version that cleared both chambers.

The House version of the bill had included an amendment to add a section that would have created a pilot program to examine medical cannabis as an opioid alternative for veterans, but that provision did not make it into the final legislation now going to the governor’s desk.

Enactment of the HERO Act comes after a Massachusetts joint legislative committee advised the legislature not to pass a broader psychedelics legalization initiative. Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin last month certified that that activists collected more than enough valid petitions for that proposal to go before voters.

Lawmakers were required to consider the psychedelics measure, spearheaded by the campaign Massachusetts for Mental Health Options (MMHO), after the state certified advocates had submitted enough valid signatures in an initial petitioning round last year.

In May, the Special Joint Committee on Ballot Initiatives issued a majority report that formally recommended against passing the measure as drafted.

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The campaign first filed two different psychedelics reform initiatives in August, and after the state attorney general determined that they both met the constitutional requirement for ballot placement the following months, activists decided to pursue the version that included a home cultivation option.

Eight cities across Massachusetts have enacted policies to locally deprioritize enforcement of laws against psychedelics, an effort that has been led by BSNM: Salem, Somerville, Cambridge, Easthampton, Northampton, Amherst, Provincetown and Medford.

The Cambridge City Council and Somerville City Council also voted to endorse the statewide psychedelics ballot measure this month.

Meanwhile, a different Massachusetts legislative committee advanced a bill in February that would legalize psilocybin therapy in the Commonwealth and set up a framework to license facilitators who would supervise medical, therapeutic and spiritual applications of the drug.

Rep. Mike Connolly (D) also filed a bill in 2021 that received a Joint Judiciary Committee hearing on studying the implications of legalizing entheogenic substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca.

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