Massachusetts Voters Defeat Psychedelics Legalization Ballot Measure

Massachusetts voters defeated a ballot measure to legalize psychedelics on Tuesday, rejecting the proposal that would have allowed adults 21 and older to legally possess, grow and share certain amounts of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT.

The latest polling indicated that the initiative was ahead by a slim margin, and advocates held out hope that the reform would be enacted.

Under the banner of Massachusetts for Mental Health Options (MMHO), veterans groups and drug policy advocates strongly campaigned to secure a victory ahead of Election Day. That did not come to fruition, however.

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What Question 4 would have accomplished:

• Adults 21 and older could have legally possessed, grown and shared certain amounts of psychedelics.
• The covered psychedelics and possession limits were: DMT (one gram), non-peyote mescaline (18 grams), ibogaine (30 grams), psilocybin (one gram) and psilocin (one gram). Those weight limits did not include any material that the active substances are attached to or part of.
• The penalty for possession of amounts of up to double the limit would have been a $100 civil fine, with amounts above that remaining criminalized.
• A Natural Psychedelic Substances Commission would have been created to oversee the implementation of the law and licensing of service centers and facilitators.
• The body, which is modeled on the state’s existing Cannabis Control Commission, would have been required to enact rules for regulated access of at least one psychedelic by April 1, 2026. Regulations for the rest of the substances would have needed to be created by April 1, 2028. It would also needed to start accepting applications by September 30, 2026.
• A Natural Psychedelic Substances Advisory Board would have been required to “study and make recommendations” to the commission about issues such as public health, regulations, training for facilitators, affordable and equitable access, traditional use of psychedelics and future rules, including possible additions to the list of legal substances.
• Psychedelics purchased at licensed facilities would have been subject to a 15 percent excise tax, and localities would have had the option of imposing an additional two percent tax if they permitted the centers to operate in their area. Revenue would have been used to fund regulation of the program.
• There were no provisions on expunging prior convictions for activities that would be made legal.
• Local governments could have enacted regulations on the time, location and manner of service centers, but they could not have outright banned them from operating in their area.
• Adults could have propagated psychedelics in a maximum 12X12 ft. space.
• There would have been civil legal protections related to professional licensure, child custody and public benefits for people who participate in a legalized psychedelic activity.
• The effective date of the law would have been December 15, 2024. The commission and advisory board would have needed to be created by March 1, 2025.

Thank you, Massachusetts. We will continue to advocate for access, for hope, and for healing. #mapoli pic.twitter.com/70HqWlP1Gc

— Yes on Question 4 | Hope & Healing (@Yes4MA) November 6, 2024

What polls said about voters’ preferences:

Just days before the election, an Emerson College Polling/WHDH survey found that 50 percent of likely voters supported the measure, while 44 percent oppose it and 6 percent remained undecided.

Support was especially strong among those who said they’ll be casting their ballot in the U.S. Senate race for incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), with 60 percent of her backers supporting the proposal. Warren herself recently endorsed Question 4—though she stressed the reform must be enacted with a thoughtful regulatory framework in place.

The survey offered a more positive projection for the psychedelics campaign compared to a recent University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB Poll that found that 43 percent of residents are favored of the proposal and another 43 percent were opposed.

2024 campaign:

Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin certified in July that that activists collected more than enough valid petitions for the proposal to go before voters.

After previously turning in an initial round of signatures that forced legislators to consider the reform, and they declined to advance it, MMHO submitted another 14,000 signatures to secure ballot placement. Of those, 13,073 were valid, the state confirmed.

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.

Meanwhile, the veteran service organization Heroic Hearts Project recently released an ad promoting the reform as a pathway to provide a critical alternative therapy option for people with serious health conditions.

Past legislative Massachusetts psychedelics reform efforts:

Gov. Maura Healy (D) in January drew attention to testimony around a veterans-focused bill that she’s introduced, and has since been enacted, to create a psychedelics work group to study the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin.

Enactment of the HERO Act followed a Massachusetts joint legislative committee’s decision to advise the legislature not to pass the broader statewide psychedelics legalization initiative.

Lawmakers were required to consider the psychedelics measure, spearheaded by 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.

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 in August.

Separately, 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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