Massachusetts is the third state in six years to ask voters whether to legalize plant-based psychedelic drugs for people 21 and older at licensed therapy centers.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here is one of the ballot measures we are watching this week. Voters are determining whether Massachusetts should become the third state, after Oregon and Colorado, to legalize certain psychedelic drugs. WBUR’s Walter Wuthmann begins this story with a tour.
WALTER WUTHMANN, BYLINE: Where do you grow your mushrooms?
MICHOU OLIVERA: I would love to show you.
WUTHMANN: OK.
OLIVERA: Come. Come with me.
WUTHMANN: Michou Olivera leads me up the stairs to her home office in Easthampton, a small town at the foot of the Berkshires. Inside, there are two greenhouse units and an incubator. Olivera pulls out about a dozen amber mason jars, each containing psilocybin mushrooms she grew and harvested.
OLIVERA: So a couple different varieties. We have some leftover Jedi. This is a very popular strain that’s very heart-opening. Definitely Golden Teacher, because Golden Teacher is very popular. It’s one of the lower-potency varieties that’s available.
WUTHMANN: Olivera administers these mushrooms to clients and guides them through their psychedelic journeys. She points to research that shows the potential of psilocybin as a treatment for conditions like depression and PTSD. Olivera also credits mushrooms with breaking her addiction to alcohol. But there’s one big issue with everything she’s showing me.
What you are doing right now is completely illegal.
OLIVERA: Yes, it is.
WUTHMANN: That could soon change – if Massachusetts voters choose to legalize natural psychedelic substances for use in licensed therapy centers. The law would also allow for small home-grow operations like Olivera’s. But some more mainstream medical associations oppose the idea. Dr. Nassir Ghaemi is the president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.
NASSIR GHAEMI: The drugs are very harmful, and they need to be given under medical supervision.
WUTHMANN: Ghaemi says he doesn’t trust psychedelic therapy centers to properly screen out people at risk for schizophrenia or psychosis, who can experience severe reactions to hallucinogens.
GHAEMI: We’re not saying they might not be effective for some things. But you have to choose carefully who to give them to, so that you give them in the effective setting without harming them.
WUTHMANN: Early evidence from Oregon shows the new therapy centers are largely operating safely, says Mason Marks. He’s a professor at Florida State University who studies psychedelics law. The main complaints he hears are about the high cost of access – about $800 to $2,500 for a session.
MASON MARKS: The program was promised to Oregonians as a potential solution to the state’s mental health crisis. But what we’re finding is that most people are coming from out of state. Because the prices are so high, Oregon has become sort of a psychedelic tourism destination.
WUTHMANN: And there’s a lot of money at stake in this new world of regulated psychedelics. Marks says a national advocacy group called the New Approach PAC has poured millions of dollars into the campaigns in Oregon, Colorado and now Massachusetts.
MARKS: These funders and campaign organizers are the same people that brought marijuana legalization to Massachusetts and many other U.S. states. And they’re basically trying to pass these laws for psychedelics in as many states as quickly as possible.
WUTHMANN: Local activists like Michou Olivera want Massachusetts to chart a different course than the first two states. If the law passes, Olivera says she’ll press the new regulatory commission to bring down costs and increase access to low-income patients.
OLIVERA: We need to start where we need to start. We have to do something, and we have to have a beginning. And just because it begins one way doesn’t mean that’s how it’s going to stay. We have to open the door.
WUTHMANN: Polls show the race here is neck and neck.
For NPR News, I’m Walter Wuthmann in Boston.
(SOUNDBITE OF J MASCIS SONG, “HEAL THE STAR”)
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