Marijuana Moment: Massachusetts Lawmakers Advance Psychedelics Pilot Program Bill As Committees Weigh Additional Psilocybin Measures

[Tokeativity]

Massachusetts lawmakers have approved a bill to establish a pilot program for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics. And two committees have separately held hearings to discuss additional psilocybin-related measures.

Less than two weeks after advancing out of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Hearing, the pilot program legislation from Sen. Cindy Friedman (D) moved through the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on Tuesday with a “do pass” recommendation.

The bill, S.1400, is light on specifics, leaving many details of the pilot program up to regulators with the Department of Public Health (DPH). But in general, it calls for a “pilot program to allow for the monitored mental health care of clinically appropriate patients using psychedelic materials.”

It would involve the “on-site administration by a multi-disciplinary care team in a supervised licensed mental health clinic setting.”

DPH could only issue licenses for up to three health facilities to administer and study the psychedelics in the state. They would be tasked with “establishing the best and safest clinical practices for psychedelic mental health treatment programs in the commonwealth and for the purposes of collecting patient outcomes data regarding the benefits of psychedelic pharmacotherapy.”

“Eligible pilot program organizations must exclusively focus operations and treatment on mental health and cannot be subsidiaries, affiliates or members of cannabis industry organizations, psychedelic molecule development companies or pharmaceutical companies,” the bill text states.

The department would be required to develop rules for the program, including setting standards for people to apply to participate, patient assessments and ongoing monitoring, clinical staffing and the administration of psychedelic medicines.

“All pilot program participant organizations must track patient care outcomes data related to the identification, diagnosis and psychedelic treatment of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder,” it says. “These data sets must be shared with the department to assist in the refinement of best clinical protocols and final regulatory frameworks for the safe use of psychedelic material in Massachusetts.”

Jamie Morey, executive director and co-founder of the advocacy group Mass Healing said the bill’s advancement “brings the promise of healing one step closer for Massachusetts residents suffering from trauma, depression, and other treatment-resistant conditions.”

“We thank Senator Friedman and the committee for seeing the desperate need for new treatment options to help reduce deaths of despair and taking bold action to put Massachusetts at the forefront of a mental health revolution that will save countless lives,” she said.

The bill, as well as a separate measure to provide a more limited pilot program for psilocybin therapy alone, will also be the focus of a hearing on November 10 before the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery.

At separate hearings on Monday, lawmakers considered a psilocybin pilot program proposal from Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa (D), as well as a broader measure to legalize and regulate psilocybin for adults that’s being sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kearney (D).

Members of the Joint Committee on Revenue took up the legalization measure, while the Joint Committee on Public Health discussed the psilocybin pilot program proposal. Members in both panels took testimony from experts about the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic and ramifications of criminalization, but did not act on the bills.

Graham Moore, educational director for Mass Healing, told the revenue panel that “blanket prohibition can actually cause more harm than good.”

“The largest preventable cause of death in this state is tobacco, and psilocybin has been shown to help people break that addiction among many other improvements to behavioral health,” he said.

Joe McKay of Clusterbusters told lawmakers about how using psilocybin has helped to manage cluster headache condition he began experiencing after 9/11, when he was one of many firefighters who responded to the World Trade Center attack in New York City.

“I would take a low dose a few times a year to keep the attacks away. And during one experience, I had this 10,000-foot view of my life and I realized how I had changed since 9/11 and that I was living with PTSD. I also realized that I was taking the painkillers to numb the emotional pain and not the physical,” he said.

“I sought out help from an underground therapist, and today I no longer drink alcohol and I have not taken a painkiller since,” McKay said. “And I can honestly say that psilocybin healed me, both physically and mentally.”

While multiple cities across Massachusetts have enacted local psychedelics decriminalization initiatives, voters rejected a statewide ballot measure last year that would have legalized substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT for adults.

Ahead of that vote, the governor 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.

Meanwhile, the legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary in July held a hearing on four of 12 psychedelics-related bills that were filed for this session, with the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (MPS) endorsing one that would decriminalize certain entheogenic substances.

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Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

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Separately in Massachusetts, the state attorney general recently certified and prepared summaries for dozens of proposed 2026 ballot initiatives—including a pair that would roll back adult-use marijuana legalization in the state.

Regulators are also working to finalize rules to allow for a new cannabis consumption lounge license type, which they hope to complete soon.

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy last month approved bills to provide employment protections for marijuana consumers and expand the state’s medical cannabis program, in part by adding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and opioid use disorder to the list of qualifying conditions.

State lawmakers have also been considering setting tighter restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived products and a plan to allow individual entities to control a larger number of cannabis establishments.

Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

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