Massachusetts activists are gearing up for a multi-pronged push to advance psychedelics reform locally and at the state level, with a campaign kicking off a signature drive last week to put a decriminalization measure on the ballot in the state’s second largest city. The Bay Staters for National Medicine (BSNM) campaign launched its signature-gathering effort to put the policy change before Worcester voters just days after the city’s Human Rights Commission approved a resolution urging the city manager to conduct a study on “the benefits of making arrests for growing and distributing entheogenic plants like psilocybin mushrooms among veterans and first-responders the lowest law enforcement priority of the Worcester Police Department.” Separately, activists are deploying a strategy to have Massachusetts residents force state lawmakers to file legislation to both legalize entheogenic substances for therapeutic use and otherwise decriminalize certain psychedelics. Both the Worcester initiative and the statewide legislation focus on psychedelics, but they would also broadly decriminalize low-level possession of all currently illicit drugs. Activists would like to see the Worcester City Council act on the proposal this year, but if not, they expect to have roughly 16,000 signatures by summer 2023 for placement on that November’s ballot.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 04/18/2022 09:07:00