Our Work for Healing Continues

As you’ve likely heard, Massachusetts Ballot Question 4—which would have created a state-regulated psychedelic healing program in the state—failed in Tuesday’s election.

This result is deeply disappointing for all of us at HAF and for our friends and colleagues who worked so hard on the campaign. Even more so, I know it’s difficult for the people who were looking forward to having access to this powerful tool for health and healing within a legal and state-regulated program.

While this is a setback, it’s also a call to action. We know there is still a lot of uncertainty and misunderstanding in the broader public about the promise of psychedelic healing. We know that state-regulated programs are still a new idea, and that new ideas take time and work to be accepted.

But we also know that, in Oregon and soon in Colorado, people are being helped.

In Oregon, at least 7,500 clients will have gone through the state-regulated psilocybin therapy program by the end of this year. Colorado has finalized its rulemaking and is gearing up to launch its program in early 2025, where the first clients will move through the program in the spring.

It’s our job to help these programs succeed for the long term. First and foremost because they are the only pathway for broad-scale access to legal psychedelic care in the U.S. currently. Because of the work to create and support these programs, psychedelic healing is happening right now.

But it’s also critical for these programs to succeed because they are the way we show the rest of the country—and the world—that psychedelic care can be delivered safely and in ways that transform lives for the better. We are creating the real-world body of evidence to prove to policymakers and health care leaders that psychedelic healing is beneficial to people and communities. When Oregon and Colorado succeed, the path forward for the whole psychedelic field becomes wider and easier to walk.

So, at HAF, the results on Election Day have only made us more determined in our mission to support the success of the state programs. There is still much work ahead to improve the Oregon program and launch the Colorado one. But it’s work with meaning and impact, both right now and far into the future.
 
We’re so grateful to have you along on this journey.

Taylor West

Executive Director