Vote Yes on Question 4 to bring healing to Massachusetts
Compassion is on the ballot
Question 4 will create regulated therapeutic access to natural psychedelic medicines to help veterans with PTSD, patients with end-of-life anxiety, and others who are suffering.
Emily Oneschuk is a native of Wakefield, Massachusetts and the first woman candidate to enter the Navy Seal training program. With natural psychedelic medicine therapy, Emily found hope after struggling with depression and PTSD.
CJ LoConte is a combat veteran from Duxbury, Massachusetts. His experience in the Army left him with severe grief and psychological wounds. He credits natural psychedelic medicines for saving his life and helping him in his mental health journey.
Read our support letter signed by more than 300 doctors, researchers, nurses, and therapists.
Question 4 is a citizen-led ballot question supported by military veterans, doctors, caregivers, and others who are affected by our mental health crisis. The measure will create a carefully regulated therapeutic program for adults to access natural psychedelic medicines that show promise for treating serious mental health conditions.
Under Question 4, natural psychedelic medicine therapy will be administered under the supervision and guidance of a trained, licensed professional at regulated therapy centers. Retail sales of psychedelic medicines will not be permitted.
Voting Yes on Question 4 will give veterans, patients with end-of-life distress, and people who are suffering access to this life-saving mental health tool.
Thousands of Americans—including military veterans, first responders, and trauma survivors—have been helped by natural psychedelic medicines.
Most of the 51 cancer patients in a Johns Hopkins study saw their depression and anxiety decrease after their psilocybin experience. Kerry Pappas was one of those patients.
Marine Corps veteran Juliana Mercer shares her story of transformation and the healing power of psychedelic therapy.
Bill, a retired army captain, sought deeper connection with his loved ones after a childhood that left him feeling disconnected. He was among the first clients to receive psilocybin therapy in Oregon’s voter-approved program enacted in 2020.
One in three adults in Massachusetts is experiencing symptoms of an anxiety and/or depressive disorder.
Deaths of despair are on the rise, and there’s a suicide epidemic among veteran, first responders, and health care workers.
Daily medications, talk therapy, and other coping mechanisms help some people get by—but for many, these tools aren’t working.
Natural psychedelic medicine is a breakthrough therapy for mental health.
Pioneering research from the nation’s top medical institutions shows that natural psychedelic therapies can be effective for helping people with PTSD, depressive disorders, severe anxiety, and many other difficult-to-treat conditions.
Major depressive disorder:Research from Johns Hopkins found that 75% of patients with MDD treated with psilocybin therapy showed a significant positive response to the treatment, and 58% were in remission after a 12-month assessment.
End of life anxiety:A study involving psilocybin-assisted therapy for cancer patients found that 80% of participants reported moderate to greatly increased well-being and life satisfaction.
Alcohol use disorder:A study from New York University found that participants given psilocybin-assisted therapy reduced heavy drinking by 83%.
Dr. Franklin King, MD, psychiatrist and director of training and education at the Mass General Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics, offers expert testimony to legislators about how natural psychedelic medicines can address the mental health crisis.
Dr. Yvan Beaussant, MD, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and instructor of psychosocial oncology and palliative care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses how psilocybin therapy can help cancer patients and others with end-of-life anxiety.
This fall we can bring hope and healing to Massachusetts
Question 4 will establish a program overseen by a state agency with oversight and guidance of an expert advisory board.
Following a two-year rulemaking process, adults 21 and older will be able to visit licensed and approved psychedelic therapy centers in 2026.
Psychedelic therapy will be administered and supervised only by trained and licensed professionals. The program will require pre-screenings, preparation sessions, and safety plans.
The initiative does not permit stores or retail salesfor for psychedelic medicines.
Veterans with PTSD, patients with end-of-life anxiety, and people struggling with difficult to treat mental health conditions deserve compassion.
Our campaign is building a coalition across the Commonwealth. Join us and support Question 4 by sharing stories of healing and educating voters about the scientific research demonstrating the promise of natural psychedelic medicines.
"Massachusetts has an incredible opportunity to signal to our veteran population – and others who are desperate for new mental health options – that we want to help them. At a time where our country seems to be polarized on every topic, studying psychedelics has bipartisan support. By passing Question 4, Massachusetts can reaffirm our commitment to supporting those who guard the tentpole of democracy and provide them with a new opportunity to get the care they need."
Congressman Seth Moulton
US Representative, Massachusetts's 6th Congressional District
"Psychedelics allow the brain to get reorganized and process information from a new perspective, making mind and brain temporarily more malleable and able to learn. Voters should pass Question 4 and offer another tool to Bay Staters who are struggling with their mental health."
Dr. Bessel van Der Kolk
Author of The Body Keeps the Score
"Yes [I support Question 4]... It's going to take a period to get into it and we have to get the right regulations in place to make sure people are safe."
Elizabeth Warren
US Senator from Massachusetts
"There’s substantial evidence that psychedelic-assisted therapies can successfully treat forms of depression and PTSD that are otherwise very difficult to address. These issues can affect anyone, but law enforcement are particularly susceptible. Voting Yes on Question 4 will help provide everyone, including law enforcement, with vital mental health treatment resources that can improve public safety for all—because healthier communities make for safer police officers, and healthier police officers make for safer communities."
Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.)
Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership
"Fifty years ago, PTSD was not a recognized condition until veterans used their voice to promote research around it. We’ve gotten better at diagnosing and recognizing PTSD, but too many veterans are still suffering. Today we are once again using our voice to support a treatment that research and personal experiences indicate can bring tranquility and healing to our nation’s heroes.
"
Dan Stack
CEO, Massachusetts chapter of Disabled American Veterans
"Natural psychedelics provide a promising and research-backed opportunity for healing where traditional, pharmaceutical therapies have fallen short. In Massachusetts, we have the opportunity to create access to life-saving healthcare this November. "
State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa
"We are supporting a yes vote, which would allow a group of naturally occurring psychedelics to be grown, shared, used at home, and offered by licensed professionals in a more clinical setting."
Massachusetts Sierra Club
"These treatments have proven to be a helpful way to treat serious mental health issues like depression, anxiety and PTSD. We have a mental health crisis and want licensed clinicians to have access to tools to help veterans, first-responders, anyone else who is struggling."
Councilor Marc McGovern
Vice Mayor of Cambridge
"The research behind psychedelic-assisted therapy is more than promising, they have immense potential to treat treatment resistant depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Medford supports the advocacy veterans, first-responders, and end-of-life patients have done to bring this care to Massachusetts."
Zac Bears
City Council President, Medford
"Recent research has shown their value in helping individuals suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD, or alcohol/substance abuse, and states like Oregon and Colorado have taken the lead on establishing a regulated, therapeutic framework for their use."
"Massachusetts has an incredible opportunity to signal to our veteran population – and others who are desperate for new mental health options – that we want to help them. At a time where our country seems to be polarized on every topic, studying psychedelics has bipartisan support. By passing Question 4, Massachusetts can reaffirm our commitment to supporting those who guard the tentpole of democracy and provide them with a new opportunity to get the care they need."
"The campaign touts evidence that psychedelic therapy can help people, including veterans, with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
'A yes vote on Question 4 will help to fulfill the obligation we owe to those who put their lives in harm’s way in service to our nation, and it will allow doctors to provide the best mental health care possible to all Massachusetts residents who need it,' Dushku Palandjian said."
