BOSTON, MA, 8.9.24 – The HERO Act will enable the Executive Office of Veterans Services to study the use of alternative therapies for mental health disorders among veterans. This creates a public-private working group to study the health benefits of psychedelics as treatment for veterans suffering from physical or mental health disorders related to their service.

“We wholeheartedly support the Governor’s HERO’s Act as a crucial expansion of veterans’ benefits, their inclusivity, and necessary modernization of services. We are especially enthusiastic about the creation of a working group to study the benefits of psychedelic medicine to treat PTSD making good on the promise of cutting-edge research from leading medical institutions like Mass General Hospital and Johns Hopkins.” Said Rebecca Slater Veterans Community Facilitator within Boston Psychedelic Research Group and co-founder of the Open Circle Alliance

The current options for treating mental health issues are limited and often aren’t helpful to veterans with PTSD and patients confronting end-of-life anxiety. Veterans are facing a PTSD crisis. More than 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year and countless more struggle with the trauma from their service. Current laws and medical practice allow dying patients to access medications for physical pain but offer little to address the mental suffering that is part of an end-of-life diagnosis.

Question 4 would allow adults 21 years and older to access natural psychedelic substances whose tremendous therapeutic potential in mental health has been attested to by leading medical research institutions such as Mass General and Johns Hopkins. In fact, the FDA recently called psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” for treatment-resistant depression – meaning that it may demonstrate a substantial improvement over what’s currently available. Many veterans suffering from PTSD have found healing and help with natural psychedelic medicines where other treatments have failed. Retail sales will not be permitted through this ballot question.