Massachusetts House Advances Psychedelic Therapy Pilot Program

By Jack Gorsline

Massachusetts lawmakers have advanced a groundbreaking measure to  establish a state-sanctioned psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program. The move could create a narrower medical framework for legal access, following the controversial defeat of Question 4, a psychedelic legalization and decriminalization ballot measure in 2024.

The psychedelics measure was inserted as an amendment into an economic development omnibus bill, which passed the House by 148 votes to 2 on July 8. 

If it becomes law, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health will be required to develop and implement the five-year pilot. Up to three licensed mental health clinics would be authorized to provide monitored care using naturally occurring psychedelics, such as psilocybin.

The pilot program would exclude commercial interests. Participating providers could not be subsidiaries, affiliates or members of cannabis industry organizations, psychedelic molecule development companies, or pharmaceutical companies. 

The clinics would be required to track patient outcomes related to the diagnosis and psychedelic treatment of depression, anxiety, PTSD and substance use disorder. The health department would use this data to refine clinical protocols and finalize regulatory frameworks. The department would be tasked with drafting regulations for patient assessment and program oversight, and would also coordinate with research institutions to expedite federally authorized research on psychedelic-assisted therapies.

The measure would additionally establish a Medical Psychedelics Fund to finance access for people in need, structured similarly to the psilocybin treatment equity fund in New Mexico. 

Psychedelics advocates in Massachusetts are split over the model. Many argue that confining services to a small number of health care settings is far too restrictive, presenting unjustified barriers. Others favor the carefully regulated care that clinical settings could provide for people with mental health conditions, however, or see this as part of a journey toward wider access.

Those backing the measure include the advocacy organization Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS).

"Massachusetts just took a meaningful step toward becoming a national leader on psychedelic-assisted therapy," VETS Legislative Director Logan Davidson told Filter. "There were plenty of skeptics who doubted the Commonwealth was ready to lead on this issue. This vote proves them wrong."

"This win belongs to the grassroots advocates who refused to let this stall,” Davidson added. “We're not slowing down until this becomes law."

Graham Moore, educational outreach director for psychedelic advocacy group Mass Healing, is a former Yes on 4 staffer turned whistleblower on its alleged campaign finance violations. He also supports the new approach. 

"This is a triumph for a new kind of politics in the psychedelics advocacy sphere, built on integrity, compromise, and mutual, earned trust," Moore told Filter. "At the beginning of this legislative session, the psychedelic advocacy sphere was operating with a trust deficit in Massachusetts because of catastrophic mismanagement. This victory was possible only through responsible leadership: unafraid to confront bad actors, admit mistakes, and operate dynamically."

After the 2024 defeat of Question 4, Massachusetts lawmakers filed 12 psychedelic bills in January 2025. The Massachusetts Psychiatric Society endorsed three of these bills in July 2025, becoming the first American Psychiatric Association regional branch to support legal medical access.

Activists have voiced concerns, however, that the high cost of care in Oregon and Colorado's state-regulated psychedelic treatment programs, excluding many people on lower incomes, should not be repeated in Massachusetts.

Lobbying spending on psychedelics-related issues on Beacon Hill reflects this tension. Compass Pathways, a company currently seeking FDA approval for its synthetic psilocybin compound, reported $54,000 in expenditures during the first half of 2025, up from $32,100 in 2024. These funds targeted the governor's office and the Commonwealth's Executive Office of Veterans Services. Traditional health care entities have also spent heavily to shape psychedelic care in Massachusetts. Health New England Inc. and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans spent a combined $140,000 during the first half of 2025.

One figure associated with the influence of private capital on psychedelic policy reform in the state is Colin Beatty, co-founder of the Massachusetts-based startup Control Z Health, who has been criticized by many grassroots activists.

In June 2025, Beatty testified in support of establishing a psychedelic pilot program during a committee hearing at the Massachusetts State House. He explicitly opposed broader decriminalization and attacked the thinking behind Question 4. Beatty called the push for general adult-use access "a mistake representing an irrational exuberance about the potentials of psychedelics." 

Rooting his demand for a strict medical model in his family's history, Beatty testified: "I founded my previous company [Column Health] ... because I couldn't find humane, medical ... care in the community for a loved one of mine."

Despite Beatty's stated intentions, online patient reviews for his former company Column Health's mental health and addiction clinics across Massachusetts indicate a pattern of severe failings. 

One reviewer described the clinical care as "laughable ... the worst of any addiction treatment center I've ever been in contact with.” Another reviewer wrote that they’d attended the company’s Arlington facility and would not be surprised if it prevented more people from recovering than it helped. Similar sentiments were expressed by people who wrote that they’d attended the group's Lawrence and Lowell locations, with one calling the company's clinical model "the absolute worst."

"Management and executives are hopeless," wrote one former employee in a scathing review on Glassdoor. "Every decision they make is driven by money … they do not care about patients at all."

For Dr. Franklin King, a Boston-based psychiatrist specializing in psychedelics research, the impact of the measure passed by the House will hinge on who controls the rulemaking process.

"The House's passage of this bill reflects growing recognition that many people are already seeking psychedelic experiences outside the traditional medical system and that there is value in creating a regulated pathway for supported, guided use," King told Filter. "If the bill becomes law, the Department of Public Health will have an important responsibility to ensure that regulations are shaped by people with genuine expertise in psychedelic care, so that safety and quality, not commercial interests, drive the model."

Whether such concerns are addressed if the measure becomes law remains to be seen. But for now, many psychedelic advocates are expressing pride in the progress of a measure with tangible equity provisions. 

 "This is a victory for everyone affected by PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, addiction, and other serious mental and physical health conditions who urgently need new treatment options," Jamie Morey, co-founder and executive director of Mass Healing, told Filter. 

Morey credited the milestone to a coalition of researchers, clinicians and patients, alongside lobbying efforts from VETS and local philanthropists Peter Palandjian and former actress turned psychedelic therapist Eliza Dushku.

The larger omnibus bill under which the proposed psychedelic program falls is now headed to the Massachusetts Senate, which is expected to draft and pass its own version of the economic development package in the coming weeks.