PSA Profiles: Citizen Psychedelia: A Q+A With Billerica, Massachusetts Plant Medicine Advocate Tim Morris

By Jack Gorsline

Despite his relatively young age of just 22, Tim Morris has emerged as a dedicated advocate in the Massachusetts psychedelic reform movement. The Billerica native’s journey into this space began several years ago as a grassroots activist, but took a much more focused turn after the failure of the "Yes on 4" campaign, a scandal-plagued ballot initiative that sought to legalize psychedelics in the commonwealth.

Undeterred by the setback, Morris enrolled in college to major in psychology, a strategic move to develop the professional qualifications he believes are necessary to work with psychedelics in a therapeutic capacity. He plans to eventually become a licensed facilitator, even if it requires temporarily moving out of state to gain the necessary credentials before Massachusetts establishes its own regulatory framework.

Earlier this year, Morris took a significant step by drafting Massachusetts House Bill 1726, which aims to decriminalize the limited possession of psilocybin, and successfully enlisting state Rep. Homar Gomez to file the legislation on his behalf. The measure recently hit a historic milestone when it received an endorsement from the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, making it the first psychedelic policy proposal to ever be officially backed by a professional psychiatric society. It was a surprising and validating achievement built on the back of significant advocacy, and we asked Morris about that effort and others he has underway in this exciting realm.

JG: When and why did you first become interested in psychedelics?
TM: After learning online that psychedelics aren’t addictive, I did a deep dive into their effects and anecdotes—notably from Terence McKenna, Joe Rogan, and Adam from the YouTube channel “Psyched Substance.” When I finally used psilocybin mushrooms, opting for two grams, I found the experience to be so incredibly unanticipated, positive, and eye-opening that I felt I had found my calling. 

From then on my career goals would relate to psychedelics in some way or another. I felt obligated to personally do something to help push decriminalization, and to tell people that psychedelics are nothing to be afraid of.

One of the biggest concerns surrounding psychedelic-assisted therapy is the high cost of treatment sessions. How do you think this issue can be addressed, be it legislatively, commercially, or otherwise—to make psychedelic medicine more accessible to a broader range of participants?

It would be a great start to allow insurance to cover facilitations, as well as legalizing facilitation centers everywhere to address the supply and demand problem. However, I don’t know how “cheap” we could make the cost of a licensed facilitator’s time, facility, and substances. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a simple fix for this issue.

Grassroots advocates for psychedelic policy reform in the US and abroad have gained and maintained remarkable traction and influence. So far, they have spearheaded efforts in 10 cities in Massachusetts and statewide reform movements led by grassroots groups in Oregon, Colorado, and, most recently, in New Mexico and Texas—all states with conservative constituencies that carry significant influence across their respective political landscapes in each state. As an advocate based in a more conservative-leaning part of Massachusetts, can you speak to what outreach and/or education strategies have and haven’t been effective in connecting with conservative constituents in your community?

I’m embarrassed to admit this because it’s such an obvious blunder in hindsight, but I didn’t seek out other pro-psychedelics residents in Billerica before filing the law enforcement de-prioritization town meeting article, or really at all during the process. I was cocky and assumed it would be easy to make the case, because all the facts relating to the decriminalization of psychedelics are on our side. It turned out that very few people wanted to entertain what one random 20-something-year-old wanted to say

about drug decriminalization policy. I still think it’s easy for a group to make the case, but doing so needs a diverse set of voices.

As interest in psychedelics continues to grow here and around the world, what do you see as the best-case and worst-case scenarios for its future in the United States?

I think the best-case scenario would be widespread, liberal decriminalization, including home-grow, gifting, and public use with lack of disturbance. I would want this paired with licensed facilitation centers and dispensaries, for people to have those options. The stigma should also be removed completely, with people discussing psychedelics openly without any kind of passive resistance.

I think the worst-case scenario, short of perpetuating the current scheduling, would be if Oregon’s current model becomes instated everywhere. A model in which not even possession is legal, and sanctioned psilocybin use is restricted to licensed facilities under supervision—and at the moment very expensive.

What would you say to parents, families, and individuals who might be against or still on the fence about the use, decriminalization, and/or legalization of psychedelics?

I would ask them questions such as: Why should those of us who benefit from psychedelics be subjected to criminal penalties, especially since they aren’t addictive? Why are Psychedelics prohibited, while alcohol—which is factually much more harmful by essentially every measure—is deemed as acceptable and sold at practically every strip mall throughout Massachusetts and the rest of the country? Also, Should people trust the controlling narrative that psychedelics are negative, since it’s now common knowledge that “they” lied about cannabis? And, What would we as supporters of

psychedelic decriminalization and legalization—first-hand sources for that matter—have to gain if psychedelics were net-negative for public health?

What’s next for your personal and organization advocacy work?

If H.1858 and/or H.1726 pass in Massachusetts during this cycle, my next step is to help with decriminalizing home-cultivation of psilocybin and the other natural psychedelics. Decriminalizing simple possession is a fine baby step, but at-home cultivation is the real milestone.

Aside from yourself, who are some other lead innovators, and/or advocates in the psychedelic science community that you think more people should know about and hear from?

Graham Moore, the educational outreach director for the “Yes on 4” campaign and now the advocacy group “Mass Healing,” has been perhaps the top psychedelics activist in Massachusetts for the past year or so. He’s practically a living psychedelics encyclopedia, and it appears to me that his work in the decriminalization/legalization movement is rivaled by few in Massachusetts.

Also Henry Morgan from Northampton. Despite being young and directing most of his attention towards his unrelated work in education policy reform these days, he’s among Massachusetts’s most accomplished psychedelics advocates when it comes to drafting legal texts. He’s one of the most driven people I know.

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