(BOSTON, MA) – With Bay State residents facing an onslaught of pro-drug advertising, SAM Action, in conjunction with its sister organization, the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, is giving a major boost to the Coalition for Safe Communities as it fights against the legalization of psychedelics, the opening of for-profit psychedelic centers, and the introduction of growth and distribution of homegrown psychedelics throughout the Commonwealth.
As Massachusetts voters prepare to go to the polls, a diverse statewide coalition of parents, medical professionals, mental health professionals, law enforcement, veterans, elected officials, recovery groups, firefighters, business owners, and community groups have banded together to oppose a ballot referendum commonly known as ‘Question 4,’ which would allow individuals to grow psychedelics in a 12-foot by 12-foot area, and then distribute such products. If passed, the referendum would immediately create a massive loophole for an unregulated and unsafe illicit market in the state.
“Injecting more drugs into Massachusetts communities, especially through an unregulated and unsafe homegrow market, would be a public health and safety nightmare,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of SAM Action and the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, and a former three-time White House drug policy advisor. “Question 4 is the addiction-for-profit industry’s latest effort to get its hooks into the public consciousness, only to drive an agenda that leads to more addiction and more commercial drug sales. First medical marijuana was the wonder drug that would cure every ailment and reduce addiction. Now it’s psilocybin mushrooms.”
“Massachusettsans deserve to hear the truth. Research purporting the benefits of these psychoactive drugs is incomplete and it paints a mixed picture at best. Many of the so-called ‘studies’ rely on patients who have already experimented with psychedelics, creating an obvious confirmation bias, and several big studies have demonstrated that the placebo faired just as well as the drugs. These serious problems led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), earlier this year, to reject the new drug application (NDA) by an addiction-for-profit company known as Lykos (formerly known as MAPS), which was caught misrepresenting results of its psychedelics trials,” Sabet continued.
“Science and medical experts should be the catalyst of drug policy, not the addiction industry’s drive to make millions more in profits while risking the health and safety of the public at-large. Voters should join the medical and scientific experts at the FDA and reject the latest gamble by drug profiteers,” Sabet stated.
“We are grateful to have the support and advisement of SAM Action and the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions in our fight to protect the Bay State from a public health disaster. Drugged driving is already on the rise in Massachusetts and studies show one in three psychedelic users is known to drive under the influence of psychedelics. This growing problem will unquestionably get worse if homegrown psychedelics are legalized. We need more mental health resources, but Question 4 would create a psychedelics free-for-all and just put these drugs in the wrong hands,” said Caroline Alcock Cunningham, General Consultant for the Coalition for Safe Communities.