End Boston's War on Drugs!
Boston City Council
Your action here will help inspire millions of suffering people around the world to try plant medicine!
Our coalition has successfully passed decriminalization resolutions in Somerville and Cambridge, making national news and opening the door to resolutions in Boston, Northampton, Pittsfield, and Worcester. Now we've convinced over a dozen state lawmakers to cosponsor our state bill, which will study the best way to legalize psychedelic plants, revise all drug sentencing, expunge drug records, and create equity initiatives for victims of the war on drugs. We need your help contacting the council to put this over the finish line :)
* Opioid Overdoses: In the month of May alone, nearly 170 of our friends, family members, and neighbors in Massachusetts lost their lives to opioid overdoses. A 2017 study of 44,000 Americans found that psychedelic use is associated with a 40% reduced risk of opioid abuse.
* Depression and Trauma: Massachusetts millennials have the highest rates of depression for their age group in the United States, and nearly one in five residents regardless of age suffer from depression. Naturally occurring plants and fungi, like psilocybin mushrooms, have been designated "breakthrough therapies" by the FDA for their substantial benefits in major depressive disorder.
A November 2020 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found one in two patients put their major depression in remission after only two psilocybin therapy sessions, making it four times more effective than standard depression medications. A 2020 meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials dating back almost two decades found that psychedelic-assisted therapy is substantially effective in treating PTSD, depression, anxiety linked to terminal illness, and social anxiety linked to autism. Other studies confirm this result, finding that entheogens substantially reduce psychological distress and suicidal planning and ideation.
* Smoking: Smoking kills one in five of our friends, family members, and neighbors in Massachusetts. Apart from premature deaths and quality of life implications, smoking also cost our state hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid expenses every year. A 2017 study by Johns Hopkins medical faculty found that smoking patients achieved an 80% abstinence rate over six months with psilocybin mushroom assisted therapy—a 45% higher success rate than the most effective smoking cessation drug. Similarly, research suggests potential benefits for treating alcoholism.
* Cluster Headaches: Some Massachusetts residents suffer from cluster headaches, an extremely debilitating condition. A study by the American Academy of Neurology interviewed patients who tried psilocybin in the absence of any known cure. Five in seven reported psilocybin ended the headaches and one in two reported a complete termination of the ailment.
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Please use this form to take action now! :)
Sponsored by
To:
Boston City Council
From:
[Your Name]
As residents of Boston, we urge the Boston City Council to sponsor and approve a resolution that decriminalizes the cultivation, transportation, and exchange of psychedelic plants and decriminalizes possession of all controlled substances. Somerville and Cambridge have decriminalized without issue, as have five major U.S. cities, Oregon, and six countries.
Psychedelic plants have proven and documented benefits for depression, opioid and other drug addiction, trauma, cluster headaches and likely benefits for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. As COVID increases opioid overdoses and suicides, the time for action is now.
Arresting and incarcerating people for possession of any controlled substance can cause them to lose their job, harm their family relationships, and drive them further into a cycle of self-harm and addiction. Please work with Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, Decriminalize Nature Massachusetts, and veterans and mental health groups in their coalition to pass a resolution ending the war on drugs in favor of harm reduction and treating substance use as an issue of public health.