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Massachusetts Governor Unveils Veterans Psychedelics Research Bill

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Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey last week filed legislation to increase benefits and modernize services for the state’s military veterans that includes a proposal to study the medical benefits of psychedelic drugs. The bill, known as an Act Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing Our Servicemembers and Veterans (HERO Act), was unveiled on November 9 by Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services.

The Healey administration said in a statement that the legislation would positively impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of military veterans living in Massachusetts, including nearly 30,000 women and LGBTQ+ vets. At a ceremony marking the bill’s introduction, Healey said that the legislation is the first time in 20 years that a Massachusetts governor has “introduced a comprehensive and expansive legislative package dedicated to the welfare of veterans.”

“Our veterans have sacrificed so much for our country, and this transformative legislation marks an important step toward ensuring that Massachusetts supports them in return,” said Healey. “From day one, our administration has been committed to revitalizing veterans’ services in Massachusetts and ensuring that every one of these heroes receives the benefits, resources and support that they deserve.”

Among its many other provisions, the HERO Act would establish a working group to research the “health benefits of psychedelics as treatment for veterans suffering from physical or mental health disorders related to their service,” according to the governor’s office. 

The legislation has the support of representatives from several veterans service organizations, including Bill LeBeau, Adjutant for Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign Wars. 

“We’re grateful to Governor Healey and her team for recognizing the need for giving back to the heroes who have served our country, both at home and overseas,” LeBeau said in a statement. “With this bill, the Healey-Driscoll Administration demonstrates a real commitment to accomplishing outcomes for our Veterans that will be meaningful and impactful in so many ways; it also sends a signal that more needs to be done to support them.”

Other key provisions of the HERO Act include expanding access to behavioral and mental health treatment, increasing benefits for disabled veterans, improving support for employers that hire veterans, updating the definition of a veteran, expanding the scope of the Veterans Equality Review Board, initiating a pilot program for LGBTQ+ couples denied IVF reimbursement by the Veterans Health Administration, and codifying the state’s medical and dental benefits for military veterans.

“By promoting inclusivity and expanding benefits, we’re not only showing our gratitude to veterans but also addressing their evolving needs,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “This legislative package represents a significant step forward in the care and support we provide to our veterans, particularly for women and LGBTQ+ veterans.”

Psilocybin And Mental Health

Research has shown that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can have a positive effect on many mental health conditions commonly experienced by the nation’s military veterans. Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and other researchers have shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance misuse disorders. A study published in 2020 in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was a quick-acting and effective treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorder. Separate research published in 2016 determined that psilocybin treatment produced substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.

Federal agencies including the Food and Drug Administration are currently reviewing the potential for psychedelics to treat serious mental health conditions. In May 2022, the head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration wrote to U.S. Representative Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat, that FDA approval of psilocybin to treat depression was likely within the next two years.

As the nation faces rising rates of substance use and mental health issues “we must explore the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies to address this crisis,” Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, wrote to Dean.

The ongoing research has prompted several states to consider legislation to ease the prohibition on psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs, particularly for therapeutic purposes. In May, Oregon officials issued the state’s first license for a psychedelic therapy treatment center following the legalization of magic mushrooms for therapeutic use with the passage of a 2020 ballot measure. A similar initiative was approved by Colorado voters in 2022.

Healey’s proposal is not the only plan to reform laws prohibiting the use of psychedelics in Massachusetts. Supporters of a proposed ballot measure to legalize the possession and supervised use of psychedelics began collecting signatures in September. The campaign has already reportedly collected more than 75,000 signatures on petitions to bring the initiative to a vote, which could come as soon as next year.

State lawmakers have also taken legislative steps to achieve psychedelics reform. At least two bills, https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/S1009 in the Massachusetts Senate and another in the state House of Representatives, would remove criminal penalties for some natural psychedelics. Under the bills, adults would be permitted to grow and use small amounts of certain psychedelics, including psilocybin mushrooms.

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Missouri Expunged Nearly 100K MJ Convictions in a Year, Despite Missing Deadlines

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Just over a year ago, Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 to legalize cannabis possession and sales for adults over 21. While witnessing how quickly the market found its footing, with sales beginning less than three months later on Feb. 3, 2023, perhaps more impressive is the state’s commitment to cannabis-related expungements.

Under Amendment 3, all nonviolent cases related to cannabis are required to be expunged, meaning that the case record is sealed or destroyed and involved persons are cleared of their charges. While fully completing expungements is unlikely to happen under the deadlines indicated in the new law, the state has expunged nearly 100,000 cannabis convictions from government records according to a KMBC 9 report.

The law includes a June 8 deadline for misdemeanor expungements and a Dec. 8 deadline for felony expungements, with an exception for those still incarcerated or currently under supervision by the Department of Corrections.

Dan Viets, a Missouri attorney with a focus on defending cannabis cases, wrote parts of the constitutional amendment. Speaking with KMBC 9, he nodded to these missed deadlines and highlighted the sheer amount of work involved in expunging Missouri’s cannabis-related cases.

“We have always said that as long as the courts, the circuit clerks in particular, are making a good faith effort to comply with the law, to get those cases expunged, that we’ll be satisfied,” Viets said. “They have not technically met the deadline. But on the other hand, we’re dealing with a century of marijuana prohibition in Missouri. So, there are hundreds of thousands of cases.”

The progress is evident, as reports from June 2023 show that the state had expunged about 44,000 cases at the time. And even over the summer, experts had already theorized that the deadlines imposed by the amendment were unlikely to be met.

Stephen Sokoloff, senior counsel for the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, believed that the deadlines were destined to fail from the beginning, calling the amendment “very poorly written” and drafted without Missouri law in mind.

“So it doesn’t actually track a lot of the aspects of Missouri law,” Sokoloff told St. Louis Public Radio in June. “As a result, it makes it a lot more difficult for compliance because there’s some mashing of square pegs into round holes that has to go on.”

Tackling the entirety of the state’s nonviolent cannabis-related offenses is made even harder given the way expungements are treated throughout the state. Some counties are quick to clear cannabis convictions, while judges and prosecutors in other counties have resisted and further delay expungements.

Viets spoke to this reality over the summer to Missouri NORML, where he also works as a coordinator.

“It is clear that many counties have made no serious effort to comply with the requirements of the Missouri Constitution,” he said. “It should not be necessary to seek a court order in order to force our courts to comply with the Missouri Constitution, but if that is what is required, we may pursue that option. There is no reason why these counties should be dragging their feet and failing to comply with the law as passed by the voters of our state.”

John Mueller, co-owner of 31 Greenlight Dispensary stores with 15 in Missouri alone, told KMBC 9 that revenues have tripled since making the switch from medical to recreational. That increased revenue from adult-use cannabis sales generates tax dollars for municipalities and the state, which in turn could be used for the expungement process, he pointed out.

“That’s one of the things that I think the industry is the most proud of,” Mueller said in the report, “is getting that in the Constitution.”

While 100,000 cases in a year is worth celebrating, Missouri is only just getting started. Viets told KMBC 9 that lawsuits are possible if specific communities don’t put in the work to expunge cannabis-related offenses covered by the new law. Even with the current progress, Viets added that he expects the entirety of expungements to take years to fully complete.

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Philippine Court Grants Bail to Critic of Duterte’s Brutal Drug Crackdown

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Leila de Lima was granted bail on Monday by a Philippine court, freeing the former senator who had been jailed for more than six years.

According to the Associated Press, de Lima “was detained as an opposition senator in February 2017 in what they called political persecution by Duterte and his allies and a major blow to Philippine democracy.”

“It’s really an indescribable feeling. I’m starting from zero the life that they tried to destroy,” de Lima, 64, told the Associated Press after her bail was approved. “This is freedom. It’s so precious.”

The AP reported that de Lima “immediately called her ailing 91-year-old mother and, with her voice breaking, told her she was coming home.”

Her arrest and detainment had long drawn international condemnation, with human rights groups and various governing bodies decrying it as an act of political persecution by Duterte, whose tenure as president ended in June after he was elected in 2016 on a fiercely anti-drug platform.

Police records suggest that Duterte’s crackdown on illicit drugs in the country at least 6,000 individuals dead, although other estimates place the number much higher than that. The International Criminal Court has opened a probe into the killings.

A former senator in the Philippines, de Lima “has said the charges were an act of revenge by Duterte, who she described at the time of her arrest as ‘a murderer and a sociopathic serial killer,’” according to the Guardian.

“She had long criticised his governance. In her former role as chair of the national Commission on Human Rights, De Lima had sought to expose killings by so-called ‘death squads’ in Davao City, where Duterte was mayor for more than two decades,” the Guardian reported.

“De Lima was considered the most prominent political prisoner under his administration. In prison she continued her work as a senator, issuing handwritten statements from detention, often condemning Duterte’s governance. She was unable to campaign in the 2022 election, however, and lost an attempt to run again for a senate position.”

For years, United Nations human rights experts decried de Lima’s ongoing imprisonment. 

In 2021, on the fourth year anniversary of her detention, those experts once again called for her release.

“As today marks four years of Senator De Lima being arbitrarily deprived of her liberty, we urge the Government of the Philippines to give effect to the Opinion, including by releasing Senator De Lima and reinstating her in the positions from which she was ousted,” the experts said in a statement.

They reiterated those calls in June of this year, calling on the country’s current president, Bongbong Marcos, to release her.

“We have long called for the immediate release of Leila de Lima,” the experts said. “The decision to deny bail comes after more than six years of arbitrary detention. It is high time for the administration of President Marcos Jr. to close this case once and for all, provide compensation and other reparations, and investigate the circumstances that allowed this to happen in the first place.”

“We are deeply concerned that after six years of arbitrary detention, Leila de Lima will now continue to be detained after her bail application was denied on 7 June 2023,” they added.

On Monday, presiding Judge Hon. Gener M. Gito decided to grant de Lima bail at a court in Muntinlupa City.

According to CNN, “bail conditions were set at roughly $5,300 (300,000 Philippine pesos), and her legal team is expected to file the paperwork later on Monday evening.”

“I have to rebuild my life. My life that they have tried to destroy,” de Lima told CNN at the courthouse.

CNN has more on her case:

“De Lima had been acquitted of two out of the three charges laid against her, which all stemmed from allegations made by Duterte that she received payoffs from convicted drug gangs to fund her 2016 senatorial bid…Court proceedings against de Lima have been marked by undue delays, including the failure of prosecution witnesses to appear in court and changes in judges handling her cases.”

Amnesty International on Monday urged the courts to make her freedom permanent.

“The court’s granting of Leila de Lima’s bail application is indeed a welcome development. Allowing her temporary liberty should be a step toward justice for Leila, beginning with the dismissal of this last charge against her,” said Butch Olano, section director of Amnesty International Philippines, as quoted by CNN.

“Leila has been targeted by the government for her criticism of the murderous ‘war on drugs’ and other human rights violations. She should have never spent even a single day in detention. This last remaining drug case against her must be dismissed expeditiously, and those behind her arbitrary detention and other violations of her human rights must be brought to justice,” Olano said.

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Avoid ‘Diet Weed,’ Johns Hopkins Expert Says

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The hemp-derived cannabinoid market is hotter than ever but experts warn that people should educate themselves about the fundamental differences between delta-8 THC and delta-9 THC products. High Times previously reported that delta-8 THC was first partially synthesized in 1941, yet there’s still a lot of controversy surrounding the ingredient, due to the way it’s extracted and converted. 

Nextar reports that a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor and other experts want to educate people about the choices they should make with cannabis.

“Chemically, they’re almost identical. But that one little difference in that chemical structure results in a different way that it interacts with your body … with your [cannabinoid] receptors,” explains Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who specializes in the behavior pharmacology of cannabis.

The majority of delta-8 on the market is converted from CBD, using a natural solvent and an acid as a catalyst, but people inside and out of the cannabis industry cannot seem to agree whether delta-8 should be defined as synthetic or natural. 

Vandrey also added that delta-9 THC is stronger, so why would consumers go to delta-8?

“The reason people call delta-8-THC ‘diet weed’ [is because] that chemical difference is a little less potent at what it does at the receptor,” Vandrey said, adding that delta-8 is “about half as effective” at producing the same high as delta-9.

“Does delta-8 THC get you high or is it a scam?” a popular Reddit thread in r/weed asked. The consensus appears to confirm that it has fewer psychedelic effects compared to delta-9 THC.

Sales of hemp-derived cannabinoids like CBD outpace adult-use cannabis and are comparable to the craft beer industry, Whitney Economics found. There are no signs that the industry is going to slow down.

Representatives from NORML have told High Times that delta-8 is not a primary concern, but it’s more about residual chemicals and other byproducts in gas station hemp products you should be worried about most. Dale Gieringer of Cal NORML specifically warned about THCO, which he thinks is instead one of the more particularly problematic compounds with the potential for real injuries.

Peter Grinspoon, M.D.,a primary care doctor at Mass General Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, supports medical cannabis but says state medical cannabis programs do a much better job at vetting ingredients than shops selling delta-8 products.

Grinspoon clarified that the confusion caused by the federal government itself makes it hard to distinguish what’s safe and what’s not regarding hemp-derived cannabinoids.

“In addition to lack of regulation, we have regulatory incoherence from different branches and levels of government. … That’s going to make it even harder to get any coherent regulation on things,” he told Nexstar.

Legal experts noted that the FDA had no intention of legalizing delta-8 when the 2018 Farm Bill was passed, so time’s ticking for the hemp-derived cannabinoids industry. But sellers have it practically everywhere.

“Delta-8 is so close to delta-9, it’s probably relatively safe,” Grinspoon said. “But even if we figured out that delta-8 is safe—the delta-8 you’re buying at your local smoke shop, we have no idea what’s in it.”

The 2018 Farm Bill paved the way for the Ninth Circuit Court to rule that certain low-THC cannabis derivatives were exempt from the Controlled Substances Act. This left a loophole for hemp-derived products that produce a psychoactive effect, but the feds never intended to do so.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that delta-8 and similar cannabinoid derivatives, have “psychoactive and intoxicating effects that may be dangerous to consumers” and urged Congress to act and set up regulations. These hemp-derived cannabinoids leave room for the potential of harmful contaminants, the FDA says.

How is Delta-8 THC Made?

Delta-8 THC is only found in minute amounts in the wild, therefore in order to get enough to infuse products, it must be converted from CBD. Roger Adams and a team of researchers at the University of Illinois were the first to report partial synthesis of delta-8 in 1941.

High Times reported on exactly how it’s done:

The publication Chemical and Engineering News (CEN) described the process as “refluxing CBD in an organic solvent, such as toluene or heptane, with p-toluenesulfonic acid or another acid that serves as a catalyst.” In a controlled, regulated environment, these reactions would be done by PhD chemists to ensure there are no harmful by-products left in products sold to consumers, but the hemp industry is notoriously under-regulated with no requirements for lab testing.

CEN also described the rise of delta-8 THC “a concern.”

It’s up to every consumer to adhere to “buyer beware,” or at least know the differences between delta-8 and delta-9 THC, which are significant.

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