With 91% of the votes counted Wednesday morning, nearly 57% of voters had rejected Question 4, according to the Associated Press.
Voters in Massachusetts have rejected a ballot initiative that proposed to legalize certain psychedelic substances.
Question 4 would have allowed people 21 and older to grow, possess and use psilocybin, psilocyin, dimethyltryptamine, mescaline and ibogaine. The ballot measure proposed a 15% excise tax on sales of psychedelic substances at licensed facilities, and called for the formation of a five-member advisory board to administer the new regulations.
With 91% of the votes counted Wednesday morning, nearly 57% of voters had rejected Question 4, according to the Associated Press.
If Question 4 had passed, Massachusetts would have become the third state to decriminalize the use of some psychedelics, behind Colorado and Oregon.
In a post on the X social media platform, the Yes on Question 4 campaign thanked the more than 1.3 million voters who supported the ballot initiative.
“For nearly two years, our campaign has been dedicated to finding solutions and new options for those struggling with depression, PTSD, anxiety and more,” the group said. “ … While the results today don’t look to be what we wanted, we made hugely important strides on this issue. We spoke to millions of Massachusetts voters and heard broad agreement that natural psychedelics should be more accessible to those who cannot find relief through traditional medication and therapy. We will keep fighting to find new pathways for all those who struggle with their mental health and look forward to working with legislators in the new session to continue to advocate for access, for hope and for healing.”
Question 4 faced pushback from a group called Coalition for Safe Communities, which describes itself as “a diverse statewide coalition of Massachusetts individuals, medical professionals, mental-health professionals, law enforcement, veterans, elected officials, recovery groups, firefighters, business owners and community groups that oppose this act.”
“Voters across Massachusetts came together to reject the passage of Question 4 in recognition of the negative impacts it would have to our neighborhoods, roads, hospitals, children, pets and public safety across the state,” the coalition asserted on its Facebook page. “After being outspent by 80 to 1 from a flood of funding that came primarily from organizations with a direct financial interest in Question 4’s passage, Massachusetts voters decided to overwhelmingly reject this poorly written and misguided ballot question.”
While the statewide ballot measure failed, psychedelic substances have been decriminalized in eight Massachusetts communities, including Amherst, Cambridge, Medford and Salem, the Boston Globe noted.