Hi Massachusetts Voters,
As I have said in a comment, I will be voting yes on all the ballot questions. (Watertown specimen ballots for the general election on Tuesday, November 3rd, can be found here at https://www.watertown-ma.gov/295/Specimen-Ballots). At the root of many of the ballot questions is economic fairness. However, I feel most completed to write about Question 4.
“This proposed law would allow persons aged 21 and older to grow, possess, and use certain natural psychedelic substances in certain circumstances. The psychedelic substances allowed would be two substances found in mushrooms (psilocybin and psilocin) and three substances found in plants (dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, and ibogaine).”
I feel compelled because this is about how we care for those who have no other options.
Individuals for whom the passage of the question would be beneficial are veterans and those in the positions as first responders. Many of these professions have the highest rates of suicide, and the most success at committing the act with easy access to firearms. What they do not have is access to effective treatment for PTSD. It’s no accident that many homeless individuals are veterans self medicating on alcohol or nowadays Oxycontin. Many must travel outside the U.S. to obtain the drugs being decriminalized by YES on 4. When they do so, they find success. However, they should not have to go to such lengths. To learn about successes, read Micheal Pollan’s book “How to Change Your Mind” or watch the Netflix documentary.
Unfortunately, most psychiatric medications are not highly effective at treating mental health conditions. In fact, Bristol Myers Squibb ended its Antidepressant Program as they found this to be true. Professor Edward Bullmore from the N.H.S. and author of “The Inflamed Mind” has linked the appearance of depression with the appearance of trauma. When the body is traumatized, it reacts with inflammation. The same is true for the brain. Trauma, physical or psychological, causes inflammation, which in the brain produces a fog.
Another population having to cope with trauma are terminally ill patients. If you have watched an immediate family member die from a terminal disease, such as Stage 4 Cancer, you would understand this. These patients are usually given medications like diluted morphine to ease the physical pain, but the morphine does nothing for the psyche. The aforementioned substances do unburden the psyche. Again, see Pollan’s documentary. The terminally ill are being separated from their lives, and at the same time, from family, and that is profoundly traumatically. Trauma is rooted in separation from the community, be it civilian or familial.
This ballot question does not permit the retail sale of such plants, and in a sense the substances would be more controlled than alcohol, which can be viewed as freely dispensed despite regulation. Alcohol is also the most dangerous drug because it contributes to automotive accidents (the most common cause), dulls the mind over time and can cause certain cancers. Unlike alcohol, these psychedelic substances provide therapeutic benefits that can be immeasurable. Please vote YES on Question 4.
Rita ColafellaDistrict C-9