Passage of Question 4 would create a framework for therapeutic (not commercial) use of certain natural psychedelics, such as psilocybin, which is found in mushrooms, allowing veterans and others to legally access an alternative method of treatment that has shown enormous potential to treat post-traumatic stress, depression, and other mental health ailments.
Drugs
Posted inOpinion
First responders in Mass. should have access to fentanyl treatment
It’s my sincere hope that Massachusetts will update its standing orders to include this treatment. Our first responders need to have access to all available approved treatments.
Posted inOpinion
We need more stories like Bobby’s
As we have shown with cystic fibrosis here in Massachusetts, when the patients, families, scientists, academics, political leaders, and life science companies come together as one, there is no cure that is beyond our reach. Just ask Bobby.
Posted inOpinion
Question 4 is one solution to mental health crisis
Natural psychedelics provide a promising, necessary, and research-backed opportunity for healing where traditional therapies have fallen short.
Posted inOpinion
Pharmacy benefit managers are engaging in thievery
Pharmacy benefit managers were created with the intention they would negotiate discounts and pass them on to patients. Instead, they’ve taken advantage of not being regulated using several tactics to reap profits, sometimes in the billions.
Posted inOpinion
Bill filed by Neal would devastate life sciences
THE BIOTECHNOLOGY and pharmaceutical sector in the Boston area is about to hit some rough water. According to the Brussels-based consulting firm Vital Transformation, the prescription drug price controls in […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
On Mass. and Cass, a Wu turn
ACCORDING TO THE old adage, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. That may not be exactly what’s happening with the shift in the city’s approach to the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drugs, Opinion
When drug busts lead to more overdoses we’re on the wrong path
MOST THOUGHTFUL police leaders will tell you that they will not arrest their way out of the drug abuse epidemic. A mountain of research supports their views. Still, as opioid […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Somerville makes push for mobile drug consumption site
SOMERVILLE is making strides toward being the first city or town in Massachusetts to open a supervised drug consumption site, an initiative that advocates say has shown promise internationally in […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Healey administration grapples with record high opioid deaths
THE STATE WAS already swimming upstream against the opioid epidemic, but new numbers showing record high opioid-related overdose deaths brought an undercurrent of despair to Healey administration discussion of how […]
Posted inOpinion
Let’s rethink the use of Joint Base Cape Cod
THE AIR FORCE’S suspension of intelligence activity performed at Joint Base Cape Cod eliminates the primary service mission of the base. The leak of sensitive intelligence from a service member […]
Posted inOpinion
I saw parallels to Clancy case as a juvenile court judge
THE TRAGIC DEATH of the beautiful Clancy children may portend a long overdue indictment of the cavalier use of powerful psychotropic medications over non-pharmacological methods of treatment for those suffering […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Opioid overdose deaths leveling off, but at high level
AFTER A SHARP SPIKE in opioid-related overdose deaths during the COVID pandemic, the numbers appear to be leveling off this year, but they still remain higher than before COVID hit, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Innovative court program helps people navigate addiction services
CAPE COD DEFENSE attorney Susan Wenzel had a client with mental health and substance use issues who needed help handling both problems and had no health insurance. His criminal case […]
Posted inDrugs, Marijuana, Politics
Healey says her prior cannabis concerns may have been ‘unnecessary’
IT WAS NOVEMBER 2016, days before Massachusetts voters would legalize recreational marijuana. Attorney General Maura Healey stood in front of the State House at a rally with health care professionals […]
Posted inCourts, Drugs, Guns, Marijuana, State Government
Here’s what passed in marathon all-night legislative session
IN A MARATHON all night session, the Massachusetts Legislature finally finished many of their key priorities of the 2021-2022 legislative session, even as one key priority – tax reform – […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Opioid overdose deaths up by 9 percent last year
THE NUMBER OF OPIOID overdose deaths in Massachusetts rose by 9 percent in 2021, a worrying number in a state that had started seeing some success in addressing the opioid […]
Posted inDrugs, Marijuana, Opinion
Time to end ‘negative impact’ fees for minority cannabis businesses
THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY continues to boom in Massachusetts – for some. On 4/20, the unofficial “high holiday” for the industry, sales records were shattered when consumers purchased a record-breaking $6 […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Meth use poses rising threat in Massachusetts
THE SCOURGE of opioid addiction has made headlines for years, as state policymakers aim to reduce the epidemic of overdose deaths. Less noticed – but still highly dangerous – is […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Child Advocate says ‘system failed’ Harmony Montgomery
THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES and the court system valued the rights of Harmony Montgomery’s parents more than Harmony’s wellbeing, according to a damning 101-page report issued Wednesday by […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
For mothers with history of opioid use, a non-judgmental lifeline
ELIZABETH MURDZIA, who stopped using heroin during pregnancy with the help of methadone, remembers rocking her newborn as he underwent methadone withdrawal at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Murdzia, 29, […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Mass. receives $525m under opioid settlement
BOSTON UNIVERSITY STATEHOUSE PROGRAM STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS in Massachusetts will receive $525 million to combat opioid abuse as part of a settlement with four of the nation’s largest drug […]
Posted inOpinion
Opioid overdose deaths remain stubbornly high
IT IS MY HOPE that one day this public health crisis will be nothing but a memory. It has sickened and killed far too many, torn families apart, and weakened […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Misinformation is fueling the overdose crisis
AS THE TOLL from COVID-19 continues to climb, health misinformation has taken an increasingly visible role in stoking this deadly pandemic. Rumors and politicization of masks, vaccines, and other basic […]