BOSTON — Former Hollywood actress Eliza Dushku is using her experience with psychedelic-assisted therapy to advocate for its legalization in Massachusetts.
The Watertown native will be speaking out alongside health care professionals outside the State House Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in support of Ballot Question 4.
Dushku, known for her roles in the hit movie “Bring It On” and popular television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, believes she’s found her real purpose years after moving back home to Massachusetts.
She calls psychedelic-assisted therapy a breakthrough effective treatment that helped pull her out of a dark abyss of substance use disorder and trauma dating back to a childhood sexual assault.
“It changed my life working with psychedelic assisted therapy,” Dushku told Boston 25 News. “I think I spent arguably most of my life numbing and taking drugs and alcohol to continue repressing the traumatic memories.”
Dushku and her husband Peter Palandijan, CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation and a former professional tennis player, believe the legalization and regulation of some psychedelic drugs would have a profound impact.
They point to research they say shows the benefit it would offer to veterans and those struggling with mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“So many of the other treatments treat symptoms of PTSD or depression or anxiety,” explained Dushku. “Psychedelics have the ability to drop you into the root cause of what your trauma is.”
If passed, Ballot Question 4 would create a five-member “natural psychedelic substances commission” to oversee the psychedelics industry.
That commission would be chosen by the governor, attorney general, and treasurer.
The commission would license “psychedelic therapy centers” where people 21 and older could take certain drugs under the supervision of a licensed facilitator.
The law would allow for the cultivation and sale of five types of substances: psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline, ibogaine, and psilocyn.
Opponents believe the efforts are moving too fast and are sharing concerns about a black market.
“If this were to pass the way this ballot question is written, all 351 cities and towns would have to allow these facilities into their communities,” said Chris Keohan, spokesperson for Coalition for Safe Communities.
Keohan said critics are worried about the amount of home growth that would be allowed.
He said there are also questions about the cost and access of substances found in mushrooms if legalized.
“I feel for the people who genuinely need help, but they’re being used as props right now, and I frankly find it disgusting,” added Keohan.
If Question 4 passes, Massachusetts would be the third state in the country to legalize certain psychedelics, following Oregon and Colorado.
For more information about the Massachusetts ballot questions, click here.
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