1. What the law is
Massachusetts has no statewide psilocybin law; it has eight municipal ones, adopted between Somerville in January 2021 and Medford in February 2024. Each is a resolution making psilocybin enforcement the lowest local law enforcement priority. Voters rejected the statewide version, Question 4, in November 2024.
Psilocybin remains illegal under Massachusetts state law and federal law, but five municipalities have adopted resolutions directing local police to treat enforcement against adult use of entheogenic plants and fungi as among their lowest priorities. Somerville adopted its resolution in January 2021, followed by Cambridge in February 2021, Northampton in April 2021, Easthampton in October 2021, and Salem in May 2023. These measures are non-binding statements of local policy: they do not legalize psilocybin, and possession remains a prosecutable offense everywhere in the state. A statewide ballot measure, Question 4, would have legalized supervised use of natural psychedelics at licensed facilities and allowed limited home cultivation; voters rejected it in November 2024 by a margin of roughly 57 percent to 43 percent. Reform efforts have since shifted to the legislature. H.4986, a consolidated bill in the 194th General Court, would create a five-site pilot program of licensed nonprofit therapeutic psilocybin treatment centers overseen by the Department of Public Health, with criminal protections for participants and staff. The bill was reported favorably by the Joint Committee on Public Health and is now before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
Massachusetts is the clearest example of a state where the ballot route for psychedelic reform failed while the legislative route stayed open. After voters rejected Question 4 in 2024, lawmakers consolidated two House proposals into H.4986, which would authorize a Department of Public Health pilot of five licensed nonprofit therapeutic psilocybin treatment centers, with reporting requirements and criminal protections for participants and providers. A separate psychedelic therapy pilot bill, S.1400/H.4200, advanced out of committee in September 2025. With H.4986 pending in Health Care Financing as of mid-2026, Massachusetts has a plausible near-term path to a supervised therapeutic program, though no bill has yet reached a floor vote.
2. Trials in Massachusetts
Interventional psilocybin trials with at least one site in Massachusetts, as their sponsors filed them with ClinicalTrials.gov, EU CTIS and ISRCTN. Each row links to the registry record, which sets out who may take part.
Recruiting or opening counts trials recruiting now, not yet recruiting, or enrolling by invitation. Closed counts trials terminated, suspended, withdrawn or left unverified by their sponsors.
| Registry ID | Trial | Phase | Sponsor | Status | Start date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT07516405 | Safety and Tolerability Trial of Psilocybin in Healthy Older Adults (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston | Phase Phase 1 | Sponsor University of Colorado, Denver | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06793397 | A Study of a Deuterated Psilocin Analog (CYB003) in Humans With Major Depressive Disorder (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Adams Clinical Boston, Boston | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor Cybin IRL Limited | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06001749 | Psilocybin in Cancer Pain Study (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Yvan Beaussant, MD, MSci | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06247839 | The Effects of Psilocybin on Self-Focus and Self-Related Processing in Major Depressive Disorder (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor Sharmin Ghaznavi | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT07296094 | Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Severe Alcohol Use Disorder (opens in new tab)Site at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Brigham and Women's Hospital | Status Not yet recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06605105 | Phase III Long-term Extension Trial to Assess Safety and Efficacy of CYB003 in MDD (EXTEND) (opens in new tab)Sites in Boston, Springfield, Watertown | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor Cybin IRL Limited | Status Enrolling by invitation | Start date |
| NCT06564818 | A Study of a Deuterated Psilocin Analog (CYB003) in Humans With Major Depressive Disorder (opens in new tab)Sites in Boston and Springfield | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor Cybin IRL Limited | Status Active, not recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06206265 | Assessment of Psilocybin (TRP-8802) in Concert With Psychotherapy in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) (opens in new tab)Site at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor TRYP Therapeutics | Status Active, not recruiting | Start date |
| NCT05711940 | Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of Two Administrations of COMP360 in Participants With TRD (opens in new tab)Sites in Belmont, Boston, North Worcester | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor COMPASS Pathways | Status Active, not recruiting | Start date |
| NCT05733546 | A Phase II, Multicentre, Randomised, Double-blind, Controlled Study to Investigate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Efficacy of COMP360 in Participants With Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (opens in new tab)Site at Elixia MA, LLC, Springfield | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor COMPASS Pathways | Status Active, not recruiting | Start date |
| NCT05624268 | Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of COMP360 in Participants With TRD (opens in new tab)Site at University of Massachusetts Medical School, North Worcester | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor COMPASS Pathways | Status Completed | Start date |
| NCT05381974 | The Effects of Psilocybin on Self-Focus and Self-Related Processing in Treatment Resistant MDD (opens in new tab)Site at Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Massachusetts General Hospital | Status Withdrawn | Start date |
ClinicalTrials.gov data courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
1 more trial on file for Massachusetts.
The register lists all 13 and filters them by condition, status and phase.
3. History
The legal events behind this entry, dated and oldest first. Our own reviews and corrections are listed under Changes to this record.
Somerville City Council adopts the state's first lowest-enforcement-priority resolution covering entheogenic plants and fungi (Jan 14).
Decriminalized status takes effect.
Cambridge City Council passes a similar deprioritization resolution (Feb 3).
Northampton becomes the third Massachusetts city to adopt a lowest-enforcement-priority resolution (Mar 18).
Easthampton City Council votes 7-0 for a deprioritization resolution, the fourth city statewide (Oct 20).
Salem City Council votes 9-0 to make psilocybin enforcement among the city's lowest law enforcement priorities.
Voters reject Question 4, a statewide initiative to legalize and regulate natural psychedelic substances, by roughly 57 percent to 43 percent.
Psychedelic therapy pilot bills S.1400/H.4200 advance out of the Joint Committee on Public Health.
H.4986, a new draft consolidating H.2506 and H.2532 into a therapeutic psilocybin treatment center pilot, is reported favorably and referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing (Jan 28).
4. Proposed laws
Proposals that are not yet law and would change this entry if adopted.
H.5576 (economic development, 194th General Court) carried SECTION 109D, a Department of Public Health supervised psilocybin and psilocin pilot at up to three licensed mental health clinics. The House engrossed it Jul 8, 2026 by 148 to 2; the Senate replaced the bill text with S.3228 on Jul 24, 2026, removing the pilot; the House non-concurred Jul 30, 2026 and both branches appointed a conference committee the same day. Joint Rule 12A allows both branches to take up that conference report after Jul 31. As of Sep 21, 2026 the bill's history records no conference report. Standalone vehicles: H.2203 (regulated psilocybin pilot) and H.4200 (psychedelics in licensed treatment facilities) were each recommended ought to pass and referred to House Ways and Means on Jul 22 and Jul 23, 2026; S.1400, the Senate companion to H.4200, has been in Senate Ways and Means since Oct 2, 2025; H.4986 (therapeutic psilocybin treatment centers, the Jan 28, 2026 new draft of H.2506 and H.2532) remains in Health Care Financing with its reporting date extended to Dec 31, 2026.
5. Common questions
Is psilocybin legal in Massachusetts?
Psilocybin is decriminalized in Massachusetts. City level only; illegal under state law.
Are magic mushrooms ("shrooms") legal in Massachusetts?
"Magic mushrooms" and "shrooms" are common names for fungi that contain psilocybin, and this entry states the law on psilocybin itself, which some laws treat separately from the fungus. Psilocybin is decriminalized in Massachusetts. City level only; illegal under state law.
Read the law
City-level lowest-enforcement-priority resolutions: Somerville (Jan 14, 2021), Cambridge (Feb 3, 2021), Northampton (Apr 1, 2021), Easthampton (Oct 20, 2021), Amherst (Jul 18, 2022), Salem (Jun 8, 2023), Provincetown (Dec 11, 2023), Medford (Feb 6, 2024). Statewide Question 4 (Nov 2024) failed. No statewide reform enacted.1
Sources
This entry's status is checked against the primary sources below, and the methodology explains how each entry is graded for confidence.
- 1.Massachusetts General Court.Massachusetts General Court (opens in new tab) · malegislature.gov
- 2.Marijuana Moment.Marijuana Moment (opens in new tab) · marijuanamoment.net
This entry is for information only and is not legal or medical advice. Laws change, and enforcement can differ from the letter of the law, so check the current position against the primary sources above before relying on it.
Changes to this record
5 changes on file, the latest on . Show allHide
Every change we have made to this record, dated, corrections included. Nothing changes silently.
Massachusetts was checked again on 21 September 2026 and nothing has moved. The bill that carried a supervised psilocybin pilot through the House is still with a conference committee, which has not reported, and the four standalone bills are where they were in July.
Northampton's date moves from March 18 to April 1, 2021. The city council gave the resolution a first reading in March and adopted it on the second reading two weeks later. Somerville's January 14, 2021 date and Cambridge's February 3, 2021 date were checked against city records and are unchanged. All eight Massachusetts municipal dates now come from municipal records.
Eight Massachusetts cities and towns have adopted resolutions making enforcement of psilocybin laws a low local priority, three more than this record named. Salem's is dated June 8, 2023, when the City Council adopted a revised resolution after the Acting Mayor vetoed the original.
The Massachusetts House voted 148 to 2 for a bill carrying a supervised psilocybin pilot. The Senate removed the pilot and the bill is now in conference.
Massachusetts stays recorded as decriminalized. The list of pending bills was updated: H.4986 now consolidates two earlier bills, H.2506 and H.2532, and sits in the Health Care Financing committee unenacted.
Psilocybin Media Group. "Massachusetts: psilocybin legal status." The Psilocybin Record, accession US-MA-001, version of 21 Sep 2026. https://psilocybinlegalization.com/record/massachusetts