2023-06-13 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on the Judiciary
2023-06-13 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on the Judiciary
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Welcome, everyone, to today's judiciary committee hearing. My name is Michael Day. I am the house coach here of the drinking Dishiary with me is my colleague and friend, send to Jamie Eldridge, the senate co chair. Before we get started, I will introduce the house members in our present. We've got representative of Scanlon, off to my right, joined us virtually, vice chair barber, representative Fluke Rochley,155 and representative Sullivan. Welcome, reps, subsidiary.
SPEAKER2 - Great. Good afternoon. Welcome, everyone. Great to co chair. This committee is always with chairman Mike Day. I do not think there are any senators who are on the judiciary committee who are here. Maybe they'll be joining virtually, and looking forward to everyone's testimony, and thanks to everybody for coming in.176 Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Kevin, thanks, Senator.178 So today, we're gonna be hearing180 a variety of legislative proposals come pertaining to crimes, broadly. This is the crimes 2 hearing. Before we begin, I wanna remind participants and viewers in those joining us virtually with some ground rules of the committee. We've got a big crowd here today. as we typically do in judiciary, both virtually and in person. So to ensure that everyone who's registered has a chance to speak, we will be limiting testimony to 3 minutes per individual. individuals, including legislators, may speak once per hearing, but address more than 1 bill during their testimony. this customer in the legislature, we're gonna take legislators as they come in given that their schedules are similar to ours, running around like chickens with their heads cut off. written testimony may be submitted at any time for consideration until the committee acts on the bill. And you can do that to the judiciary committee at 24 Beacon Street Room 136, Boston Mass 02133, or by direct email to our research director, Michael Mustau, atmichael.musto@mahouse.gov.
bicobastoat ma house.gov. We've got about 80 individuals who've already signed up to testify with more walking in today. So I ask that you take that into consideration when it's your turn to be heard. We wanna be respectful and considerate so that every person has an opportunity to testify and share their stories which264 means we'll be gaveling out any jumps in out266 of order or or sidetracks any of the testimony with applause or any yellow purse. please be respectful of others when274 they had their turn. We276 will call folks based on bill number, and as your name was entered on the280 registration form. If you signed up for multiple bills, you'll be called based on the first bill you listed as your primary bill on the registration form. Again, you're more than welcome to testify on more than 1 bill during the time allotted. So with that, we will welcome up first, Senator Will Brownsberger. to testify an s 913 and act relative to archaic laws. Senator, welcome.
SEN BROWNSBERGER - SB 913 - Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate you calling me first very much, and through you to all the members and also my salutations to Senator Eldridge. I'm here to speak on just one Bill, Senate number 913, an act relative to archaic laws. As we know, the Supreme Court has backed away from fundamental privacy protections. We, in this state, reinforce our statutory protections for the right to choose over the last couple of years, but we've left on our books archaic laws which threaten the freedom of people to do what they choose to do in their neighborhoods, so the modern351 notion that government should stay out of people's353 bedrooms is not reflected in our355 laws. This legislation would address three particular laws that invade the privacy of people in their sexual lives and it also sets up a commission mechanism to address371 other less urgent cases where laws could be repealed.
The three laws that this repeals is the one that makes anal sex, a 20 year felony, still on our books, any unnatural act which, by the way, you know, according to the state precedence means, basically, anything other than the most traditional forms of sex. So this is something that affects the lives of the LGBTQ community, but also lots of enough straight people. So there's laws on our books, which really still invade the privacy of our bedrooms. The third law that this addresses is the provision on common night walkers, which has basically been referred419 to as the walking while trans law.421 So those three laws deserve to be repealed, they deserve to be repealed urgently, it'll be great to move them in pride month. We've put this together carefully, we've worked with DA's, Suffolk DA, Middlesex, DA by the way, the protections that these laws provide to sex with animals are preserved by other laws, criminalized cruelty to animals, animals cannot consent, so those laws remain on the books, and we think we have a451 good Bill. It's been vetted by counsel and voted, and this Bill was approved unanimously455 by the Senate last year, so we'd love to move it forward expeditiously if at all possible. I'm grateful for the opportunity to testify and grateful for your consideration. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Senator Former Chair, Brown Berger.
SPEAKER4 - Yes. I I salute you all for the service I provided.
SPEAKER1 - Any questions from the panel? And I see reps on Hendrix has joined us. Welcome, representative.
Being none? Thanks very much, senator.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, no. Welcome up a panel of legislators. To testify on h 1754, s 1009, enact relative to plant medicine, representative send send it to Jaylen, representative Zavadocin, representative Bald
BROWNSBERGER - I failed to mention, Mr. Chairman, that this testimony that I provided501 this morning is jointly offered by myself and Representative Livingstone, who was a key partner in development of this legislation as well as Senator SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Eldridge.
they're all producing other senators.
SPEAKER1 - Correct.
SPEAKER5 - Thank you so much. -- senators.
SPEAKER6 - Thank you.
SPEAKER7 - Bye. Thank
you.
SPEAKER1 - Welcome up.
SEN JEHLEN - SB 1009 - HB 1754 - Thank you, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, members of the committee. I'm Pat Jehlen, and I represent the 2nd Middlesex district, and I'm happy to be here today with my colleagues to speak on Senate 1009, an act relative to plant medicine. The Bill would decriminalize personal possession, and home growing amounts of psilocybin and other natural substances. So these substances in many cases have been used for 1000 years, but in recent years, they've been found in many, many studies to be valuable in treating psychological conditions, such as anxiety, depression, end of life depression in particular, which is an interest to me as Chair of Elder Affairs. And just this weekend, I met a woman who is a medical doctor, she has studied all of the journal research on these drugs, she's a medical doctor and she has been suffering from anxiety and she has three times tried using psilocybin accompanied by her husband and found it was very effective in reducing her anxiety, but she had no desire to continue using it because she was relieved of her anxiety, and there is no proven sign of addiction.
I've also heard from people including veterans who were addicted to many prescribed substances who were able to stop623 taking those substances because they began to use psilocybin or some of the other substances mentioned in this Bill. There are almost no documented health risks, especially compared to other substances that people use commonly including legal ones, such as alcohol, they are not dangerous to the person or to the persons around them. So given the potential benefits, the low risks, I think that decriminalizing these substances is reasonable. There are many communities including mine, and, somewhere below at Cambridge in my district Salem, Amherst, Northampton, and East Hampton, they've all passed local ordinances saying they're police departments should make this very enforcement a very low priority, so I think this would make this a statewide policy. I imagine it is already a low priority, I hope. More police departments, but it would make it clear that it is legally more safe as well as physically more safe to use these substances in these situations where it may be a tremendous benefit and zero risk. So thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I'll turn it over to representative Rodosa.
SPEAKER9 - Thank you. Thank you, Senator, and thank you, Chairman Eldridge, and Chairman just pull up my focus on you. Oh, jeez. There's that better. Great.
REP SABADOSA - SB 1009 - HB 1754 - So thank you again, Senator Jehlen. Thank you, Chairman Day, Senator Eldridge and esteemed members of the committee. It's a pleasure to be here with you today, and I want to build off a little bit what the Senator just spoke about. We are talking about substances that have had a long cultural use when we're not just talking, 100 years, we're talking 1000 years and it really was only in recent decades that the substances became criminalized. So the Senator talked about the very low risk of abuse and some of the different ailments that we're seeing positive assistance with through759 the use of psilocybin and the other substances included in the legislation. I want to bring765 it back some of the research that we've done in preparing this legislation and talking to area doctors and researchers about the potential that they see.
Now we understand that the Bill itself doesn't talk about the research and the potential for that, but we do know that that's happening in Massachusetts. We know that these laws are making that more difficult and the Senator had mentioned a few diseases I'd add cluster, headaches, anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance abuse, the list goes on and on. We793 are really hindering the ability to make medical progress in797 the state by limiting what researchers have access to. So I don't want to duplicate because I know there are a lot of individuals waiting to testify, but I did want to add that little bit in, and I will pass it over to my colleagues.
REP BOLDYGA - SB 1009 - HB 1754 - HB 3589 - Thank you, Rep. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, colleagues, thank you so much for the time and testify today. I speak to you before you today not only as your colleague and a former law enforcement officer, but as a voice for the people throughout the Commonwealth who woke up this morning to the pain and suffering caused by debilitating mental health such as PTSD, addiction, anxiety, depression, and struggles related to traumatic brain injuries. There's no one in this room that isn't838 touched directly by the growing crisis. Throughout my years in law enforcement, I witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of mental health issues and individuals and their families, but today, we have an opportunity to change the course of those lives. Psychedelic plant medicines such as psilocybin have shown immense promise in clinical trials and research studies, these medicines have the potential to allow individuals to confront and process their trauma in a profound and transformative way.
This afternoon, you'll hear of the many psychedelic based clinical studies and decades of data that show individuals struggling with PTSD, depression, and anxiety not only experience significant reduction in symptoms, but can be completely liberated from the condition and experience joy and connectedness. I want to highlight just one study published in the journal of psychopharmacology, the study of 44,000 Americans suffering from opioid addiction found that a single use of psilocybin reduced the past year risk of abuse by over 40%. The study concluded as hundreds of similar studies have, and I quote, experience with psychedelics is associated with decreased risk of abuse and dependence. This is a study on just one time use of psilocybin. When combined with ongoing treatments, the odds of over coming addiction increase exponentially.
Tragically, many of the lifesaving plant medicines916 that we speak of here today were swept up under the anti counter call hysteria of the early 1970s. Bureaucrats in Washington blatantly ignored the medical and scientific communities when they scheduled them as having no medical use and having a high potential for abuse, both are categorically false. Up until the Nixon administration, psychedelic compounds were at936 the cutting edge of mental health therapy and broadening938 our understanding of the human consciousness. The criminalization of these plants halted that invaluable research. The emergence of psychedelic science today is picking up where researchers left off almost 60 years ago.954 Mr. Chairman, we stand at a pivotal moment in history, states like Oregon and Colorado and Washington have already legalized certain psychedelic compounds and other states like California are soon to follow soon.
Massachusetts has the opportunity to lead the way in a mental health revolution, it's been said that an idea whose time has arrived cannot be stopped. Mr. Chairman, I believe that time is now for these life saving plant medicines as a new paradigm in how we view and understand and treat mental health is upon us. Right in our own backyard, world renowned Massachusetts General985 Hospital has recognized this by989 opening the center for neuroscience psychedelics, their mission to render obsolete the term treatment resistant when it comes to mental health and addiction issues, a seemingly lofty goal that many will say is already achievable. Most importantly, I implore you to consider the stories you'll hear today of those whose lives have been transformed, and as you do, imagine a world free of psychological pain and suffering. Together, we can allow people to embrace the healing light that beckons them towards a life1017 of strength, resilience, and renewed purpose. Later this afternoon, you're going to hear from a number of people that we brought in in the1023 established law enforcement communities, medical professionals and others in the healing and clinical trials who are in testify later this afternoon and their stories are remarkable. I urge you to listen to them and give them some time. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Now you're up. Any questions from family? Centering.
SPEAKER2 - Great. Thank you so much. Chair day.
SEN ELDRIDGE - Thank you to the legislators for filing this Bill and your testimony. I just had two questions; first, I was curious if you could describe what are the sort of properties of psilocybin that provide this medical relief. And then if it were legalized, actually, how would it be sold? How would it be regulated if you will?
BOLDYGA - So I'm not going to speak to the properties, we do have medical professionals here that can speak to that. I'm obviously not a medical professional, we could call one of them up, or they could come up if one of them has knowledge and can speak to that, they're more than welcome to join us at the table. However, the Bills that we've all filed, this is not something that's going to be sold, this is not a commercialization of like cannabis for recreation, this is solely allowing people to use these plant medicines. They're actually even if our Bills were approved, people cannot1092 even sell them between one another, it's solely for personal use to experience some of these life saving compounds in these plant medicines.
JEHLEN - And just to be clear, that's intentional, people are not expecting to create an industry that will be profit making, it's very cheap right now, and it would hope to be continued to be available especially if there are additional barriers like there used to be and how people experienced when they had to have people on both sides of the line. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Mhmm.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Next, we'll welcome. I think I saw Senator Moran. Senator Moran still here. Perfect. Welcome center on s 1081. and act improving access to fentanyl test strips and other1152 drug checking equipment in s 1082, and act to ensure access to medical cannabis for visiting qualifying patients. Yes. And you're welcome.
SEN MORAN - SB 1081 - SB 1082 - Thank you very much, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, wonderful to see you on the Cape last evening and wonderful to feel like I'm back in Stoneham for a minute. I'm glad to be here today to talk briefly about two Bills. The first is Senate 1081, an act improving access to fentanyl test strips and the other drug checking equipment under that proposal, and the second is Senate 1082, an act to ensure access to medical cannabis for visiting qualifying patients. Senate 1081 would make it legal1197 statewide to possess drug checking equipment and a nominal amount of certain drugs for the purpose of checking the purity of those drugs. Drug checking can encompass various types of tests, including fentanyl test strips, and other rapid tests, liquid reagent tests, and thin layer chromatography kits.
More advanced drug testing methods require advanced equipment usually only available at a drug checking facility. The1225 less someone knows about a drug they plan to use, the greater the risk of suffering harm from it. Drug1231 checking enables people who use or someone on the person's behalf to analyze the substance for its drug composition, potency, and the presence of any unexpected substances. With that information, the person can lower the1245 risk of overdose both to themselves and others by adjusting drug use behavior or providing the results of a drug checking analysis to friends or acquaintances who obtain drugs from the same source. Unfortunately, current state and local laws prevent individuals from legally transporting small amounts of drugs to drug checking facilities for testing, which prevents a dangerous substance choice. Because of a lack of these widespread facilities, an individual may have to travel a few towns over to check a substance which increases the probability of arrest if this level of possession isn't legal throughout the state.
The Bill is supported by law enforcement groups, pharmaceutical companies, and harm reduction advocates. The reason for the Bill's wide advocacy net is that it's clear the Bill would save lives. The second Bill, 1082 would allow medical marijuana card1301 holders from other states to purchase limited amounts of medical marijuana in Massachusetts when visiting. Since medical marijuana was legalized by ballot referendum in Massachusetts in 2012, it's been used by numerous patients, including those under the age of 18 to treat a wide variety of conditions. Now that recreational marijuana is legal in the state, this Bill would apply more to those individuals under 18 or select others that may not be covered by recreational marijuana legalization. Various other states have enacted similar legislation, including Rhode Island, Maine, New Jersey. By creating medical marijuana reciprocity here in Massachusetts, the state will simultaneously encourage tourism by encouraging visitors to have proper medication they may need in Massachusetts. Thank you so much for this opportunity and I hope both of these Bills are looked on1358 favorably by the committee. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, senator. Any questions from the panel? Thank you very much.
Take a look at it.
Next welcome up, representative Zaros. to testify on h 1822 and act relative to fentanyl arrests, Tatiana's Law. Alright. Welcome.
REP XIARHOS - HB 1822 - HB 1826 - Thank you, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and to all my esteemed committee members. I am here to testify on an act relative to Fentanyl arrest, Tatiana's Law, and also another one quickly, an act relative to studying the establishment of a statewide registry of persons convicted of the sale or trafficking of class A drugs. Tatiana is my neighbor, this is her picture, she died at age 19 from a drug overdose. She took what she thought was a Percocet, but it was filled with fentanyl, and she died. Her father called me, and I'll1428 never forget that phone call. Her mother and father were so upset they had to leave their home and move to Florida because they couldn't live in the house. So I will submit written testimony to be more clear on what the two Bills do, but the first one is asking that if you're arrested for selling fentanyl that you are not bailed out. Currently, if you get arrested for selling fentanyl, you pay $40 and you walk out the door of the police station, I think we should make a difference when it comes to fentanyl based on all the deaths that are happening and tragedies like this one, and it's similar to violating restraining order.
When you do that in Massachusetts, you do not1475 get bailed until the judge sees you, so it'd be similar to that. On the other Bill, the registry Bill, I have a friend that's here, he's a Barnstable police officer, he will testify on that. In my last minute, I want to read to you what Tatiana's parents said to me for you basically to hear because they're in Florida. Two years ago, we lost our beautiful daughter Tatiana. We came to terms with God that nothing will ever bring her back. She was unique, caring, and a gentle soul. Collectively united, and altogether, we can help prevent these terrible tragedies that keep happening to our families because tomorrow it can be you, your child, your friend, or your family member, Today, we are asking help from our government, our judicial system to be more proactive in helping families like ours. Criminals, whose strive1536 to make a living on our loved ones should be charged with serious consequences and serve in jail for poisoning, not to be1546 let out on bail when it comes to drugs, specifically extremely deadly poison, fentanyl. Our court system, judges should be more compassionate and understanding towards parents, or any family member when it comes to courts and try to1562 help their loved one. So allow to advocate for them and do not deny our request like it happened to our child. We pray and hope deeply in our hearts that our daughter's name and story will help others to save lives. We miss Tatiana so very much every day. Thank you, Chair Day, and Chair Eldridge, I ask that you support favorably on those two SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Bills.
Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, rep. Before we1590 head out, prep any questions from the panel.
See you, Nana. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER13 - Yes, sir. Thank you. here.
SPEAKER1 - Now welcome up Senator Cream to testify on s 925 yeah. Excuse me. An act of stop mass shootings. Pardon1606 me, senator. And s 926, an act relative to fentanyl test tubes. Senator, welcome.
SEN CREEM - SB 925 - SB 926 - Thank you very much. Thank you, Chairs, Eldridge and Day. You know, as a member judiciary, I'm not always up here testifying, but both of these Bills are very important to me. The first one is Senate 926, an act relative to fentanyl test strips. All too often, people are overdosing when using cocaine, MDMA, ketamine or other drugs that unexpectedly contain fentanyl. Thankfully, there are fentanyl test strips that can save lives by helping people identify substances that are laced with deadly opioid and these strips often cost less than a dollar. Several communities in Massachusetts have sought to distribute fentanyl strips for public health purposes, but they are concerned that doing so might be illegal under current state law regarding drug paraphernalia. This Bill would clarify the legality of fentanyl strips so that municipal governments, health professionals, and other organizations can distribute them and save lives.
Most states have already taken this step as the fentanyl crisis has worsened around the country. States controlled by both political parties, bipartisan, have moved to legalize the test strips. At least 16 states have legalized fentanyl test strips since the start of 2022. Senate1692 926 also contains a good samaritan liability exemption. It ensures that anyone who provides and administers fentanyl strips in good faith is not subject to civil or criminal liability by doing so. We have enacted similar liability1709 protections for those administering Narcan. The Bill is a common sense harm reduction measure that will save lives, it came to me from the police chief in Newton who also would like to be able to distribute these. I hope it has a favorable recommendation.
The second Bill, I want to discuss Senate 925. And since I know that Chairman Day is going around the state, looking at gun issues, I think it's relevant that I just bring this to his attention in the event that someone else hasn't So I want to thank Representative Decker, my partner in the House who's been a tireless champion of these gun policies. Due to strong gun laws, including an existing ban on assault, weapons1757 and large capacity feeding devices, Massachusetts has the lowest rate of gun deaths of any state. But although we are leading the way when it comes protecting our own residents from gun violence, we are doing far worse when it comes to protecting our fellow Americans. We're saying, we care what you do here, but we don't care how many people die elsewhere, that's hard to believe. When gunmen killed 17 students and teachers in poplin, 12 moviegoers in Aurora and 14 Christmas revelers in San Bernardino, those tragedies didn't just reflect the failing, but those were guns made in Massachusetts. So I'm asking to say that if we can ban it here, we should ban the manufacturing because1804 we can't say, we can't kill people here with these guns, but you can do it elsewhere. We want to stop Mass shootings, and I ask that you give it1813 a favorable report. Thank you very1815 much for allowing me to testify. I'm happy to answer any questions, as a former Chair of judiciary, I know when that bell goes off. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Sunny.
SPEAKER15 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Any questions from your panel?
SPEAKER16 - Happy digits.
SPEAKER1 - Seeing that. Virtually, thanks so much for your testimony. We got we've rep Don Hu here. Is that okay, Don. You signed up to testify?
Alright. Let's go back there. Representative sorry. Senator Rausch, an s 1109.
SEN RAUSCH - SB 1109 - Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, distinguished members of the committee. I'm here to testify in favor of my Bill to repeal the criminalization of the blasphemy statute, which it is just this big, it's in one little paragraph on my phone, so that tells you how short it is. It is certainly religiously discriminatory, which is probably no surprise given how long1877 ago it was written. Also, probably every single one of us in this room has violated it at least multiple times, maybe even just this week, and according to the law that is still on the books, all of us who have denied God, cursed using the name of God, or reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, neither of whom are significant to me, for example, as a Jewish person, shall1910 be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than a year or by a fine of not more than $300 and may also be bound to good behavior, whatever that means. Anyway, it is long past time for us to repeal this statutes, it is long outdated, it's probably unconstitutional, most other states in the country have already done this, and I ask for a favorable report. Happy to1933 take any questions. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Senator. Any questions from the1937 panel?
Virtually, thank you very much. -Thank you.
Next, we recognize Senator Moore who's been with us virtually to testify an s 1071 and act to enhance courthouse security. Senator Moore.
SEN MOORE - SB 1071 - Thank you, Chairman Day, and thank you, Chairman Eldridge, and the members of the committee for taking me out of order. I'm here to seek your support for Senate 1071, enact to enhance courthouse security. I filed this legislation in partnership with the trial court to provide everyone with business before the court the safety they deserve during the administration of justice. You will also hear from a panel comprised of two distinguished members of the District Court, including the chief justice and the associate director of trial court security about the importance of this legislation. This Bill includes two changes to ensure that Massachusetts courthouses are as safe as possible. The first2005 is to formally bar any individual from carrying a firearm in a Massachusetts courthouse unless they are a law enforcement officer in the official performance of their duties. While this is currently a policy enforced in court houses across Massachusetts, it does not2023 exist in Massachusetts General Law.
Courthouses are essentially public spaces where the Commonwealth discharges some of its most significant duties in determining the guilt or innocence of an individual. Consequently, individuals are facing some of the most weighted moments of their lives, which can inflame passions and lead to rash decisions. It2050 is essential that we do everything we can to maintain the sanctity of these2054 space. By including this firearm being in the General Laws, we create a more effective deterrent and adequately punish those who would violate the public trust. The second change is a common sense change empowering court officers2068 to perform their duties to protect the public and court officers. Currently, their enforcement powers only exist within the court house, which does not recognize the reality of modern court proceedings or securities best practices. Section 2 of this Bill would extend these enforcement powers to the courthouse grounds into outside locations during remote proceedings. As we've seen in recent years, the court house systems have become a flashpoint for protests and occasionally violence. In fact, About 1000 miles South of Massachusetts, there is really concerns about the potential for violence during the arraignment proceedings for a certain former elected official.
Under Massachusetts law, court officers in the trial court would significantly be limited in their ability to respond and manage these unpredictable situations even if the danger had reached the courthouse steps. Remote proceedings are also an important part of judicial proceedings in some cases, judges, juries, witnesses, and lawyers are taken off-site to visit locations that can be adequately viewed or understood within the confines of the courthouse. At these remote proceedings, court offices are still the primary entity responsible for their safety in smooth functioning of the court's business, however, they are limited by law in how they can respond to disturbances that could arise. For all intents and purposes, these proceedings are as important and hallowed as any on courthouse grounds. In these cases, the judges' powers are exactly the same, the duties of the witnesses and the jury are exactly the same, but court officers are unable perform their duties because of how the current law is written. Expanding their powers in these two narrow circumstances will make proceedings safer both at the courthouse and beyond. I respectfully request that Senate 1071 be reported favorably so that it can continue through the legislative2199 process. Thank you, and happy to answer any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Senator. Any questions from the panel here? Any Berkeley? Nope. Senator, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
and I'll recognize also appearing virtually, and waiting is representative David Rogers, representative Rogers.
2225 Yes.2225 I agree with h 7236.
REP ROGERS - HB 1736 - Good to be with you, Chair2231 Day, Chair Eldridge, and members of the committee. Thank you for2235 this opportunity. As chair Day said, I'm here to discuss H 1736, an act decriminalizing fentanyl test strips. You've already heard from others including, I think, most recently Senator2250 Creem about this issue. You know, 93% of toxicology reports for overdose deaths show the presence of fentanyl, 93%, that's pretty jarring statistic. So we know that fentanyl is really the leading problem when it comes to our opioid overdose epidemic. Unfortunately, under current law, it's not clear that fentanyl test strips would be a legal and so my Bill seeks to decriminalize them. I think we've done some work on where law enforcement through a pilot program has access to the strips but the law is not sufficiently clear here in the Commonwealth, so we think it's important to decriminalize them. I think it's unlike so many of the Bills that come before you that are terribly complex. I think this is a pretty simple fix, it will be lifesaving. As you heard all around the country, a number of states have already done this, including in a bipartisan way, including states that are so called red states, conservative states, so I think we have a clear path forward, and the Biden White House has endorsed it, the center for disease control has endorsed it, so it's a very mainstream idea. We really need to save lives and protect those who use it. So let's do what we can to address the opioid overdose epidemic. I think this is one tool in the tool kit and I really appreciate you taking the time and appreciate the opportunity. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Mister Chairman. Any questions from the panel?
See you, none. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER20 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Now welcome up, senator Edward Kennedy, who I believe is coming up with district attorney, Marion Ryan, on s2372 1015 in Acro Hibbett And Gunfire directed at2376 dwelling houses. Senator2378 and just returning welcome.
SPEAKER21 - Right.
SPEAKER22 - Afternoon,
SEN KENNEDY - SB 1015 - Chair Eldridge, Chair Day, and members of the joint committee of the judiciary. I join with you today to ask for your support of Senate Bill 1015, an act prohibiting2405 gun fire directed at dwelling houses and urge the committee to2409 support the favorable passage of this legislation. Despite the successful measures taken to curb gang activity at both the state and local level, occasional acts of gun violence continue in many of our neighborhoods across the Commonwealth. In certain cases, ordinary citizens can find themselves in danger in the comfort of their own homes. For instance, according to the law police department during a recent five year span, there were 96 incidents involving firearms being discharged at homes in the city of Lowell. That's five years at 60 months 96, that's more than 1.5 times per month. While the issue of discharging firearms at homes weighs on the minds of residents across Commonwealth, particularly in our cities, Massachusetts law does not adequately prosecute those who have committed these crimes.
Currently, someone who buys a firearm in a residential area can be prosecuted for the misdemeanor of discharging the firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling. This charge is disproportionate to the severity of any incident which gunfire is directed at a home. Acts of this nature leave people living in a constant state of anxiety inside their own homes. As lawmakers, it is our duty to equip law enforcement officials and prosecutors with the means to protect the communities we all serve. This Bill creates a2498 new felony charge for intentionally striking a home with gunfire,2502 punishing those convicted of that crime for up to five years in prison. This is an important tool that will help the public safety and law enforcement officials disrupt gang violence and protect our neighborhoods. I appreciate the past support of these efforts, including in the last session, when the Bill was reported out favorably and sent to the House. It is my sincere hope that this legislation will continue to have that support, and I respectfully request that this Bill2534 receive a favorable report from this committee. Thank you for your time and your consideration of this matter.
MARIAN RYAN - MIDDLESEX COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY - SB 1015 - Thank you, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, I appreciate you allowing us to testify out of order. This is a Bill, which, as Senator Kennedy mentioned, has both the public safety and just a general neighborhood welfare impact. I think this is something that everybody already thinks is a crime. To give you an example of a case where we were left with prosecution alternatives that could have resulted in a maximum of 90 days sentence,2568 we2568 recently had a case where individuals, late at night, fired two rounds at a house. They apparently mistook that house for the home of somebody with whom they had a grudge, so it was the wrong house to begin with. We could not prove whether or not they knew people were in the house, which is one element we have to be able to prove to charge them with assault.
2590 One2590 round2590 went off the side of garage not causing any damage, so we couldn't charge them with any property crimes. The other bullet in something akin to almost a grassy knoll, amazingly, went through an open window, went diagonally straight through the house and out a door at the back of the house. Fortunately, not hitting anybody as it passed through there. Because they didn't hit anybody, we couldn't show that they knew there was somebody in the house, and they didn't cause significant property damage, we weren't able to charge them with a crime that would reflect the seriousness of what happened. For the folks living in that house who, first of all, were the mistaken target, 3 O'clock in the morning is no longer a safe time to have their children in bed in their homes. So I think given the good solid gun laws that have here in Massachusetts, this Bill would plug an unexpected lapse in our laws. I'd ask for a favorable report as well. I'm happy to take any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
thank you. Any questions from the panel? An issue, unfortunately, familiar to us on this committee. Seeing done virtually? Thank you very much. Thank
SPEAKER24 - you. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And I'll call you a triple panel on h 1568ands1071.
enact to enhance courthouse security and act to increase the safety of court houses. Welcome up district court chief Stacey Ponte Fortes. Chelsea court, 1st justice, Catherine Matera, and trial security associate director of compliance and investigations, Wayne McDaniels. Your honor's welcome.
SPEAKER25 - Gonna have Mister McDaniel start us off.
WAYNE MCDANIEL - MASSACHUSETTS TRIAL COURT COMPLIANCE AND INVESTIGATIONS - HB 1568 - SB 1071 - Chairman Day, Chairman Eldridge, members of the judiciary committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify concerning House Bill 1568, an act to increase the safety of court houses, and Senate Bill 1071, an act to enhance2708 courthouse security. I've been a member2712 of the security department for 30 years, and have also been in the uniform position for 30 years. Currently, I am the associate director of compliance and investigations and I handle administrative investigations that would obviously come up with issues that would necessitate you supporting these two Bills. Providing safety and security in our Court buildings is paramount to our mission, and the single2741 most important measure to provide safety in our courts is to prevent the introduction of weapons into the building by unauthorized purposes.
These Bills before this committee would create a criminal penalty for intentionally bringing firearm into a courthouse and creates an enhanced penalty for bringing a firearm into a courthouse with the intention of using it to commit a crime. They also contain language exempting from this prohibition,2766 law enforcement's performing their duties on official duties as well as posting a requirement that would provide notice prior to anyone entering a court facility, there'd be notification. And we do our very best to keep court users, judges, and our court employees safe, but in our efforts to keep guns out of court houses, the trial court can only rely upon, an administrative2789 prohibition policy that was issued on October 14th 2013, and that is just that, it's just a policy with no deterrent effect with criminal backing. By their very nature, courthouse operations and2805 the events connected to judicial proceedings and tailor heightened degree of risk.
Many who appear in our courts are facing life changing consequences and it is not unusual for acts of violence to be directed toward courts, its participants or the judiciary. Our judges have been targets of threats, harassment, and intimidating actions, and these numbers continue to grow each year. Assaults and disruptions in our court houses and in the areas surrounding are not uncommon. We have over 4 million people that come into our courts each and every day and our security department personnel stop over 16,000 prohibited items coming into our building. These Bills would enhance court house security and further increase court house security by creating a strong deterrent to any individual contemplating bringing a firearm into court helping to ensure an incident does not happen in our courthouse. If these provisions were enacted, Massachusetts would join 37 other states and the federal government in prohibited guns in our court houses. We respectfully request that this committee favorably reports these Bills, and I thank you all for the opportunity to testify before you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Mister Tien Tsin. Jonathan.
SPEAKER27 - Thank you, James.
STACEY FORTES - CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT - HB 1568 - SB 1071 - Chairman Day, Chairman Eldridge, and members of the judiciary committee, good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony here today on this important legislation. I want to thank Representative Hunt and Senator Moore for filing this legislation. My name is Stacey Fortes, and I'm the Chief Justice of the District Court. I began my present position in July of last year, I was appointed an associate justice of the District Court in 2006. My first seven years on the bench were in the Lynn District Court and from there, I spent eight years in the Lowell District Court, five of those as First Justice of that court. I mention my experience as a sitting judge because those are two busy urban courts. and the security challenges there were numerous for our court officers. During the course of the period of time that I sat there, court off there's prevented weapons, including firearms from entering our court doors. I also presided over a gun court in the Lynn District Court. As you know, the District Court is the largest court department in the trial court.
There are 62 courts across the Commonwealth and during my first year as Chief Justice, I've spent most of my time visiting all of those courts. My visits have reinforced what I experienced both Lynn and in Lowell and most of the time was spent in the old Herd Street courthouse before we moved to the new courthouse. While courthouse security infrastructure has improved in our courts, we still have a long way to go. With regard to cameras, panic buttons, there's poor lighting, and our screening areas are tight. Many of our buildings are old, and that presents significant challenge to our court office in terms of screening as3005 people are entering our3007 busy court houses. As you know,3009 the district courts are the first point of origin for most criminal cases. We deal with high profile arraignments and other violent offenses. I mentioned my period presiding over the gun court in Lynn because the court officers were often dealing with rival gang members.3026
Temperatures and emotions are high, our court officers have, on occasion, stopped multiple fights from starting in our court houses, they've saved lives, Narcan individuals who3039 have overdosed, dealing with medical conditions as well. They do an incredible job doing multiple3045 things, as well as keeping people safe but this Bill would be an important deterrent for preventing firearms from coming into our court houses and from tragedy from occurring. Mr. McDaniel provided you the recent data with regard to some of the conventions that have occurred by our court officers. He also spoke to you a little bit about judicial security, I just want to indicate how important that is, the threats to judges rise. Last week, we had a conference for all of our judges, I invited a colleague from Texas, Judge Casuric, who survived an assassination attempt. She was shot outside of her home but learned that she had been stopped to the courthouse but for the deterrence, that were in place there, she would have been killed at the courthouse. So, I join in this request and ask that you favorably report these Bills and I thank you for your time.
MATTHEW MACHERA - CHELSEA DISTRICT COURT - HB 1568 - SB 1071 - Chairman Day, Chairman Eldridge, nice to see you both again, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak. In addition to being the presiding Justice of the Chelsea District Court, I am the President of the Mass Judges Conference, where I have the honor of representing judges from all across the different court divisions, including probate family, which I'm sure you can imagine is probably the most emotional court as far as families. The biggest concern that I hear from my colleagues now is judicial security. You have heard the threat assessments that's been done by my colleague over here, those numbers have started to skyrocket, and3141 judges are not feeling safe from the time that they pull into the parking lot, from the time3145 that they leave at night. In addition to what the Chief has said with regard to lighting and other situations, this is a very well written and very common sense Bill that will put some teeth.
I just want to remind the members of this committee and the general public that don't know, our court offices are not armed, they do their duty, and they carry out their responsibilities without being armed. They're one of the few court houses around the country that don't have armed security in the building, and they do an incredible job keeping us safe. The work that they do constantly, and as Chief Justice Fortes talked about, those areas are always very small when entering into the courthouse. There's lines out the door almost every morning, especially in my court, which is also a very busy court. This is a common sense Bill, it's a good start. It's a very well written deterrent that I think is necessary to enhance the security and the well-being of not just the judges, but every employee that works in that building. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you all for your testimony. Any questions from members of the panel?
Thank you very much. We appreciate it all. Thank you, sir.
Now welcome up, Senator Patrick O'Connor, on s 1098,
SPEAKER16 - and
SPEAKER1 - act relative to GPS TAM.
SEN O'CONNOR - SB 1098 - SB 1095 - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Chairman Eldridge, members of the committee. Prior to speaking on this Bill, I would like to touch on another Bill for the committee as well today, which is S 1095, an act relative to drug induced homicide. Very briefly, given the three minute time frame, Massachusetts could join 23 other states as well as the District of Columbia and the federal government in putting in place a drug induced homicide Bill. The Bill that3264 we wrote took best practices from all of the 23 states, specifically modeled off of the Bill that came from former Governor Raimondi in Rhode Island and this addresses, I think, a lot of the issues that the Commonwealth may have with Rug induced homicide Bill. This does not look to aim to criminalize addiction, the specific cargoes to that, there's no minimum mandatory associated with this. We actually give the tools entirely to the judicial system, to the judge themselves to figure out whether or not the prosecution is worthy of that and what the sentencing should be.
Here with us today who you hear from is the Shea family3295 from Cituette, who took their tragedy of losing their son and came to me and asked to file this piece of legislation. I do think that it's very solidly grounded, and will give our law enforcement, specifically our district attorneys tools to go after mid to high level drug dealers that right now in our general laws, we have no path to actually go after. So should there be a death that occurs, there's no actual recourse that could happen if that drug dealer is a mid to high level drug dealer, not themselves struggling with substance disorder. To transition very quickly to Senate Bill 1098, I am honored to be alongside with my constituent Joe from Hingham whose advocacy on this specific issue has truly inspired me. The GPS monitoring devices right now in Massachusetts are currently a misdemeanor, we should join the states of California, Illinois, New York, and others to make sure that GPS tampering is a felony. The reasons why we should be doing this is because you GPS devices play a vital role for ensuring the safety of our communities and especially victims and survivors of domestic violence as well as vulnerable children who have been victims of sex crimes.
The individual tool that we give to law enforcements in our judicial system to monitor these individuals who pose a threat also deters them from committing crimes and also provides a semblance of security and safety to individuals who have been victimized. Right now, with our laws being as they are and this being a misdemeanor, and they're not being the tools in place to actually have individuals who are justice involved care enough about the consequences should they violate these laws, I think, is something that Massachusetts should change. I'm more than willing to work with the committee as far as what specific instances would trigger a felony violation. I'm more than willing to work with the committee on the potential of changing a minimum mandatory or understand how infrequent those are coming into play and how much we wanna be very proactive in the to space and give people second chances. However, I do think that we need to address this law because right now, we've seen dire consequences with those who have been asked to have a GPS device, who tamper with their GPS devices, we've seen in the Commonwealth murders, rapes, revictimization, stalking, kidnapping, the list goes on and on. This Bill will send a clear message that tampering which GPS devices will not be tolerated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
And with that, I turn it over to somebody who I call a friend and a a survivor and somebody who's done an amazing job in this space as well as other space with domestic violence. Joe for Magnum.
SPEAKER29 - Thank you, Senator.
JOELLE - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1095 - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Eldridge, Chair Day and the committee. Thank you, Senator O'Connor in joining for my safe plan advocate for your support while I navigated the Hingham Court system and begged for my protection. My name is Joe, I'm a mom, a sister friend nurse, and a survivor of domestic abuse. I come here today to advocate for3474 my life and the life of others who have been abused and being failed by the Massachusetts trial court system. I ask the committee to pass Senate Bill 1098 and protect victims by making it a felony to cut off a GPS bracelet. Survivors, advocates, family, and friends are here to share our stories and hope that you will listen and hear the realities of what goes on in our world of domestic violence and as elected officials with the power, you will help make much needed change and protect victims. Each time I plan to introduce myself as a survivor, I reflect I am one of the fortunate ones.
My physical abuse was not nearly as horrific as the stories of my peers. I also had the means to change locks, buy cameras, and I was greatly supported by the Hingham Police Department. However, my life has changed forever, as I will always live in fear of my abuser because our system empowered him rather than hold him accountable for his repeated behaviors because our system gave him three quaffs, no guilty findings, no punishment for cutting off the GPS. I was then denied a restraining order by a judge and I will paraphrase that he believed3547 my fear ran its course. I can assure you my fear increased when my abuser was allowed to cut off his GPS, the system put me more at risk by not holding my abuser accountable. Bracelets are given to offenders who have proven themselves to be an imminent threat to their victims but those brazen enough to cut off a GPS, there should be serious consequence, they are another chance not to go to jail.3574 My abuser hit me, he spit on me, he threatened the well-being of my3578 children, he had multiple probation violations, multiple restraining order violations, and then he cut off his GPS at Logan Airport.
He told probation, a TSA agent cut it off, and they accepted this bogus story. In fact, the chief probation officer told me they knew it was TSA because it was a clean-cut, and I quote, done with special scissors. Even after the director of security at TSA told them the story was ridiculous, my abuser was not given a violation. I fought for my safety, I begged for my protection, knowing now my abuser had control of the system, a system that disregarded my life. All I could think about was I must stay strong, and I must fight because I could not have my children lose their mom at the hands of this monster and this failing system. Eventually,3627 Commissioner Dolan staff issued a violation, but it meant nothing because, again, he went unpunished in the Hingham Court system. My abuser eventually admitted he cut off his GPS with pliers,3639 so no special scissors, he followed me 10 months later.3643 Please, stop giving abusers chance after chance after chance and give us a chance for safety. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Jeff, for sharing your story with us. Any questions from the.
SPEAKER2 - Thank you very much, Charity. I just wanted to say to Joe, and I know you also had the courage last session talk about this legislation, and we had the chance to meet last year. So thank you for your continued courage to tell your story, and senator Conner, thank you so much for filing so many bills around domestic violence. Really appreciate your leadership, and thank you for being such a great advocate for your constituents.
SPEAKER29 - Thank you. And along with Ciner O'Connor. I would be happy to be on any committee and do anything to help make victims safer. So
SPEAKER1 - --
SPEAKER5 - Thank you, ma'am.
SPEAKER1 - --
SPEAKER29 - please reach out anytime. Okay? Thank you.
SPEAKER7 - I just want to thank family for coming today. Not just for your own family, but for all the bands that are going through the same situations that we don't hear about.
SPEAKER30 - Mhmm.
SPEAKER7 - We don't hear those voices. So I thank you3708 for speaking up to them. Thank you through Saturday. I had heard about this issue in my own district, so I appreciate you bringing this on.
SPEAKER29 - Thank you. My peers are all in the booths here with their families. So I'm happy they came here, and they'll be speaking soon.
SPEAKER31 - Thank you. -- you go.
SPEAKER29 - We -- Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Before we let you go, Joe, we've got 1 question virtually as well. I think it's representatives representative Sullivan.
SPEAKER32 - k. For the 1. Thank you.
SPEAKER33 - Thank you, Mister Chairman. And can everyone hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Gotcha. Mhmm.
SPEAKER33 - And I apologize for not being there today.
REP SULLIVAN - Joe, thank you again for your testimony. I know you're not a stranger to this committee and other committees on speaking out on domestic violence and what you and your family had endured. I do have a question and maybe you touched on it and I missed it, however, when your abuser cut off his ankle bracelet and then gave that excuse about TSA, did the court order him again to put on another ankle bracelet? How is that being monitored? And then also the effects3770 of him cutting off the GPS, how did that affect, you know, in the moment? Did it3776 affect your work life? Did it affect a family life? Did you miss, you know, time at work? Did you lose money as far as this issue?
JOELLE - Hi, Alison, nice to see you. To start, yes, they did put a GPS bracelet back on him. As far as it affected us, again, I'm one of the fortunate ones, I had savings that I used, I stopped working. I then got a job as a Quincy Public School nurse, but when he followed me, I left that. As you know, a lot of victims can't go into court because they can't take the day off just like all the victims and the survivors and the families here today had to take today off, there's so many occasions that we can't do that. I was lucky and I had to go in and3824 out of Hingham court constantly to fight, to try to protect us.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I think I did I answer all your questions? I'm sorry if I missed3832 something.
SPEAKER33 - No. You did.3834 Thank you very much, and thank you, Sarah O'Connor.3836 Thank you, Chairman.
SPEAKER1 - Thanks, Jeff. Thank you. Thank you again.
SPEAKER29 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Appreciate it.
That would welcome up. on hh1452s925
in Act of Stock Mass shootings, Matthew Nugent.
Matthew Nugent, president?
Alright. We'll move on to h 1472 from representative Driscoll. and act relative to consanguinity as a defense to the crime of accessory after the fact. Welcome about Beth and Naomi.
SPEAKER24 - Okay.
SPEAKER34 - Bearing me today.
SPEAKER1 - If you would just move in that microphone, right, close to you, then we could
SPEAKER34 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Helpful. Thank you.
BETH NAOMI - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1472 - Thanks for hearing me. I hope my statement makes sense. It was difficult for me to write, but the older I get, one thing I'm sure of is that the world I live in does not make any sense3911 and that couldn't have rang truer for me on September 11th 2020, my son's life was taken and today's his birthday, I just need to add that, and that adds to the surreal life that I'm living these days. I should be celebrating with him, but instead, I'm here. A broken human being that took my son's life, has a brother, this is the reason why I'm here, and he got rid of evidence that significantly implicated her in my son's murder, my son, Cameron's murder. By law,3960 that is accessory after the3962 fact, and that's a pretty serious crime and this was not his first defense, so most likely, he would have done some jail time. But because my world makes no sense,3975 I realize I find out that there's a law in Massachusetts that states that if you are the blood relative of somebody that commits3984 a crime, connected to their crime, you aren't held accountable at all in any small way, you pay no consequences.
So, literally, this person gets3999 away with murder, if you think about it in that sense. But the sole reason he's a blood relative, which it just baffles me, this makes absolutely no common sense that this law exists. If anyone else commits the same crime in the same situation, they would be prosecuted, but this person walks away. In a just world, this would not be this way, criminals should not get away like this while honest and law abiding citizens are left in their wake, it just shouldn't happen this way. Common sense needs to be applied here, we have laws in place that keep people safe or that should keep people safe, there is that expectation. It stops chaos from occurring and if this law continues to exist that allows this person to be set free without any accountability, it creates an environment for the effect to be the exact opposite of that intent. We have a responsibility to change the way this law was written, we have a responsibility for the safety of everybody. It's just against common sense. Thank you for hearing me. I appreciate the time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Matt. I apologize for the coughing. Thank you very much. and and I'm very sorry for your loss -- Okay. -- especially not today. How to come forward to test fight. We shouldn't do much. Any questions from the members of the panel?
So even virtually, thank you again very much.
SPEAKER32 - Okay. Thanks.
SPEAKER1 - Pardon me.
Now, welcome up, Danielle Brandt on s 926 and act relative to retinal test strips. Danielle Brant.
DANIELLE BRANDT - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 926 - Thank you for allowing me to speak to that. Before I begin to introduce myself, I would like the community to remember this date and time; February 11th, 2023, at 3:25 PM. My name is Daniel Brandt, and I am 36 years4160 old, the widow of Ryan Brandt, who died of an accidental overdose of cocaine tainted with fentanyl at the age of 34. Ryan was an amazing, loving husband, son, uncle. Ryan struggled with addiction since his teenage years, and was constantly trying to seek both help for his addiction and mental health. When individuals think about addiction, they have this singular in mind this society4193 has created, and we're in the furthest think about now for her working professionals, well, for amazing careers and all for our families. What I've learned in the 13.5 years that Ryan and I were together is that addiction is truly a disease and the individuals and their families, so all the other tools to combat this horrible disease.
As I went through cancer treatments for breast cancer, my team made sure, and I had every tool available. But, yes, when it comes to addiction, we aren't using everything available. I knew what Narcan was, I've seen it used online, but not once, that any mental health professional police officer mental health for silly, a hospital mentioned fentanyl test strips to Ryan and I. We meet Narcan widely known and available, but we aren't doing it for fentanyl test strips. which can prevent the actual use of Narcan, and I simply do not understand those. Even if Ryan and I had known about these test strips, it wouldn't have mattered as only providers in the state of Massachusetts can order them. In other states, you can simply go on Amazon and have them delivered to your door. If there had been public knowledge, and accessibility to these strips, my amazing and loving husband would still be here today.
There are currently five Bills on the docket today for fentanyl test strips and I'm urging the committee to pass all five Bills. I do not want any other family to suffer this loss of an amazing person, fentanyl strips were simply not available. Do you all remember that date and time I mentioned in the beginning of my speech, February 11th, 2023, at 3:25, that was the day and time my husband was declared dead, and my world stopped. I urge you all here today to recognize how important these Bills are and help other family that's having to stay in time and breathe into our souls. Addiction does not discriminate and can impact anyone and any family. By passing these Bills, you will be potentially be saving your own family and friends. I urge you all today to pass these Bills and make a difference in someone else's life that can be changed as needed to help fight this opioid crisis. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for testimony, Sorry. Sorry for the loss.
SPEAKER32 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Questions from under the panel.
So then thank you very much for being such tuning.
I will close testimony and s 926. It also test 1h1472.
We'll move now to s 1082 in act to ensure access to medical cannabis for visiting qualifying patients. and welcome Ellen Brown to come forward. And I believe Grant Smith Ellis is joining you virtually as well.
ELLEN BROWN - UNITED STATES AIR FORCE VETERAN - SB 1082 - HB 1754 - SB 1009 - Esteemed members of the committee, thank you all so much for your time. My name is Ellen Brown, I'm the United States4377 Air Force veteran as well as a cannabis patient. I'm here today in support of S 1082, an act to ensure access to medical cannabis for visiting qualifying patients. As a medical patient, I know the importance of being able to visit a state and have access to their medical dispensaries, and if you're thinking yourself, well, Ellen, they can just go to the retail shops. I want to remind you that we're talking about patients products that only medical program provides. This includes things like transdermal patches, suppositories, for our medical patients. As Senator Sue Moran had mentioned, there is a pediatric population that we must always be mindful of as well as thinking about the fact that the medical program offers a financial hardship program.
So for patients that can't afford cannabis, maybe they're on a fixed income or a limited budget, they can have a sliding scale to make that4438 cannabis and those products more affordable as well as the medical program offers discounts that the adult use program simply does not, and these discounts are there to help patients that might be in need. For example, our veteran population, our elder population, 65 plus, our pediatric population, and first responders. The adult use program does not allow for these benefits, and I would like Massachusetts to join the states like Maine, Rhode Island, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan that all offer medical reciprocity, so I can go in, I can get the cannabis and the cannabis products that I need. As a medical patient, I know how important this is. As a veteran, I know how important this is for our veterans to be able to get the cannabis in cannabis products that they need.
Today, you have the opportunity to change and pass an amendment that should have happened back when the program first became initiated back in 2012. So just because we're late, doesn't mean that4496 we can't enact this change now. Today is the opportunity to make that4500 change that could benefit countless medical patients visiting the Commonwealth. Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. I would also like to express my support for H 1754, an act relative to plant medicine. As I mentioned, I am a United States Air Force veteran, our veteran population could use medicine that is plant based. So thinking about how we can get psilocybin for our veteran populations, I have never known a veteran to overdose on psilocybin, I've known countless veterans be lost 2 fentanyl opiates and everything that they're prescribed by the VA. So when it comes to our medical patients and when it comes to our veteran population, we can and must do better. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
That's fine.
SPEAKER3 - That's it. You guys will be here all night. Look it up.
SPEAKER1 - Grant Smith Ellis Welcome virtually. Miss Probranch, just hang on if you would. Thanks for your questions from now. Sure. Thanks.
SPEAKER36 - Thank you, Mister Chair. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - We've got your correct answer.
GRANT SMITH ELLIS - INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST - SB 1082 - HB 1754 - SB 1009 - Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to testify on this important4571 Bill. S 1082 would bring Massachusetts in line with a number of other states that have medical cannabis laws in regards to visiting patients from other states. My name is Grant Smith Ellis, I wear a bunch of hats, but most importantly, I broadcast every meeting of the State's Cannabis Control Commission dating back to 2018.4592 So I can tell you that the Cannabis4594 Control Commission has in place a regulatory rule right now that does allow certain visiting, qualifying patients from other states to4601 access the medical program. However, they have to have a terminal condition and it's extremely limited. This Bill would do what's right and align Massachusetts with every other state with medical cannabis, which is allow any patient with a medical cannabis card from another state to obtain cannabis through the medical program in Massachusetts.
It does one other thing, which I thought Ms. Brown testified to in a very erudite way, which is it doesn't just provide access to the commercial pathways provided for medical cannabis in the Commonwealth, it provides access to all the benefits of being a medical patient in the Commonwealth which also includes possession limits and things like that. So this is4642 really a Bill that puts patient health first, you're not going to hear anyone lobbyists4646 or otherwise up here advocating for this Bill because no one is going4651 to get paid to represent the interest of out of state vulnerable medical cannabis patients, but Ms. Brown, Senator Moran and others have done this out of the goodness of their heart and work to to advance this principle. I think it should be reported favorably, I think it's long overdue, the medical cannabis program and the Commonwealth goes back to 2012. There are a number of Bills simultaneously and in parallel being considered4675 by the joint cannabis policy committee, I think it makes a lot of sense to report this Bill favorably over to the joint cannabis policy committee, let them amalgamate it in a larger omnibus Bill just like S 3096 last year, and let's get some real work done on this issue. Like Ms. Brown said, I also echo my support for H 1754 and S 1009, access to plant medicine, incredibly important Bills that could do a lot of good. So, thank you, Mr. Chair, happy to answer any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Thank you both for your testimony. Any questions from members of the panel? Seeing none. Thank you both.
SPEAKER35 - Thank you very much.
SPEAKER1 - Also on s
4718 1082,4718 Lucas Thayer,
LUCAS THAYER - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1082 - HB 1563 - HB 1697 - Good afternoon, committee, Chairs, thank you for having us, thank you for discussing so many Bills all at once. I'm advocating in favor of the medical cannabis reciprocity. I grew up in Massachusetts, I went to high school here, graduated, then went to college in California, moved back when my4749 family needed me to move back but moving back to Massachusetts took a while, it took about two years to really become a Massachusetts resident from my California resident status. During that whole time, I was a California medical cannabis patient and4763 not allowed to access the Massachusetts medical cannabis program while I was4767 living in Massachusetts, but still transitioning my driver's license. That was a painful two years for me, living here in Mass, and trying to access cannabis without access the medical program. This was before the adult use stores were even a glimmer in our eyes, so it was a hardship.
Also, I'd like to remind you that we're a college town, on my way here4791 from the parking garage, I had to wade through an endless sea of college students4795 with credit cards in their pockets that would be happy to spend money at a medical store. Some of those college students are 18 to 21 or even under 18, they have medical cannabis cards from their states that they live in but if they're under 21, they're not allowed to access the adult use program. As my colleagues have mentioned, the taxes at the adult use stores, 20% are an undue burden for patients who are coming to college in this state or coming to vacation here or4822 coming to use the wonderful hospitals we have downtown in Boston. They need to be able to access the medical cannabis stores, not just the adult use cannabis stores. I'd also like you to support that deep verticalization of the medical cannabis program, it's not on your list of those here, but it's the one where you would allow someone to own a business as a cultivator, as a manufacturer, or as a retailer, and not be required to own all three. I'm in the license application process, I'm a tier 2 outdoor cultivator currently in the adult use program, and I would love to be able to offer services in the medical use program without having to have a retail operation or a manufacturing license. I'm also a social equity applicant you're supposedly supposed to give an advantage to social equity applicants.
I'll use my last few seconds here to support the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms, it's actually not my thing, but people who use it take a lot of great benefits from it and I think that those folks should be able to access it. I also believe that the commercial cannabis program should be able to start offering those psilocybin mushrooms. You're going to sit in there saying where are you going to get it? We need to be able to have a storefront system, so I'd like to have you amend the bill for that. Additionally, H 1563 is a violation of the constitutional4903 right to free speech, it's related to panhandling. H 1697 is a prohibition of energy drinks for young people that would create an illicit market for energy drinks for young people. Currently, young people can get vape pens into high school, they're going to be able to get energy drinks in the high school. It would add a product for people that already are happy to sell things to underage people. So I would oppose H 1563 and H 1697 and support the mushroom Bill and the medical cannabis reciprocity Bill. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Any questions? Any questions?
I've seen none. Thank you both, Thor. Thank you all. We'll now
accept a panel on h 1754. s 1009 and active relative to plant medicine, lieutenant Saco Gargarian, Doctor Franklin King, who's appearing virtually and chip the cube.
SPEAKER27 - So did you say in Chip? Yes.
Thank you. Good luck.
You want me to do the first4978 shift?
SPEAKER1 - Welcome, gentlemen.
Right now.
SERKO GREGORIAN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - SB 1009 - Thank you very much. I appreciate you all being here and giving me the chance to make a comment. My name is Serko Gregorian, I'm a police lieutenant and the founder of one of the first guardianship models of recovery oriented community policing in a country. What I'm about to say is truly my own thoughts. I'm also a psychotherapist. In my training, I experienced entheogenic compounds legally, medically and in research protocols to ensure I have a deep understanding of what these substances do. I am here to tell you that preventing access to these compounds by placing them on schedule one will go down in history as one of the greatest tragedies of our time. I hold a bachelor's of science in philosophy and religion, a master's of science in clinical mental health counseling, and I'm currently working on my doctorate in-depth psychology. I am also an advocate and activist for entheogenic plant, cacti and fungi compound removal from schedule one and adult access to these compounds without fear of criminal sanctions.
Schedule one is an unscientific, biased, and unjust labeling scheme that has done tremendous harm, that has stopped for decades and severely slowed down research into entheogenic compounds known to help push the most unshakable mental5060 and spiritual health challenges into remission. It has succeeded in5064 filling our prisons full of people of color for cannabis related crimes, it has succeeded at unleashing our police onto our civilians virtually ensuring people are arrested for consuming and communing with nature and natural entheogenic compounds. It has helped the pharmaceutical industry create highly addictive compounds of opioid medications which are labeled as medicines that are killing over a hundred thousand people a year while keeping the non addictive natural compounds listed as highly addictive harmful and with no known medical use, a tragic mistake. This scheme's time has come to an end, the public are aware of what has happened and we are entering an era of corrections for past mistakes.
Here are some of the known job hazards associated with police work. In our society, police officers are more likely to die by suicide by placing the barrel of their weapon in their own mouths and pulling the trigger than by attack on the street5117 by a civilian. We will absorb hundreds of critical incidents into our nervous systems over the course of our careers. One critical incident is enough to send a person's life sideways, imagine 100. We die five to 10 years after retirement, a full 10 to 20 years before our civilian counterparts yet we don't have access to nature and antigenic natural compounds and we can get sanctioned for using plants, cacti fungi for self care, therapeutic, or psycho spiritual religious practices. We can't drink psilocybin tea with our brothers and sisters, we can't micro dose for self care to stay well, we can't take a heroic to experience the profound mystical experience of ego dissolution, a primary driving force for the beneficial effects outlined in research after research article. Final note, what we do have access to is a depressant, which served at thousands of safe consumption sites bars and pubs across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts called alcohol. I am here to ask for your help to allow our law enforcement professionals, responders and civilians to have access to ethnogenic compounds without fear of sanction from the government. Thank you.
FRANKLIN KING - MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL - HB 1754 - SB 1009 - Hello. I'm doctor Franklin King, I am a psychiatrist at Mass General Hospital, but I'm speaking independently, not as a representative of my employer but I will tell you what I do for work. So one of my roles is a psychiatric researcher on psychedelics. I'm the director of training and education for Mass General Center for Neuroscience of psychedelics which we put together about three years ago and is a consortium of researchers across various different domains of medicine seeking to make the term treatment resistance obsolete in psychiatry through the use of psychedelic research. I also work clinically in the psychiatric emergency room at MGH, which is one of the busiest psychiatric ERs, probably in the country. I don't have numbers, but I know we're the busiest Northeast of New York. I've been working there since residency, I've watched the unfolding of the addiction crisis and the mental health crises, that's what I do, that's my job and that's why I'm interested in psychedelics. I have been following the research since medical school, I think it's very clear that they offer immense potential benefit for a variety of different conditions.
I also think that it's5266 very clear that the paradigms that are being used in research for medicalized psychedelics while they are going to be important for certain patient populations are never going to be accessible or fundable for the vast majority of people who need these things. These are going to be very expensive, and I do think there are going to be people who are going to need specific medical doctoral level professionals doing this therapy. But I think it's also very clear that not everybody5293 is going to require that, and5295 we're never going to have the money to5297 be able to afford to get this treatment into the hands of so many people who need them. So I think thinking now as we're sort of entering into this out of the dark ages when all this research was completely prohibited for 60 years, it's really going to be crucial to think about parallel ways that people are going to be able to access these things. I can speak to the fact that we know very clearly now that psychedelics are very low risk, they're way on the far end of the spectrum when you look at alcohol on the one hand, psychedelics on the other when you're talking about the to users, as well as the risk to the people in the orbit of the users, risk harm to others and self is very, very low.
They're medically safe,5336 it's almost impossible to overdose on any psychedelics, and it's biologically impossible to become addicted to them. So the legal structure that surrounds them is completely inaccurate and is not justified in any way. So I really think this is a good Bill, I think it's important as a way to get people access to these5358 things. Now I think the mental health crisis is5360 now the addiction crisis is now I'm fully in support of the FDA and regulatory process and sort of getting these medical treatments, but I don't think that should or ever can be the sole way that people are going to benefit from these things. So as somebody who grew up in Massachusetts, advancing ourselves to be a very progressive state, I think we have an opportunity with this Bill and fully support it. Thank you.
CHIP MCHUGH - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - SB 1009 - Good afternoon. Thank you very much for having me. My name is Chip McHugh, I'm a person in long term recovery from drugs and alcohol. I am celebrating 14 years right now of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. When I was in my fourth year sobriety, I was going through a lot of discontent, a lot of irritability, and a lot of things that I was shown may lead to my relapse and I was extremely concerned, I wanted to be sober. I started researching online for ways to step up my game, and I kept coming into information regarding the use of psychedelics. At first, I thought I'm a sober person, why would I take drugs to remain sober? I kind of blew it off, but as time went on, I came to the realization that I should have an open mind, and I should just do a little bit further investigating. Upon doing so, I5453 made a5455 decision to myself, it wasn't an easy decision that I was going to try this because I wanted to remain sober, I wanted my5464 life to keep improving.
I was 425466 when I got sober, and so I was very late5468 in the game. So that's what I did. I broke the law, I grew mushrooms in my home for my own use and the experiences that I had from them brought me closer to myself. They helped me to understand the traumas that I was struggling with. On my fourth experience about four months after I had grown the mushrooms, I had a profound experience that changed everything in my life, most of the traumas that I had acquired through my life were my relationship with my dad. This gave me an opportunity, I was under the influence of mushrooms, and I had these profound moments where the trauma was being released as I cried and came to an understanding of many hours that my dad was absolutely my hero, and I needed to do whatever I could to change my relationship with him. That we did, fortunately, I was able to change that relationship with my dad through that set of experiences. I think that more people will be served if these substances were made legal, and there was a possibility that people could use them without the stigma attached and I appreciate your time. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Mister McHugh. Any questions from members of the panel on5571 this?
See you, done. Thank you all.
SPEAKER27 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - We'll move to s 1095 and act relative to drug induced homicide, book a panel of Gregory and Alison Shea.
SPEAKER24 - Welcome. I see.
SPEAKER1 - Just drag that right over here.
Pull it up tight then. is.
GREGORY SHEA - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1095 - Chair Eldridge, Chairman Day, members of the committee, thank you for having us. My name is Gregory Shea, I'm here to speak in favor of Bill S 1095. I am here to speak in support of our frustration, frustration with a system that I felt let my family and myself down. A little over two years ago, February 21st, 2021 to be exact, we lost our son, Gregory. That morning started out like any other until Gregory didn't show up at the breakfast table. My wife, and I checked his bedroom with no luck, we then checked the family room, that's when we found, Gregory's blue lifeless body. Our son Shawn was also in the room at the time. Gregory was well beyond the point of any resuscitation. We were all in shock, how could this have happened to our baby? He was our youngest of five. The results of the autopsy determined that Gregory died of intentional, fentanyl poisoning. Although we lived in Situate, we found out that Gregory purchased the drugs that killed him in Hall.
We're actually able to determine who brought Gregory to the drug dealer to buy the drugs. We shared all this information with the Situate police. When a period of time had passed and nothing appeared to be getting done, I called the district attorney's office and that's why there was nothing being done. They said that they would have a police officer get in touch with me. I received a callback from a state trooper who explained5710 to me what actually turned out to be the same state trooper and the team to the house the day Gregory passed from the district attorney's office. He explained to me that with fentanyl, it's next to impossible to prosecute these cases the way the laws are written on Massachusetts, that there's just not a separate5731 law on the books that deals strictly with fentanyl.
So, as a result of that, hearing that devastating5742 news on top of already being devastated5744 by losing our son, we began to write letters to our state lawmakers5753 and we were lucky enough to get a response from Senator O'Connor who filed the Bill that's before you today. I'd like to have mention and I believe senator O'Connor already mentioned it as well, but 23 out of the 50 states have a drug induced homicide law on the book and in 2021, there were 2290 and 90 Fentanyl related homicides in Massachusetts, for the same time period, there was 71,000 across the country. We pray that you would act favorably on this Bill so that other families do not have suffer the same senseless life changing loss of a family member. Our son Gregory was outgoing, very passion able full life person, and we are determined that this death will not be in vain, and that's why we want to be here today.5810 Thank you for listening.
ALLISON SHEA - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1095 - Thanks to all of you for listening to us today and for your time and consideration. My name is Allison Shea, I'm a nurse. My greatest happiness is my five children, currently, four, one in heaven. We are here today just to support Senator O'Connor's Bill S 1095, an act related to drug induced homicide. The homicide epidemic in Massachusetts has disseminated our communities at high5855 rates. Our drug experts, they do amazing work, I agree with how we are combating substance use disorder but I feel there's more work to be done. As my husband said, we were very frustrated with the legal system and the response that we got with Gregory. The police had asked us for his electronics, and I agree to do that. However, I did not know that they would be using the information that I gave them as a tool justified higher level dealers.
They never once said that there would be no way that we could get justice for the person who intentionally poisoned my son and it wasn't intentional death, it was not a one5921 and done, it was intentionally done.5923 This Bill will give a lot of power to the judges on discretion on sentencing and prosecuting. Again, like Senator O'Connor said, we don't want to criminalize drug abuse, that's not why we're here. We're not here to talk about any other drug other than fentanyl and I think by enacting this Bill, it will save a lot of lives. I also think it's important that we pass this Bill, so no other parent, brother sister, family member, loved one, has to go through what we have and so many other parents have done. There's a lot of statistics out there, Massachusetts statistics as we know 90% to 94% of all drug induced deaths involve fentanyl for those who have had a talk screen, that's just for those who have had a talk screen. The age in Massachusetts is widening, the ages for drug induced death s we've had 200 the age of 15 to 77 years old, with the highest streets being 45 to 55.
The numbers for January 22 to September 22 was a total of 1340 deaths for the six month period.6030 Narcan6032 is a great drug but if somebody has overdosed from a cocaine, a fentanyl overdose, give Narcan anyway, but, you know, people need to know that there is a window that the patient may not be reversed. It's a lot of statistics, but because he's my son, I want to read just something that a friend of his wrote, just a couple of sentences. Have you ever met someone with sunlight radiated through6079 their chest, the warmth of their6081 soul reflected to all those around him, guiding us to grow towards the star we all reside under. That was the heart of Gregory, he believed that we are all intertwined, that our soles try on each other's shoes and walk around as SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
one.
That's just a little piece.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you both for sharing the story and and terribly sorry for your loss and and the loss you you're feeling again coming up to talk. Thank you. Appreciate it. Any questions from members of the panel before? Mister Shea, thank you very much.
SPEAKER41 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Also on 1095, Michael Durkin. Michael Durkin from?
Good afternoon.
SPEAKER40 - Yeah. I'm Thanks. I have with6134 me.
MICHAEL DURKIN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1095 - First off, I'd like to say I'm not a vigilante but I want vengeance. These are my girls, both of them taken for me in eight months by a deal, both of them fentanyl. Like, the state police said, just don't want heroin, it's all fentanyl. But the fact of the matter remains that here we are two years later, I had trackers on my youngest daughter's car, I had tracking software on her computer, I had access to her phone, she fought addiction for a number of6176 years. My oldest was simpatico to her, and6180 one night they took Xanax, and it was 55% fentanyl. My mission has been simply to, I see these people come and go in the court system but no follow-up. When I went and I applied for a dangerous this hearing on the guy who I was able to show to police would videotape, pictures plate numbers, his houses, his cars, his income, I documented everything, and I was able to show the police, the state police called me one night and said,6211 you know what? We think we're going to do something with your information.
They arrested him, it was almost two years ago. We've been in the court 19 times, and they still don't have an adjudication of his case. The last time we were in was three weeks ago, he's now decided that he's going to hire his own chemical expertise to check the weight of the fentanyl in his arrest. My point being as long as there's no accountability, one of the police when I first went two years ago said to me, well, we don't do that. He said, this is not what we do, we don't go after the little guys, we want the big guys. But I said, well, you have got to cut off the little guys, then the big guys don't survive if they don't have customers. Everybody I know from all of the meetings I go to and all the kids that have died and friends that I know and treatment centers I've been to, nobody's dealing with the big cheese, you're all dealing with somebody who's making money to support their own habits but that would stop if they got faced with the first part of this Bill is up to life in prison, doesn't say how much based on what.
The second part of the Bill with the commissioning and they have you know, I've got some issues with that, I think, really, they should reach in to the network of people and parents and survivors, grandparents who've gone through it and taken their kids and have some of those people on the panel who know what we're up against. I ask that you guys do the job that we can't do because we're not politicians. I have a friend of mine who's a lobbyist, he tells me it takes just 7000 Bills a year to get introduced, and it takes seven years to6314 get a Bill passed. If we wait seven years to get this Bill passed, there'll be another 700,000 deaths on our hand. I really think if we cut off the guys now who were dealing, put them in jail, hold them accountable, we'll have a much better society. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Mister Jerkin.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Mister Jerkin. Any questions coming through the panel? See you then? Sure. Thanks for your your testimony. Sorry for the losses as well. Alright.
That will close testimony in s 1095. We'll move to h1826 and act relative to studying the establishment of a statewide registry of persons convicted for the sale of trafficking and certain class a drugs and call on Michael Clark. Alright. It's Clark. Welcome.
MICHAEL CLARK - MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENT - HB 1826 - Thank you, Chairman Day, thank you, Chairman Eldridge, I appreciate you having me here today. My name is Michael Clark, I'm a lieutenant with the municipal police department. I'm in my 28th year with the department, and today, I'm here to speak in favor of and give my own personal thoughts on House Bill 1826, which was filed by my local Rep, Steven Xiarhos. As we all know what we've heard today, the heroin and fentanyl epidemic in Massachusetts claims countless lives each day between overdose deaths, deaths from years of reputed drug abuse, motor vehicle accidents, and homicides over the sale of6400 narcotics. This issue affects everyone in Massachusetts as our police and fire departments are stretched thin, courts are backed up, hospitals are overcrowded, and school officials are dealing with the effects of heroin and fentanyl on the students that they are entrusted to teach.
The dedicated members of federal, state, and local law6416 enforcement work hard each day to combat the issue,6418 and they all do amazing work. Task forces, narcotics units, undercover officers and uniformed officers on patrol are all working hard to make arrests and to take dangerous drug deals off the streets. Bar enforcement is fighting a tough battle, there is no6433 easy solution to this problem. As you've heard today, no one program or plan is gonna solve this issue, the solution has to be a multipronged approach. Information plays a vital role in law enforcement's ability to put away drug dealers. I would recommend that you support the establishment of a registry of persons convicted of dealing class A drugs as this would provide crucial information. For years, the Massachusetts sex offender registry has been effective in documenting where dangerous individuals who have been convicted of sex offenders are living and working. The sex offender registry has been an invaluable tool that has greatly enhanced our ability to monitor sex offenders and prevent them from committing similar crimes in the future.
This keeps everyone safer and the registry for heroin and fentanyl dealers who prey on the most vulnerable like some of the folks you've heard from today would also have a huge impact by requiring a person who is convicted of dealing class A drug to provide local law enforcement with their biographical information, their home address, their workplace, and a photograph, further, when an individual moves to a new town, they would be required to provide the police department with that same information. This would effectively limit their ability to slip into a new town undetected and continue to deal narcotics and prey on vulnerable individuals. The establishment of this registry could also be part of an alternative to incarceration plan for certain offenders as district attorneys could recommend and judges could implement a shorter sentence in prison that require persons convicted of dealing class A drugs to register and exchange for less prison time. In closing, there are countless benefits to a statewide registry of persons convicted of dealing class A drugs and I would ask everyone to support House Bill 1826, which would establish the special commission to make recommendations on this important issue. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, lieutenant. Any questions?
And then thank you, John. I appreciate your testimony. That will close test run h 1826 for those who signed up as well. Yeah. Move on to h 1693 and act relative to felony threshold. for multiple theft offenses. Welcome Ryan Carney looking forward.
SPEAKER16 - Oh,
RYAN KEARNEY - RETAILERS ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS - HB 1693 - HB 1443 - Chairman Day, Chairman Eldridge, members of the committee. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Ryan Kearney, I am General Counsel, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, and I'm here in support of House 1693. In 2018, the criminal justice reform legislation that was passed by this institution increased the felony threshold certain crimes from $250 to $1200. This Bill would allow that felony threshold to be met through the aggregation of multiple thefts committed during a six month period by an individual. The goal here is to provide retailers, law enforcement, and prosecutors an additional tool to address theft carried out by repeat offenders and professional criminals, and in doing so, bringing Massachusetts criminal code in line with the rest of the country regarding repeat offenders. US Retailers report $94,500,000,000 in external theft in 2001, that's up $3,700,000,000 over 2020. In Massachusetts, the estimated value of stolen merchandise annually is $1,250,000,000, which translates into over $78,000,000 lost sales tax.
In addition to the economic impacts to businesses and state, these thefts also result in higher prices to honest consumers. and creates public safety issues as theft incidents have been found to become increasingly more violent towards not only consumers, but also to staff in the stores. The proceeds from these6661 criminal activities have also been found to6663 fund other criminal activities, including6665 drug trafficking, arms dealing, and in some instances, terrorism overseas. The majority of these losses are attributed to repeat offenders in professional crime rings who see low risk, high reward because of our weak criminal codes and our lack of prosecution. The prosecutorial policy that I've found in talking to my partners in the DA's office in law enforcement and retail loss prevention is that prosecution is not going to be brought unless the value of the merchandise sees the felony threshold of $1200 or the incident involves repeat offenders.6699 Unfortunately, the bad actors that are doing this professionally are aware of this and they purposely steal in quantities they're below that threshold to avoid prosecution and the resulting lack of criminal record then diminishes the ability of prosecutors to identify repeat offenders for prosecution.
Recognizing this issue of repeat offenders, the majority of states have adopted some threshold exception, either a lower felony threshold for individuals or priors or the threshold to be met through6727 aggregation through multiple offenses. Similar protection just simply do not exist in Massachusetts law, all are treated the same regardless of whether it's their first time stealing, their second time, their fifth or their 25th. To be clear, there's no desire6740 on behalf of the industry to6742 see first time offenders or youth that are misguided to be labeled a felon, however, for professional criminals and repeat offenders, we'll make a cautious decision to habitually break our laws. Massachusetts must maintain a meaningful statutory determinant to curb such actions. Ram believes that this legislation would go a long way in providing such a turn and we have to support House 1693. We'd also like to voice support for House 1443, which would allow for the crime of organized retail crime to be charged with the misdemeanor. It just gives prosecutors another opportunity, another tool in their toolbox to fight this epidemic SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
excuse me.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, counsel. Any questions,
any nonversely? test test 1. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER42 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. That'll close test 1 h 1693 and h 1443. Move now to s 1098. and act relative to GPS tampering, and welcome up a panel, Sarah Maly, Tedra Newton, and Tara Hutau. Okay.
SARAH MALY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Eldridge, Chair Day, members of the committee. My name is Sarah, and I'm here today in favor of S 1098. I6829 am a domestic violence survivor, also6831 an advocate. The GPS was meant to provide structure, control, and accountability of offenders, providing an extra layer of supervision with the goal of enhancing public safety and the community. It was established in 2001 fast forward 20 plus years, and it still hasn't come close to providing those things for survivors in the Commonwealth. My abuser has a lengthy violent criminal history, one of those crimes includes escape, escaping prison transport shackled and handcuffed enroute to a max prison for the charge of kidnapping. He went away for four plus years. and if someone who has no fear of consequences can escape armed guards. I ask myself, why should this person be eligible despite being a flight risk?
Someone with a 130 charges, a 100 of them being violent, a lot of them being against myself. GPS is not keeping my children, the public, or myself safe. If my abuser knows removing it is not a chargeable offense, it's a violation of the rules and the contract he signed when being released from prison to begin with. When being released from prison, he violated superior probation by leaving Massachusetts, letting his bracelet die twice, failure to complete the batter's intervention course, failed drug test. His probation officers, one of them said, the defendant does not abide by any conditions. and keeps being reprobated. They probation6920 officers kept requesting he be remanded, and for some reason, he wasn't. Was anyone considering the safety of myself or my kids with 40 plus violations of a restraining order that I've also gone with the prosecution for this which put my life at risk either way. So I'm here today because either way, this is a life sentence for me. I might as well talk about what's important for us because I know I didn't do anything to deserve the type of abuse and stalking that comes6950 at the hands of trying to break up someone who it's an unsuccessful6953 breakup.
The message received to my kids6957 were the system prioritizes my freedom over6961 your safety. I am not unique, this isn't just my story. Someone that learns from past and changes is accountable, someone that cuts off the GPS repeatedly with no judicial accountability, no oversight, no consequences, is empowered. Making a felony two years is a step towards that purpose. For 22 years, this has not6981 gotten better, this is not a relationship problem, this isn't a political problem, this is everybody's problem. We are going to continue to be openly hunted by these men. Not every survivor grew up with family violence. I was raised by a single dad who raised me with morals and integrity. He raised me to be brave, not silent. Survivors do not come forward because we are hiding, afraid, and we don't want conflict. Safety is a basic human right that, unfortunately, if you were the victim of a crime, you are no longer afforded. Please help us to live two years for someone's choice to remove a GPS, they're not doing so because they want to go soak in a bath, they are doing so because they have ill intentions and they don't follow the law. Thank you so much7037 for the opportunity to speak. I appreciate it.
DEIDRA NEWTON - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge and the committee. My name is Deidra, and I'm here to testify in favor of Senate Bill's 1098, an act relative to GPS tampering. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, but what pushed me to come speak today in a setting like this for the first time was watching7065 my best friend endure years of repeated physical, mental, emotional abuse at the hands of7071 someone that she once loved, trusted, and shared a child with. Her abuser had an absolutely appalling and extremely violent criminal record. I attempted to help her organize the numerous court dockets, police records and restraining order just involving herself as the victim, but it was7086 overwhelming and almost impossible as it7088 spanned across at least three different counties and that was just what was recorded in an approximate two to three year time period. Her abuser had charges as serious as murder, kidnapping, strangulation, and suffocation, assaulting his own lawyer and court officials, multiple assault charges, multiple abuse prevention order violations, and was clearly a danger to her as well as the general public and should not have been a candidate for the GPS bracelet.
He was constantly granted this privilege time and time again, and time and time again, he reoffended once back out in the community, either tampering with or removing his GPS bracelet or just keeping it on while he knowingly violated the restraining order my friend had in place by constantly stalking and harassing her at her residence. I lived with her for a period of time and watched these abuses escalate into threats of violence that we both knew were not empty. I watch your ask for help from every source available, only to hit roadblocks at every turn. We realized that the full burden of ensuring our own safety as well as her child safety fell completely into our hands. We lived in constant fear with paranoia growing with every passing day, not even knowing if he was still in custody or released back into the community yet again. Even though I have a child of my own, I put my own life at risk by living with my friend knowing that it was the only thing increasing the chances of her child and herself surviving an interaction with her abuser.
We knew it was a matter of when, not if, he would appear and he did, and it was violent. We live with the results of the though. the hypervigilance doesn't leave, the thoughts and self reminders that you can never let your guard down, not even for a second, or as incessant as our abuser's7191 actions and harassment. Passing this Bill would enforce harsher punishments for those who would willingly choose to tamper with, and destruct property of the Commonwealth would be so helpful in so many ways. Making a mandatory minimum sentence of two years and a felony charge would give victims time to gain7207 normalcy in their lives back, to relocate, times gains back financial independence, time to heal, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, clapping this adequate time and the much needed peace of mind that our abusers are being held accountable for their actions would allow victims to better work with the agencies and people we want to place our faith in and take advantage of resources provided7229 to us. Finally, tampering with a GPS bracelet is a serious crime and can ultimately bring serious consequences to victims that just want to feel safe and put communities at risk, which is why I'm asking you to pass this legislation through committee. Thank you for your time.
TARA - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and the committee. My name is Tara, I am a survivor of domestic violence. I am here today to testify in favor of Senate Bill 1098, an act relative to GPS tampering. My7267 abuser was put on the GPS bracelet after abusing three women in the same year. He has over 100 violent charges on his record. While he was on his GPS bracelet, he tampered with it, breaking it, and was not trackable for 24 hours. The GPS tracking company called his cell phone, ordered me to stay with him until he was able to go to the police department the next day to have it replaced. They called my cell phone once through the night, and then the next day to make sure I was still with him. I could not tell them I was being abused the whole time. He was not charged with tampering or destroying the property, it was just simply replaced.
He was not charged with violation of probation, absolutely nothing happened to him. The only one that7318 paid the price for the tampering of the GPS bracelet was me being ordered to stay with him and being abused the whole time. I can tell you when I was away from him, and he had the GPS bracelet on, that for me, I'm sure, as for other victims, the GPS bracelet provides a peace of mind and relief from harassment and abuse. It allows us to live somewhat a normal life. Defendants who are ordered to wear a GPS bracelet should take the time to rebuild their lives, stay away from victims, look for work, rebuild relationships with other family members and friends, return to school and try to function normally in society. If they cannot and they make a choice, they decide to make that choice to cut off and remove or damage the GPS bracelet, and they decide to commit a crime or go after the victim7370 they're ordered to stay away from or they have seek out another victim, there should be serious consequences associated with GPS tampering and the choices they have made.
We need defendants to understand and know there are consequences for their actions, that damaging property that belongs to the Commonwealth just like any other destruction of property is a crime. As victims and survivors, we just want to be safe, we want to be protected by the Commonwealth, we want to live a normal life or somewhat normal. Many of us have children, and we want them to feel safe. I will never forget my daughter's face when I walk from one of his many violent attacks, she was 11 years old and she was horrified, she didn't recognize me, she was shaking in fear and didn't know what to do. Her mother that was supposed to keep her safe couldn't even keep herself safe. We want to live without fear, assaults, ambush, vandalism, beyond our controlling abusers, we do not want to be killed. It is something people take for granted, but victims cannot.
During his trial, he took a plea deal, he was sentenced to eight years and he outburst when he heard that if he comes back for us and he reoffends, he'll get 15 years. My parole hearing is next month, July, he could possibly get out, and I know he's coming. I pray and hope he has a GPS bracelet as part of his release conditions, but what I pray for even more is if he makes a choice to tamper with it, it will be a felony. Who knows this may be my last7472 recorded testimony, that is my reality. I take his threats and promises seriously, he always makes good on his promises, I hope you do too. Give me the time to speak, I am doing my best to keep me and my family safe. I truly hope and pray the Commonwealth will do the same. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you all for your testimony for sharing your stories with us. Any7497 questions?
See you now. Thank you all very much.
Same to you. I'll now call a panel for the women's Resource And Advocacy Center, Ke Jordan, Catherine, and Tiana.
SPEAKER46 - Good afternoon. Thank you to chair day.
JORDAN PENNEY - SOUTH SHORE RESOURCE AND ADVOCACY CENTER - SB 1098 - Thank you to Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and the committee for taking the time to hear us. My name is Jordan, I am testifying in support of Bill 1098. GPS bracelets are saved for those offenders. The crime of crimes necessitating the need for a GPS bracelet usually demonstrate a pattern of physical abuse, violations of intervention or accommodation of the two. Ultimately, this offender has proven that they can't be trusted to stay away from their victim and therefore require monitoring. The issuance of a bracelet gives victims a false sense of7564 security, and I use the heart of false deliberately as a punishment for destroying or tampering the device essentially non existent. This not only leaves them vibrant and in a vulnerable position, but it also sends the message that our safety is fleeting and not a priority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I have worked in the course the past 10 years. I've seen first and half of the justice award rates and continuum of inconsistency. There are abusers who are being dangerous enough to necessitate a monitoring device yet somehow, same offenders do not warrant serious consequences when they temper or destroy them at the device. I saw that very oxymoron play out in Joe's case as demonstrated by your testimony earlier today. Making the tampering of GPS monitoring device, a felony is constant movement towards holding offenders accountable and keeping survivors safe. Respectfully request a favorable report Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Jordan. We'll also ask if you could send that into the written testimony, and you were breaking up a little bit. Oh, sure. If you could send that across, that'd be terrific.
SPEAKER46 - Yes. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Yeah. Is Kath Catherine as well?
SPEAKER47 - Yes. Hi.
KATHERINE REDELK - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and honorable members of the committee. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my story. For those who have already listened, I thank you for your continued attention and effort to protect our community. My name is Katherine Redelk, and I am the daughter of a fearlessly independent, unforgivably strong woman. I'm also the daughter of a victim of domestic violence. I'm speaking to you today to share my experience with the hopes that no child ever witnesses their parent go through the same emotional and physical abuse that I witnessed my mother's survive. You have the power to save the next generation of children in Massachusetts from the harsh reality I once knew. Today, I ask you to be the reason why survivors are empowered and protected.
But more than that, today, I ask you be the reason why no other child ever has to tell a story like mine or much, much worse. I share this with you not for sympathy, but as a7705 plea for action, specifically for those who do not have the privilege to safely advocate for themselves. It's midnight, and I wake up to7714 the sound of my mom's body hitting a hardwood floor, the most unsettling part of my story is that amidst a deep sleep, I knew immediately what had happened. That night, I went to sleep anxious that tonight could be the night that her abuser crosses an irreversible line. My cloudy thoughts were sharply interrupted by the loudest I've ever heard my mother scream. Katherine called 911 as she sprinted up to my bedroom for safety. I thank God every day7743 that I was around to barricade the door with my body as her abuser screamed relentlessly, his rage unyielding. I cannot begin to imagine what might have happened had I not been there to protect my mother, but that is what's wrong with this whole story. A child should not have to protect their mother, but you can.
That night, I drove my mom to get an emergency 24 hour restraining order. As her battle for legal protection began, we were incredibly fortunate to have the privileges that protected us. I had a car to take my mother to safety, I had7780 the educational background to understand the warning signs of abuse and to be astute to the imminent threat that my mother's abuser possessed. Many victims do not. I had two grown brothers who, for many weeks, were the only reason I could sleep through the night. We had an alarm system and a home with newly locked doors to protect us, many victims do not. But when my mom's abuser cut off his GPS bracelet, he faced no repercussions, when he lied saying a TSA agent cut it off, there were again no repercussions, he committed multiple offenses after cutting off his GPS bracelet with only minor slaps on the wrist. My family was incredibly lucky to have the means to fight back against a system that was working against us, I implore you to consider those who not have the same privileges. They are silenced and they are threatened as we speak. Please be the voice that defends them. Please support Senate Bill 1098. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Katherine, for your testimony. Any questions from members of the panel? Seeing on captain. Thank you. Again,
Tiana as well.7855 Tiana here.
South Shore Women's Resource Network And Advocacy Center.
Alright. we'll move to Tammy Becker?
SPEAKER24 - Thank
you.
SPEAKER1 - Karen Fabricio.
Karen here virtually?
SPEAKER16 - Whoops.
SPEAKER41 - Hello? I'm sorry. Can you hear
SPEAKER1 - me? Welcome.
SPEAKER41 - Oh, thank you. Okay.
KAREN FABRIZIO - SOUTH SHORE RESOURCE AND ADVOCACY CENTER - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Eldridge, Chair Day, members of7902 the judiciary committee. I am here on Bill S 1098, an act relative to GPS monitoring. I highly agree with Senator O'Connor as a high risk domestic violence advocate and coordinator of she is a homicide program. I'm here to ask that you support this Bill. This should absolutely be a felony, and here's why. I see the worst of the worst with my position. I work with victims that have been abused by strangulation, kidnapping, rape, stabbings, beatings, which often result in disabilities or death, their lives change forever. However, the perpetrator moves on with his wholesome life and moves on with very little consequences in the glory of it. The glory is the consequences, they are slim to none and that's why I repeat the offenders are getting away with murder. If there were strict consequences and accountability for the tampering of GPS, then maybe, and hopefully, we can have a safer and more better life for women, children, and families.
Please think about what an assault from an abuser looks like to a child. How do we protect the children if their moms are not safe? How do we restructure women's life if their life is not safe and should be in a positive way other than hiding and7989 being scared. That's not positive. I ask the committee to please7995 vote favorably on this. I will also ask you to hold those on gun and drug charges which are a huge part of the crimes that are driven that hold very little accountability. I feel with the drug and gun charges, they are also held with GPS oftentimes, but when they cut it off, there is no accountability. These abusers are violent and will stop at nothing. I thank you for your time and hope that the trust I have in our system and committees will vote favorably and hold them accountable. Please use your power and take away the power from the abusers. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony, Karen.
SPEAKER41 - Thank you.8041
SPEAKER1 - See no question. Thank you. I'll now call Frank Frederickson from the return order of police up.
FRANK FREDERICKSON - FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE - SB 1098 - HB 1788 - Good afternoon, Chairman Day, Senator Eldridge. I'm here before you representing the Massachusetts fraternal police. I'm also the retired police Chief in Yarmouth after serving for 43 years, and I'm also the husband of a wife who's a victim of a serial rapist. So speaking on behalf of Senate Bill 1098, you've heard the stories from victims themselves and the fear that they live through, so I can't say much more than that on their fear, but what they can do is help you understand that Law enforcement needs tools to enforce the cutting off of a GPS, and this Bill addresses it. I've read the Bill, I think it needs a little bit of work to make it right, I'm willing to be part of the solution to help you work through this if that be, But I know you have a great staff that can get that done, and we're through the legal technicalities of it.
But I urge you very much to support this bill. I am additionally here to support House Bill's 1788, an act relative to false reporting of an emergency, otherwise known as swatting. That is a significant issue that has been an uptick across communities, especially in this day and age when we respond to many serious calls such as school shootings, domestic violence, workplace violence, all types of calls that require a heightened response. What is happening now is people are calling in those types of calls, but they're false. Officers are gearing up to give the appropriate response to take care of whatever prompts them and it can put Jeopardy in responding. It puts Jeopardy for innocent people who are called to that. We had an incidence where it was called to a restaurant indicating that8182 an employee was holding people hostage with a gun in the back of the room that was8188 called in by a customer who didn't get a good meal, and that's where we've come and there's really no way to get justice, other than the way this is written. I really like the way it's written, it gives an opportunity for some accountability, as well as some ways to attack the callers financially. So I thank you very much for listening to SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
me.
I know you had a long day, and I'll offer any questioning if you Hey, big.
SPEAKER1 - Hey, Mister Brooks. Any questions from the panel? Firstly, thank you very much.
SPEAKER48 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - I'll now call Jennifer Manning, also an s 1098.
Welcome.
SPEAKER30 - Hello,
JENNIFER MANNING - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Hello, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and committee members. My name is Jen Manning, and I live in Hingham, Mass. I'm here to express my support for the Senate Bill 1098. As a friend of Joel's, a survivor of domestic violence, I agree that Commonwealth should enact this Bill, it will hold abusers, rapists, and other offenders accountable, and protect victims, and the community. GPS devices are an alternative to jail in a privilege, therefore, cutting or tampering with them should be a serious offense. Massachusetts needs8283 to step up and provide better protection for its people. Please8287 pass this legislation through the8289 committee and thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, miss Manavir. Just mind8293 pardon me. Any questions from the committee? Seeing on thank -- Thank you. -- for your patience and testimony.
We'll call virtually Doty Adkins Perry.
Yep. So present particular channel unmute.
SPEAKER3 - else. Yeah. It's a character.
SPEAKER1 - Yeah. We'll we'll get back to That comparison. Get that out.8394 Next would be Laura Bonetski Joseph. Welcome.
Good afternoon.
8409 SPEAKER498409 -8409 rep8409 day, rep Village. I know it's been a long day. We've heard a lot of testimony.
LAURA BENESKI JOSEPH - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - My name is Laura Beneski Joseph, I am originally from Hingham, I am a victim of domestic violence and for the last 15, almost 20 years, I've also been an advocate. I am a domestic violence author, I'm a domestic8434 violence speaker, I'm a domestic violence podcaster. I've worked very hard over the years working both with federal organizations and state, trying to change various legislation for and against. This Bill, the 1098 Bill, is a no brainer. Over the years when we look at domestic violence, especially in recent years with all the political hoopla, yet, victims of domestic violence and violence in itself has skyrocketed. Since the pandemic, domestic violence has increased 33%. The domestic violence organizations and services are8493 already underfunded. There were 408 homicides or if we call them familiar, I call them familiar sides, 91 were committed by men, 88% were with a gun, 70% included a history of domestic violence.
Only 25% were those victims including a prior domestic violence arrest. As we've heard earlier, having a GPS bracelet, if you were having that on, you are a danger to the community, it is that simple. The number one8538 cause of death in children in this country right now is homicide, the root cause of every Mass shooting in this country is domestic violence that went unvetted. With all these loopholes like cutting off the GPS bracelet, there is a connection. I encourage you to do a Google search on how to cut off a GPS ankle bracelet and what's the consequence? It will be mind boggling, these people who have a GPS bracelet on are8576 Google searching on how to cut it off and get away with it. That ought to be very telling to you of the state of where we are at. When we have people that8587 are afraid for their lives, children, if you look at the eight studies, it is very systemic, it goes to the cost. I will just end with this; the economic burden of not addressing this nationally is $3,600,000,000,000, that's just the economic burden. Because as you heard from survivors, there is a domino effect by not addressing this. I please encourage you and employ you to please pass this Bill. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
you for your testimony.
So you have no questions. Thank you. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER40 - I'm dead
SPEAKER1 - on the cold here.
Next, we'll hear from Taylor Walsh and Joshua Casino.
TAYLOR WALSH - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge8652 and the committee. My name is Taylor Walsh, and I am 27 years old. I'm a mother,8658 I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, and I'm a friend, and I'm a survivor of domestic violence. I am here today to testify in favor of Senate Bill 1098. I'd also like to thank my friend Joelle Riedel for her devotion to protect domestic violence survivors and make this bill become a law. As a survivor of domestic violence, it8685 is crucial to my safety, to my four year old daughter's safety, to my friends, and my family's safety, and to the community safety that this Bill passes and becomes a law that holds abusers, rapists, and criminals accountable, and to protect the victims and the community. Massachusetts needs to do a better job and protect our people. A GPS device is a privilege and an alternative to jail, cutting it off and tampering with a GPS monitor should be a serious crime.
Barely a probation violation is a slap on the wrist once again to a repeated offender. My life8724 and my daughter's life is worth worth more than that. Please protect my daughter, myself, and the community. My abuser plead guilty to 10 felonies, four were assault and battery, two were assault and battery of the dangerous weapon. I am the victim to all the charges. If went to trial, the ADA was asking for 10 years, the end resolution was 18 month probation with a GPS monitor. I am in fear because if my abuser cuts off his GPS monitor, I have no protection, and neither does my four year old daughter. I ask you to please pass this legislation through a committee and please hold abusers, rapists, and criminals accountable, and protect the victims and the community. I respectfully thank you for your time.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Good afternoon. Definitely, Travelodge,8782 rest of the committee. My name is Joshua Casino, and I've been sent you to Massachusetts. I'm here in support today,8788 Taylor Walsh, and in favor of a percent of the thing I need.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you both for testing.
SPEAKER16 - Next to move virtually
SPEAKER1 - to Elizabeth Heinberg?
ELIZABETH HERNBERG - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Good afternoon. Chair Day in Cher Aldridge and members of the joint committee of the judiciary8818 My name is Elizabeth Hernberg, and I live in Hingham, Massachusetts. Thank you for hearing my testimony in favor of Bill number 1098. I'm also a friend of Joe's and have watched this strong intelligent woman go from being attacked and in constant fear of her abuser to being relieved and really almost at peace when he was outfitted with a GPS, which protected her and her household from him. She was at last comfortable in her own home but this was short lived as the fear was replaced again with living in constant concern, anxiety when she learned that, he was able to remove his GPS and cross the boundaries that the state had rightfully set up to protect her. Now I work in technology, and I believe technology is a good thing, it8868 can8868 work in this situation with a GPS as it replaces a jail cell with a device that would allow an individual to live a somewhat normal life while they resolve their issues.
It works well when it's partnered with a state process that moves swiftly when the device is not functioning, or if it's tampered with. It does not work well when the support system is derelict in their duty and allows the attacker to remove the device without any8898 repercussions. If the state looks the other way when an individual removes the device that's protecting the victim, why do we even bother with the charade8908 of a fixing one in the first place? It's a very flimsy assurance to the victim, and it's really a nod to the attacker that the state will not intervene when the attacker decides remove the device at their convenience. So I ask you to please support Bill 1098 to provide for felony charges when a GPS is tampered with or removed. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, miss Hurnberg. Appreciate your testimony. Move to Adelaide Hurnberg. Also, Pierre Mitchell?
SPEAKER52 - Yes.
ADELAIDE HERNBERG - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and other members of the committee. It is incredibly important that this Bill, S 1098 is passed to uphold both the respect of the court and protect domestic violence survivors. Joe is someone who's, like, a second mother to me, was a victim of domestic violence, and, specifically, as you've heard, the experience of someone who dismantled8962 their GPS system, which put not only her, but everyone else close8966 to her in danger. As someone even closed her, I was constantly alert to see if he was in a car8972 nearby or lurking in8974 the area, knowing he was brazen enough to cut off the court ordered GPS bracelet. I cannot even imagine being a direct victim in such situation and the fear it instills. Domestic violence does not discriminate, and we must put this in place to protect all communities in Massachusetts. Should there be a case in which a GPS tracker is ordered, we have heard from the many brave people who tell their story today, there needs to be said punishment an it should fully carried out without tampering. This Bill plays a huge role for the safety of their victims and their families and their ability to live and continue on in hope of a normal life. I really thank you for the time, and I hope that you move forward with the right decision. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony, Adelaide. Appreciate it. Any questions? Alright. Seeing then, we'll appreciate that testimony. Thank you. We'll move back to Dody Atkins Perry.
SPEAKER53 - Hi. I am I apologize that I can't be seen. I've never used Microsoft Team before, and they warn me that because of the way I answer 1 question I couldn't get back on. I and thank you,
DODY ADKINS PERRY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Thank you, Chair Day, and Chair Eldridge. I find it uphauling that removing a court ordered GPS device is not already a felony. The more I learn, the more I realize the because there is no sure and serious penalty for removing it, ordering a GPS device is basically meaningless. If a perpetrator wants to not have their location known, they can just remove the device knowing that at most they'll get a slap on the wrist. Please make removing a GPS device, tampering with a felony with mandatory prison time to protect victims. Please report favorably on Senate 1098. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony and for sticking with us on these technological challenges. We appreciate it.
Next we'll move to Jeanette Harrington.
Oh, Janesh dropped off. Alright. Irene Lincoln.
SPEAKER54 - Good evening. Are you able to hear me okay?
SPEAKER1 - We've got you go right ahead.
SPEAKER54 - Alright.
IRENE LINCOLN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge and the committee here today. I thank you for hearing my testimony in favor of Senate Bill 1098. My name's Irene Lincoln, I live here in the Nahant, Massachusetts. I do this as a mandatory reporter, a patient advocate, a citizen of the United States, who believes in our judicial system, and a friend of Joe, who is a survivor of domestic violence. I share9152 her belief that this Bill should become9154 law, should protect victims and families of this horrendous crime. We've heard several testimonies of such throughout this afternoon's hearing. Such a law would hold abusers, rapists, and other criminals accountable, therefore protecting the victims of our communities. I believe Massachusetts needs to do a better job to protect its citizens from all forms of violence and this Bill represents one step in the right direction. A GPS device is impacted privilege and an alternative to jail. A request made by a judge to track an assailant throughout his or hers probation period and ordered by the courts in such a situation as domestic violence, it's a way in which to track abusers to enable the abuse, some sense of security, knowing that the abuser will be monitored and they'll be notified if they become within a dangerous distance before a problem can reoccur.
Any cutting or tampering with such a device should be a serious crime and punishable within the courts as a felony offense. If we are to be monitoring criminals and people on probation for serious crimes, we need to monitor them 24/7 with no breaks in service. Any gaps allow for potential dangerous and harmful activities to occur, which could harm citizens of these known criminals. I ask you to pass this legislation through the committee for the improved safety of the victims suffering from domestic violence. We have laws to protect our children, we have laws to protect our seniors, now let's also construct some laws to protect those from domestic violence. Let's truly track our assailants 24/7 using the GPS system as it was intended with absolutely no gaps ever in service. If there are any breaks in that service, there also needs to be consequences as well as consistency put forth within the courts. I thank you for your time and your attention. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony. miss Lincoln. Any questions from the panel, Rachel? Alright. Thank you very much. I'll move now to John Ferris, merchant? Nope. Drop how about Beth Harris?
Okay. Patricia Welch,
SPEAKER16 - Okay.
SPEAKER1 - I believe that would close those who signed up to testify on s 1098, did I miss anybody who wishes to testify.
Mister Walsh, he poses me with an his nutrition.
SPEAKER55 - Danone, thank you for the opportunity.
BETH DAVIS - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - My name is Beth Davis, I'm going to read this for my sister who is the mother of Taylor Walsh. Kristen Walsh lives in Hingham, she is here today to support the Bill 1098 as a mother of domestic9362 violence survivor and also in in addition to support her daughter, Taylor.9368 She'd like to thank her friend Joelle for her relentless determination to protect domestic violence victims, and to make this Bill become law. My sister prays no parent has to go through what she and her husband had to see on July 26th 2022. They received a call from her daughter, Taylor, at 4:00 in the morning asking them to come to her house. When they arrived, she was on the front steps with her daughter, her head and neck were covered in blood, she had a gash, 1.5 inches on the back of her head where her boyfriend had hit her with an object and fled while she was asleep. Unfortunately, Taylor's abuser wasn't held accountable by the judge.
Her ex boyfriend pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, break in and entering, violating a restraining an order and witness intimidation. He could have received up to 10 years in prison, however, he received a slap on the wrist and was sentenced to 18 months probation and had the privilege of wearing an ankle bracelet in lieu of doing jail time. Please hold abusers and criminals accountable. If they have no regard for the law and authority and choose to cut off a GPS device, I hope you will hold them accountable by passing this law on this Bill. As hard as it is to see her daughter abused, she lived it and has been brave enough to finally come forward and stand up for herself to stop the abuse. I hope this Bill passing will give all victims peace of mind that their abusers will be held accountable. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony, Sherry. any questions seen none on the panel. Thank you very much.
I believe that will close testimony on s
1098. Thank you all. We've come forward to test fine, share your stories. We appreciate it. We'll move now to h1801andh1469,
and and welcome up representative Kate Donahue.
REP DONAGHUE - HB 1469 - HB 1801 - Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, honorable members of the committee, thank you for taking me out of turn. I'm here in support of H 1469, an act relative to the repeal or reform of certain unenforceable or unconstitutional archaic laws on religion, piety, and morality. This Bill would secularize parts of the General Law by allowing for freedom of beliefs in the administration of judicial oaths and by repealing crimes that originate from religion. Archaic laws based on piety and morality which originate in religion potentially approach the right of base standards to freely practice or not practice religion under penalty of law. Laws against blasphemy, obscenities and promiscuous behavior remain enforceable and constitute misdemeanors and even felonies. Similarly, laws mandating the teaching of piety and virtue in public spaces stand in opposition to a separation of church at state. In this instance, mandating that the bible be read in school or that oaths in court be held a test to under God, arguably force individuals to practice religion.
In 1963, the United States Supreme Court9595 declared in the relationship between man and religion, the state is firmly committed to a9601 position of neutrality. I was in grade school at the time of that decision, we stopped morning prayer in school as a result this decision. I think most of you never had the experience of pre owned public schools. 60 years later, Massachusetts still has archaic and unenforceable lives on the books. I also want to express my support9625 for H 1801, an act to prevent unwanted opioids prescriptions, which I co filed with Rep Vargas. I've seen firsthand the impact of the opioid crisis on the people of Massachusetts. I will be submitting written testimony on that Bill to be respectful of time. Thank you for your consideration of both these Bills, and I ask they be reported favorably. I can answer any questions from the committee. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, representative. Some of your colleagues can take note of your efficiency in 2 vehicles inside 30 minutes as well.
SPEAKER56 - Very efficient here.
SPEAKER1 - Any questions from members of the
SPEAKER29 - Thank.
SPEAKER1 - None. Thank you. Before we close testimony on an act relative to the repeal or reform of certain unenforceable or unconstitutional stockade laws and religion party immorality. We see legislative director, Rodney June Conrad from the to be itch, to do intend to testify in this Thank you.9681 Alright. We'll move on then to
h 10 87 from senator O'Connor and Act relative to setting proportionate penalties, the distribution of heroin fentanyl, car fentanyl. and welcome Elizabeth Fund virtually.
SPEAKER54 - Hello?
SPEAKER1 - Go right ahead. We've gotcha.
ELIZABETH HUNT - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1087 - My name is Elizabeth Hunt, I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me today. Unfortunately, I'm a little emotional, so I'm going to try my best to get through this. I am a mother of a 23 year old daughter who passed away from a deadly overdose of fentanyl, enough of the dose to put down a herd of horses. In today's society, the penalties for this are minimal and my daughter's life was not9768 minimal, I can assure you of that and it will never be minimal. I stand before you to ask you, please don't let another mother go without maximum penalties for their child. You have the power to change people's lives in many ways, you have the power to structural laws and can make a difference. Please use your power to pass this Bill. The problem with today's society belongs to all the human beings and I pray that another mother doesn't have to stand here and go without justice for their child. Passing this Bill will make drug criminals think twice and maybe even save one more life and if you can save one more life, another mother won't feel that hurt and tragedy that I feel in my heart.
I can't get over the loss of my daughter and knowing that the criminal that did this to her may not even serve a year in prison. This is9850 not just my problem, it's your problem, it's everyone's problem. This is an9858 epidemic, and we need tougher laws to make a difference, please. I beg you to pass this Bill, I beg you with everything of my being to make a difference so that maybe these criminals looking twice about what they do to families,9875 you have the power to finally make a difference. This is out of my control, and I'm asking you to please take the power and my darling 23 year9890 old daughter so that no other mother would have to stand before you and ask9894 for penalties for their child. I thank you for taking the time to hear me, and I apologize for being so upset. I know what you've been hearing today, and I think hearing what I've heard in the past hour and 45 minutes has made it more upsetting for me that criminals are getting away with things, and people are not being helped. You're allowing these criminals to make victims out of victims, please stop, I beg you. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Miss Hunt, thank you for your testimony We're sorry for your loss, and thank you for your patience in sticking around to share that story with us. Any questions from members of the panel? Seeing none. Thank you again, miss Hunt. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER57 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - I'll move on to that will close testimony in each 1087 or it's 18087. Move on to s 1081 in active proving access fentanyl test strips and other drug checking equipment, and welcome Tracy Green, who's joining us virtual.
SPEAKER55 - Hello. Can you
SPEAKER58 - hear me? Welcome.
SPEAKER1 - We've got you sorted in.
TRACI GREEN - BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY - SB 1081 - SB 1124 - SB 1095 - SB 965 - HB 1822 - HB 1781 - HB 1497 - Thank you, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge and members9975 of the committee for the opportunity to consider my testimony on Senate Bill 1081. The state of Massachusetts is leading the country in its statewide community drug checking program called the Massachusetts drug supply data stream or MADDS. I've overseen MADDS since its piloting phase in 2019 as a state funded collaboration between Brandeis University, the Massachusetts Department of Public health, various town police departments, and local community and harmonization partners. We support 15 sites throughout the state, including AHope in Boston, using test strips and portable spectrometers for rapid identification of substances in remnant drug samples and then we send those samples for a partner lab for more advanced testing. The results are all published publicly on streetcheck.org and there are over 3000 samples publicly logged on street on that website from Massachusetts.
The proposed legislation of 1081 will help continue positive trends by increasing the chances of interacting with these critical community drug checking programs and reducing the fear of unnecessary incarceration of people in possession of fentanyl test strips or other drug checking equipment, as well as the small remnant amounts of drugs when using or providing drug checking services. As an epidemiologist,10044 at Brown and professor and director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis, I've shared with you some thoughts and my support for this legislative initiative. First, the drug supply is volatile because the manufacturing of synthetic drug is chaotic and introduces uncertainties all up and down, the supply and distribution chain. Thus, the human risk is in the inconsistency and the lack of awareness of what is in the drugs that people consume and in the failure to prepare adequately because of this data gap. Drug checking directly addresses this risk and seeks to mitigate it with science. Drug induced homicide and maximizing extensive sentences for fentanyl are not evidence based or effective in reducing mortality, and they will cause harm.10084
That includes Senate 1124, 1095, 965, House 1822, House 1781, and House 1497. Second, there are effective tools to engage people who use drugs in prevention of overdose and awareness of the contents of the drugs that they're using and that information is lifesaving but we need the chance to connect people, not drive them away to use alone and live in fear of arrest. We should be engaging people and encouraging them to use harm reduction services to protect themselves and their community because death does not leave any chance for treatment or recovery. The clarifications in Senate 1081 will encourage people to seek help and to bring their materials and drugs for testing so they can learn to protect themselves from the toxic inconsistent drug supply. For a comprehensive drug checking, what we need to detect things like emerging threat of xylazine and fentanyl, we need more comprehensive messaging, and that is found in 1081, it is what is needed. So I encourage you to look at this legislation and to pass it urgently. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony, patience, Miss10153 Green. I appreciate both. Any questions from the panel? Seeing10157 none. Thank you very much.
Alright. That will close test line in s 1081. We will move now to
h1754 and s 1009 and act relative to Plant Medicine, and welcome up Jamie Davis. Beckecki Gonzales and Michael Batello.
Welcome.
SPEAKER60 - Hello. Thank you.
VIVEK GONZALEZ - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - SB 1009 - Good afternoon, Representative Day and Senator10204 Eldridge. Thank you for your time. My name is Vivek Gonzales, I'm a recovery advocate, and I work in substance abuse programs as a program director. I'm a person in long term recovery myself, and I have my own outside practice where I help people in recovery work with plant medicines and assist10225 them in integrating that. I'm speaking in support of this Bill to help people like myself to have access to these psychoactive plant medicines for their natural healing properties, which has been accepted scientifically to be effective, especially when it's in a safe and controlled environment. Personally, I started using street drugs when I was 14, I was a child and when you start using at that age, it's because you have trauma, and you're using it to self medicate. So I spent 10 years of my life being cycled through the system, going to treatment centers all around the country, being incarcerated, experiencing other traumas, physical, sexual,10267 emotional, and I lost so many people. I continue to lose so many people, and10275 I've lost people I love right in front of me in my own arms. I lose clients all the time that we're trying to treat, so something isn't working in our system.
I was clean from heroin for eight years before I got to process or address any of my trauma and I use medication assisted therapies, and I utilize support groups and I went to therapy and while those things helped me, I still wasn't able to interrupt a lot of my addictive patterns and to feel at peace with my past. I had a traumatic experience take place well into my recovery, and a lot of those feelings resurfaced for me. Anxiety, the trauma, the pain, and I took the advice from a close friend to utilize psilocybin to help me with my hyper vigilance, with my anxiety, and as soon as I did that, I felt like I could breathe again and it really gave me an acceptance and an insight into all of those things that happened to me, and it gave meaning to it and it helped me to help others live a more fulfilling and meaningful life. I have the honor to help others with similar struggles now but there are so many people that are stuck in the cycle of addiction that want to be able to use these medicines in conjunction with treatment that are not able to do so because of the current legal constraints.
Additionally, there's a stigma within society around these medicines and within the recovery community and the status reinforces that stigma. I do outreach with our homeless population in Mass Ave, I was a person that was on Mass Ave using, I was in Skid Row in LA using. And for so many of us, this is a matter of life or death but these medicines, there are medicines that can help us with this, that interrupt physical dependence like ibogaine that have a 70, 80% success rate and creates a cessation of cravings from alcohol, drugs,10405 nicotine. So, if we had access to these medicines, I believe we could save many lives, but instead, a lot of them are schedule one drugs and there are many other medicines, Ayahuasca, psilocybin that help people to process that trauma. So I'll try to wrap this up quickly10424 but I have a vision that if this Bill10426 is passed, I will be able to create a new generation of treatment where we'll be able to help people integrate their plant medicine experiences, facilitate it, and guide them through it because these populations need it most. So this step forward with legal status will help. So thank you guys for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony.
SPEAKER21 - Of course.
SPEAKER61 - Hello.
JAMIE DAVIS - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - My name is Jamie Davis, and I support Bill H 1754 and act relative to plant medicine. In my former role, I oversaw multiple harm reduction programs for a nonprofit organization in Franklin, Hampshire Counties, and Western Massachusetts. As an assistant director, I was often on the front lines or directly supporting frontline staff to work with communities facing unregulated drug supply that continues to get increasingly dangerous. We're in the midst of an overdose crisis, the war on drugs created the crisis, pharmaceutical insurance companies have exacerbated and expanded the scope of the catastrophe, and our policies and legislation continued to perpetuate the damage. In 2021, almost 110,000 people died from overdose. Fentanyl has contributed to thousands of preventable deaths over the past several years and with the emergence of xylazine, libimosol, and newer synthetic opioid trends like magazines, action is needed on drug policy reform.
No matter what we look like and where we come from, the overdose crisis reminds us that at our core, we are all human, the ability to get and stay well depends on everyone having access to what they need to prevent, treat, and recover from illness. People struggling physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually should not be punished for their pain or trauma and how they cope with it when attempting to access the care they need to heal. It is incredibly important that we are actively working to combat the stigma associated with drug use, some Massachusetts residents will feel safe and comfortable accessing the healthcare social services and treatment options they need without fear of legal or financial consequences. When it comes to substance use and the overdose crisis, our policies reflect long standing stigmas and top solutions rather than evidence based solutions and regulation of drugs grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
The use of10557 in ethnogenic plants and fungi have been shown to have beneficial outcomes in the treatment of substance misuse, addiction, PTSD, anxiety, depression, neurological diseases10568 along with a host of other ailments. I've experienced the ceiling in my personal life through the use of Ayahuasca and psilocybin. The effectiveness of psychedelic plants has been widely recognized in scientific and political studies and have a long standing history of being traditionally used in religious and indigenous practices for personal growth, spiritual growth, and healing. Harm reduction seeks to provide evidence based solutions that cater to an individual's unique, having affordable access to psychedelic plants as a form of medication assistance treatment would provide new options for a path to health and wellness for those struggling with addiction. Year after year, we continue to see staggering numbers of death by overdose, we can do better, we can use evidence based methods and harm reduction ideology to advance our policies and help end the overdose crisis that is devastating our community. Please consider expanding affordable equitable access to include natural options and support Bill H 1754, an act relative to plant medicine. Thank you.
DAVID SLACKEN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - Good afternoon, Chairman Day, Chairman Eldridge, honorable members of this committee. My name is David Slacken,10637 I'm a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, which rests upon the unseated land of the Nipmuck people. I'm speaking today in support of an act relative to plant medicine. In the past, I worked as a research technician in the field of psychiatry10651 with addiction. I'm a scholar of Religious Studies, I'm a certified mindfulness meditation teacher. I'm a social worker, and I'm a graduate student at Boston College's School of Social Work. 10 years ago, weeks before graduating from the University of Virginia with a Masters in religious studies, I was mistaken by Virginia State Police as the Boston Marathon bomber. I was arrested at laser sighted gunpoint on the shoulder of Highway I81 South and handcuffed with my face pushed down into the asphalt and a shotgun pressed into my spine. I feared for my life, and I'm grateful that I survived this experience.
A couple months later, five days before starting a doctoral program in clinical psychology at Clark University, I was diagnosed with PTSD, panic disorder, and Agoraphobia. For nearly two years, I couldn't leave my home unless I took prescribed benzodiazepines as anti anxiety meds, which are scheduled to narcotic and very addictive. Despite the privilege of access to excellent mental and physical health resources, years of traditional mental health services and therapy alone didn't provide me with a full recovery from my trauma that I experienced. While recovering from PTSD, I also suffered for years with chronic health issues that were later diagnosed as chronic Lyme disease. Again, despite the best medical care available for treating Lyme at a specialty clinic in Washington DC, for several years, my recovery from these dual diagnoses of PTSD and chronic Lyme led me to being disabled and spending over $30,000 a year on medical expenses. During the several years, I spent recovering from PTSD and chronic Lyme, I was prescribed dozens of different medications and prescriptions, but conventional treatment modalities left my health plateauing around 70%.
Psychedelic plants and fungi like psilocybin containing mushrooms and Ayahuasca are the medicines that healed my body mind, part the rest of the way, and only required a few doses. Without psychedelic medicines, I wouldn't have been able10788 to find the forgiveness, compassion and love in my heart with the VA state troopers who arrested me. Without psychedelic medicine, I wouldn't have a body and mind strong enough to dedicate my life to serving others as a clinical social worker, without psychedelic medicine, I wouldn't be well enough to marry the love of my life this August. We're all only temporarily able bodied. Chronic health challenges are an unfortunate reality for everyone in this room,10814 and or someone they love. Having lawful access to as many treatment modalities as possible for those managing their chronic illnesses is imperative for providing hope to those coping with illness and the wellness of our entire Commonwealth. No one should be punished or criminalized for the10832 medicine they choose to take in the privacy of their10834 home, especially those struggling with chronic illnesses and disabilities. I urge you to please decriminalize hope and support and act relative to plant medicine. Thank you for your time and attention. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you all your testimony. Any questions from members of the panel or virtual? Say none. Thank you all. Call forward, Svetlana. Chensova?
That Lohana Chiensova?
We've got Andy Vadorela, reverend Tim Schottmeyer, and James Davis.
So you've been here before. When we call people up, that's who we call up.
SPEAKER62 - I'm James Davis. I haven't been up yet.
SPEAKER1 - I understand that. We've had others that you just brought up now, but have not been told.
SPEAKER62 - Yes. Reverend Schottmeyer had to leave.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Yes.
SPEAKER63 - Pardon.
ANDY VARELA - SALEM CITY COUNCILLOR - HB 1754 - Thank you, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge, and Rep Scanlon. Thank you guys for your patience. I will be brief and not take up to three minutes. My name is Andy Varela, I'm a city councilor of Salem, Massachusetts and I'm the Chair of the Public Health Safety Environment Committee and was responsible for bringing in the resolution where we effectively deprioritized psilocybin containing fungi in the city of Salem. I want to be brief and just talk to you about why we decided to do this. We have lots of health care professionals that would like to use this as a tool in10940 their toolbox and we really see the efficacy of plan based medicines10945 being a resource for our health care professionals going forward. Not only that, psilocybin and other plant medicines are actually reasonable for economically disadvantaged residents to seek and use it for help. So with that,10962 that's why, unanimously, the city10964 council of the city of Salem decided to go forward with this and hope10968 that you guys favor a positive recommendation that's for this going forward. Thank you for your time.
JAMES DAVIS - BAY STATERS FOR NATURAL MEDICINE - HB 1754 - Thank you,10979 Chairman Day, thank you, Senator Eldridge, Chairman Eldridge, and the10983 committee for this opportunity to share our stories with Plant Medicine. My name is James Davis, and I'm the founder of Bay Staters for natural medicine. We are a grassroots volunteer group that has worked with six communities including Salem to allow adults to access the plant medicine. This is meaningful to me, not just because of the facts, I could stand up here and tell you psilocybin mushrooms are the most studied pharmacological compound in US history, that a study of 44,000 Americans, a controlled study found a substantially reduced risk of opioid use disorder after a single use, or I could point out that the Commonwealth of Kentucky just allocated $42,000,000 to pilot Ibogaine, one of the plant medicines this Bill would decriminalize, but our stories are more powerful than that.
Psilocybin opened my heart to other people, it helped me heal from childhood trauma. My mom, a single mom, was raised by two veterans who were great men, but really struggled with alcoholism and PTSD after they came back from World War 2 and Korea. That intergenerational trauma is what we have been disrupting by educating people about these plant medicines. I've sat with a Worcester official who woke up the next day after11067 a psilocybin experience to find relief for the first time in 35 years from her chronic depression, a navy officer who experienced traumatic stress in his job and career, a radiologist that chose to take a lower paying position that was better for his family and his community. Cluster headache sufferers who have been pulled to the side at MGH by their neurologist and told, this is the only known treatment for your migraines that make you want to kill yourself but I'm not allowed to tell you about this because it's illegal in11104 the Commonwealth.
They're not alone in these stories, and it's critical that we're able to access this medicine. As a little bit of comic relief, psilocybin mushrooms grow outside of police stations in the Commonwealth, they've even grown outside the state house, which I saw one day as a staffer years ago and it's critical that adults be able to grow and access this medicine without having to pay tens of thousands of dollars to go to Jamaica or $4000 to go to Oregon. We have some of the11140 most brilliant minds in addiction treatment and mental health, in research right here in the Commonwealth, and this is a major opportunity for us to help our neighbors in need. By the end of this committee hearing, eight of our neighbors in Massachusetts will have lost their lives to overdose. This can change everything.
ALLISON SEACARD - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - Good afternoon. My name is Alison Seacard. Thank you, Mr. Chairs, Representatives, members of the committee for the opportunity to give my testimony. For over 20 years, I was an educator in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Natural plant medicine has always been an integral part of my family and our way of healing each other. I am a mother to two wonderful that I raised in Holyoke Massachusetts. My son will be attending Bentley University, my daughter is currently struggling to just stay alive. She was 13 and had her typical teenage things, took off a few couple of days, we found her, I called the people, DCF, a couple of people for help. They put her in the hospital to see what was the cause, why did she run away? They deemed that she was depressed and anxious, they started giving her psychotropic medications. She developed bulimia, she was on her anti depressant medications and she hanged herself on the bathroom of her residential group home, they were able to revive her at the hospital. Since she was 13 years, over four years, I have been trying to just have access for my family to utilize plant based medicine, medicine that we are familiar with generationally. I just implore upon you that you give a favorable report and push this through so that families can have the choice to access affordable, effective and ancient plant based medicine over the big pharma products that have caused big harm. Thank you.
MIYABE SHIELDS - MAITLAND MOUNTAIN FARM - HB 1754 - Thank you for taking the time. My name is doctor Miyabe Shields, I am from Salem. I have my PHD in pharmaceutical sciences, I spent 13 years studying drug discovery and natural products innovation. I know someone here had a question on the molecular mechanism, so this is serotonin. Most of you have heard of serotonin, it is the molecule that all of our brains make that generally is associated with happiness, but it's much more complicated than that. This is Solosin. Solosin is one of the active molecules that's in psilocybin containing mushrooms, actually, our body will transform psilocybin into psilocin, and this is what's active, and what you might notice is that they are pretty similar. So that is the mechanism of action, or that is the believed mechanism of action for some and most of the positive benefits that are associated with it, because the serotonin system has been the target for pharmaceuticals for anxiety, depression, antipsychotics for a really long time.
So we do have psycho pharmaceuticals that have been developed that target the system, and they do work for people and they are good options, but they're not the only options, and they don't work for everyone. I am actually one of those people, and that is one of the reasons why I went into what I went into. I have taken anti anxiety medications, I've taken antidepressants, and I've taken antipsychotics and through the use of natural medicines, I come off of all of them. I've been off of all of them for over 13 years, and I would never choose to go back on them, especially not after spending 13 years studying what pharmaceuticals do to the body. That's not to say that they aren't good options, and I believe that they should still exist but one of the reasons why I was here to talk today and to, you know, advocate for a natural based medicines to be more available and accessible is because not only will it help people immediately to be able to get more access to these options, it'll also facilitate research, the ability to do research, and it will also enable community supports to get built and to feel safe building those community supports in place. Myself and a team11541 of other multidisciplinary clinicians recently published a paper in the journal of11545 psychedelic studies about the willingness to11547 participate and an evaluation of the reason why people seek out psychedelic experiences for health, and it is mental, it is spiritual, it's emotional, and it's a deeper connection to something that we don't have access to with our current healthcare. If our current healthcare model was supporting that, then we wouldn't be seeing such a resurgence of a need for people to be seeking it outside. So thank you for your time and consideration. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
Hello. Thank you for this time. Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee. I want to thank Chairman Day and Chairman Eldridge and the honorable council members for allowing me to make my testimony. I am a 20 year old, and I have experienced firsthand the mental health crisis that faces my generation. I understand that the current system that we put into place for mental health treatment is not sufficient to address struggles the struggle that my generation faces. I also understand firsthand that we need to make a change and I've dedicated my life11610 to work to trying to make a change for the11612 future generations, eradicating for most response in my mean and municipality of Northampton, Massachusetts. I have an incredible amount of hope that the state of Massachusetts will change their approach not only to mental health, also to harm reduction policy. I want to just say an Einstein quote, actually, that says that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. When I look at the current drug legislation and the current substance abuse approach that we take and also the current mental health approach that we take, what I see is we are doing the same thing over and over again and our communities continue to be ravaged with addiction and the horrors of fentanyl abuse and the horrors of the opioid epidemic. I think it's fair to quote that by Einstein's logic that our current drug policy is insane, our system shames addicts even when they they seek healing through plant medicine, and I am incredibly hopeful of the power of this role to change the system11678 to allow for healing for the future generations. I would like to ask you to please vote it out, this Bill SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
favorably.
if it will be an act my medicine. Please put it out. Thank you. You
SPEAKER1 - any questions?
Cheers questions on Sarah Tongue.
Thank you both.
we'll move to virtually Doctor. Peter Grinspoon.
Barringer Benowitz11712 Benoit?
Arenter Babinore? Nope.
William Hillman De Silva.
Okay.
WILLIAM HILLMAN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - I want to thank you the11738 committee for the opportunity to speak here. My name is William Hillman Da Silva, and I support the Bill 1754, the decriminalized plant medicine. I'm a real estate broker who has migrated to the United States from Brazil when he was 18 years old. I've been American citizen now for 10 years and I have a strong sense of duty for our country. Some years ago, while living the best days of my life, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness called osteoarthritis that affected my large intestines and my mental health. One day, I was a triathlete training for a half iron man, and on the other, I was in pain in the press, bleeding from my guts. So I would start my healing journey studying, learning, and try many different approaches in hopes to bring my health back. I was very resistant to the idea of working with psychedelic plant at first and spent thousands of dollars on medication, supplements, and traveling to see different doctors across the country.
Nothing would really work. While I observed my mental health, and consequently, my business deteriorated. Approximately two11813 years11813 ago, I hit rock bottom in the midst of depression and desperation. I had to rethink my options and inspired by pioneer work of Doctor Gabor Matti in Vancouver, Canada, and Doctor Kilhardt at the Sofia, fear was beyond the initial idea of losing control or experiencing mental pain. Instead, the actual source of year originated from a mental projection of mine that I didn't deserve any better in my life, an idea that I was not worth any of good things in the world, including my health, and then my life would always entail suffering and pain. It run through that I had embedded in my psyche on my early days this guilt reality I had been living was a result of my childhood trauma experiences such as losing a twin brother in my mother's womb, having emotional distant parents, and being bullied and hurt while growing up with no safe space to retreat to. I was embraced by a feeling of love and peace and for the first time, I felt safe in my own scheme. I left the retreat with a profound transformation and an long bleed for my intestines. My pain has been dramatically reduced, and the guilt that I carried through my life has been completely transformed.
I'm a much different man today, and while I still have some work to do in my health, if it wasn't for my treatment in Amazon, I might have ended my life a couple years ago. It is my understanding11951 today that I was wrong about psychedelics, these plants have the ability to help us to shatter fears and to help us to reach scope where we really are in our unique potentials human beings. While the plants unveil our shadows, they can also enable us to integrate this hidden subconscious trauma in our very efficient and fast manner. As consequence of this process, we heal our emotional wounds becoming more authentic and truthful with ourselves. Pretty more, this authenticity give self respect, health boundaries, in our relationships and ultimately help us to discover the leadership and self expression that exist in every single one of us. I ask you to consider the power that this quotation transformation would bring to our11997 society and the whole and I really ask you to support this Bill because it has completely changed my life. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER1 - If you're a testament, we're glad you're here, and12008 thank you for your testimony.
Alright. Moving through some virtual sign up. Sorry. You have got Timothy Morris?
TIMOTHY MORRIS - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the committee. My name is Timothy Morris, I'm from the Eureka, Massachusetts, and I'm a fairly recent high school graduate. I still don't know what my career path will look like, but it will definitely relate to plant medicine if an act relative to plant medicine is passed. Before I first used psilocybin containing mushrooms, I spent dozens of hours on the Internet reading up on various trip reports and anecdotal experiences. It got to the point where I thought that I had good idea of what to expect, but what I experienced instead was so unexpected, so unanticipated, so profound, so12069 astonishing that I felt like I had to tell people about this. In fact, I was so moved12075 by psilocybin that I quickly made it one of the very pillars of my life's purpose to help spread plant medicine after the legal restrictions are lifted. Discussing plant medicine is simple enough because all we have to do is tell the truth, so what is the truth?
The truth is that we could spend all day discussing every positive aspect of plant medicine, and we still wouldn't have time to cover everything. More to the point though, the truth is that everyone who hasn't used plant medicine has a very inaccurate idea of how it is because psilocybin works by temporarily connecting parts of the brain that don't usually talk to each other, meaning the experience is physiologically impossible to imagine. Unlike alcohol or cannabis where you could spend a few minutes explaining the experience and paint an accurate description. Personally, one of my favorite parts of my personal experience with psilocybin is that with the right dose, it often temporarily turns me into the person I aspire to be. In doing so, it allowed me to resolve many of my emotional issues to an extent, including poor self perception, social anxiety, and general outlook on life as a whole. I'm also very grateful that I first used psilocybin at 18 and support that aspect of an act12160 relative to plant medicine because it12162 allowed me to find direction in life fairly on. Thank you for your consideration. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony, Mister Morris. Any questions? Seeing on? Thank you.
Move now to a virtual testimony from Danny Carson.
SPEAKER6 - Hi.
DANNY CARSON - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - Thank you so much for your time today. My name is Danny Carson, I'm a Massachusetts resident. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I reside here today with my family. I'm a disabled veteran, I'm also a trans person, and I've used psilocybin along with other plant medicines to extents that are hard to put into words. They have helped me get off of antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti anxiety medications. I've tried with the VA over 20 medications to try and treat my treatment resistant depression, I suffer PTSD from when I was sexually assaulted by my supervisor while I was active duty. That follows me seven years later, to this12240 day, and this medicine, this plant medicine, has helped me12246 find love in my heart, forgiveness, find safety, and who I am, and to know that I can show up for myself which was huge in my recovery of that.
This is also a plant medicine that has helped me stay sober, I'm a recovering addict and alcoholic. I've been sober for 2.5 years, and I attribute a lot of that to my use of plant medicine. I'm coming to you to offer an additional point of view on this12280 and to back these people who have all of the research and could use a whole lot more of it with this Bill passing. It would transform VA Healthcare to be able to have this available to veterans in the Commonwealth. There are people struggling with addiction, they're struggling with their life, and this is here, like, an ancient plant medicine to be used for only beneficial purposes. All of us here are coming to you with open hearts because we know that this12321 medicine works, and it works better than anything a pharmaceutical company can offer because that is from the same soil that we live on right here. So thank you for your time today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony and service. Any questions from the members of the planet? She can virtually do well. Thank you very much. I'll move now to Thomas Robertson Nope. Traffic dropped off. Hunter Plattsman?
HUNTER PLATTSMAN - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - Hello. My name is Hunter Plattsman, I'm 24 years old, I'm a resident of Dorchester and I'm testifying here today to advocate for the legalization of plant medicine in Massachusetts. Psilocybin has had a profoundly positive impact on my life. It's allowed me to tackle my biggest anxieties, and it's even enabled me to quit a three year nicotine addiction with zero urges to smoke even four years after that experience. But most importantly, psilocybin has opened my heart to becoming a more loving individual to my family, my friends, and my community at large. Despite these incredible benefits, my life was almost ruined by the war on drugs when I was arrested for personal possession of mushrooms my freshman year of college. I was fortunate enough to have my record expunged after 85 hours of community service, attending several narcotics anonymous meetings, having to pay nearly $1000 in fines.
It is a crime against humanity that the medicine that has transformed my life for the better nearly put me behind bars solely for possessing the sacred plant. I recognize that my story is an anomaly as most people that are arrested for a possession of a schedule one drug don't get the second chance12422 that I had and that's why I'm here today, speaking to help end the unjust war on drugs, and hopefully empower12428 our communities to heal with the medicine that mother nature12431 provided us. I urge you all to listen to the words of healing from your community as well as the evidence from science to support this resolution to legalize naturally occurring psychedelics in Massachusetts. Clearly, our neighbor's lives depend on it. Thank you very much, and I love you all. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Give me a ton testimony, y'all. Any questions from the seeing none? Thank you. Move on to Richard Gasport.
Nope. Yep. Jamie Morey.12462
SPEAKER67 - Hi.
JAMIE MOREY - PARENTS FOR PLANT MEDICINE - HB 1754 - Thank you to the committee. I'm Jamie Morey, I'm a Marshfield mother of four children and founder of parents for plant medicine. I'm here today speaking on behalf of the many parents in our coalition from all walks of life who personally suffer or have children that suffer from debilitating mental and physical health issues which we've talked a lot about today such as addiction, treatment resistant depression, anxiety, trauma, chronic fatigue, eating disorder, long Covid, neurological, and autoimmune disorders, traumatic brain injury, Lyme12508 disease, the list goes on and on and asking you to please pass an act relative to plant medicine and give us and our loved ones legal access to the healing that research is showing psilocybin could provide for all of these conditions that I just mentioned and more. I personally suffer from childhood trauma, my husband is also a disabled Iraq veteran with PTSD.
I think people have already spoken to the benefits of psilocybin for that for those conditions. But today, I'm choosing to12545 take my time to talk about my own children. I have four kids with a number of health issues, including chronic Lyme and pans pandas which causes serious physical and neuropsychiatric symptoms, the worst of which for my kids is severe obsessive compulsive disorder and treatment resistant depression which has really severely impacted my almost 18 year old daughter and 20 year old son in awful ways which I won't, you know, go into. We've heard a lot of pain and suffering from other people, so I'm sure you get the picture, but it it destroyed their childhood, it ruined what should have been some of the best years of their lives. In battling this disorder with them over the past seven years, we've tried every pharmaceutical under the sun, most of which were ineffective and came with horrible side effects.
Before we finally turned to IV ketamine infusions, that we were only able to afford temporarily thanks to a treatment grant, ketamine, which is now a legal psychedelic therapy, is amazingly effective in treating depression in PTSD. I've never seen anything like it, I had my kids back for a little while, but, unfortunately, for some people, doesn't last, and it costs literally tens of thousands of dollars. It's not covered by insurance, and therefore, it's not financially sustainable or accessible to most families, sadly, including my own, which is just heartbreaking and wrong. But it was this relief via ketamine that led me to begin looking into the research around psilocybin which I have been astounded when I started reading and researching all the conditions that this natural plant medicine has been proven to help with. It's been used by humans, as others have mentioned, for thousands of years, I could easily grow it at home. It has the potential to provide my adult children and countless other citizens and Massachusetts like them with the relief that they so desperately need safely and with less side effects than pharmaceutical options like SSRIs and benzodiazepines at a fraction of the cost.
So on behalf of my own family, my beautiful children who deserve to be happy and well, all of the other members of Parents for plant medicine, their families, and the citizens of Massachusetts at large, I ask you, please look at the research yourself, it's unbelievable12727 how many different conditions this can help treat, it's just really amazing, and I hope that you'll do your own research. Please to decriminalize plant medicine, and really importantly, not to let it become out of reach for people financially like has happened with ketamine and has happened with psilocybin in other states. There's no reason why it should cost thousands and thousands of dollars for relief. So that's an important piece of this Bill for me, please keep it affordable and accessible to all who need it by allowing home growing. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony, miss Moore. Any questions? Steven Brooksley. Thank you very much.
Matthew Morelli, up next? Hey.
MATTHEW MORELLI - ADDICTION HEALING ALTERNATIVES - HB 1754 - Good afternoon. I just want to start by saying thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to speak and share my story, my journey. I'm a founder of addiction healing alternatives. What we do is we sponsor people that have addiction issues that are struggling to maintain sobriety with traditional 12 step programs and detox facilities to kind of seek out alternative treatment that is available globally, but not yet here in the United States. I had a substance abuse problem since I was 14 years old, became12813 addicted to opiate at 19 and struggled with that addiction for 11 years. I had exhausted all available resources here in the United States, I went to detox facilities, I tried methadone maintenance therapy, Suboxone detoxes, you name it, and they all failed, I continued to relapse from opiates. I was able to quit alcohol, but opiates had a much stronger hold on me. I almost died from an intoxication of multiple medications to control the withdrawal symptoms from my opioid addiction and I prayed, and it just so happened that a commercial came on about ibogaine therapy that was available in other countries. I'm a successful business owner, it's very taboo for me to talk about this amongst my peers, so I had the money and the means to go and do it. I began therapy is very, very expensive, it's about $8000 for a week, I can tell people right now if anybody is struggling, look into ibogaine if they can't stop relapsing.
I strongly recommend you guys looking into it. Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, they all offer that as treatment therapy to opioid addiction. It will take a heroin user the day prior about 16 hours after their last dose, they can administer that Ibogaine medication, and they will eliminate withdrawal symptoms and bring the person back whole again and eliminate cravings, no post acute withdrawal symptoms or anything like that. My life goal is to save somebody's life by sharing my story and I prayed that I get through to somebody. If someone wants to reach out to me, my 501 C3 nonprofit organization was just approved Friday before this hearing, thank God. Please visit addictionhealingalternatives.org to reach out to me if they need help and I pray that you members of the committee will take my testimony into consideration when passing this legislation because Massachusetts, I don't know if you guys lead the country, if we lead the country in opioid addiction, but this reduces the rate says Doctor Deborah Marshall leads. I began research out of Miami, Florida from a 90% relapse rate from heroin specifically to 50%. Those are statistics that no modern medication has been able to accomplish via12954 Western medication. So please hear my testimony, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak.12958 Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you,12960 Mister Morley. Any questions Being done. Thank you. We'll move on to Paul Pappas,
which is Pappas Jokov or Alessandra Fabbella.
SPEAKER68 - Hi.
ALESSANDRA FABELLA - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 1754 - I'm Alessandra Fabella, and I support an act relative to plant medicine. I am 23 years old and a current senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where I study electrical computer Engineering, with a minor in technology policy. I am an active member of WPI's College Democrats and served as President of the chapter for two years. Because of time restraints in this testimony, I13000 won't be explaining too much about the studies of the healing property to plant medicines or the danger13004 of the war on drugs since many before me13006 have explained it so well, but I want to share my story. I struggle with anxiety and depression in high school and when I cross country to attend college in fall 2018, those struggles were amplified. Within my first semester, I entered an unhealthy relationship which impacted both my academic and social life. Being abused and manipulated by my partner led me to having a lot of outbursts at not only them, but also my family, friends, and others around me. My heart was filled with a lot of anger and hate during that time, and I also felt terrible every day and that life would never change. I eventually took a leave of absence from WPI. During this time off, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the symptoms were triggered13048 by the SSRIs I was taking, and I seek different treatment.
I had therapy and regular medications, but it wasn't enough. One of my friends I met during this time told me about how she uses plant medicine to help hear heal her trauma and how it even helped her overcome her eating disorder. I13068 had been aware of plants such as psilocybin and their healing properties in the past, but this is the first13072 time I got to see it in action. I have since returned back to school, improved my grades, joint activities such as my sorority and college Democrats. However, I still struggle with bipolar as well as this trauma from my past relationship. Being able to access plant medicines has helped me alleviate my trauma, and I know I'm not alone either. I have met other students at my school who have used plant medicines to stop cluster headaches, heal from sexual abuse, and more. When used responsibly, these plants have significant benefits for healings, which are crucial at a time like this as a nation suffers a mental health crisis. This Bill is so important because it will allow people like me, my peers, and many others to grow these plant medicines at home without the interference of for profit actors. I speak on behalf of WPI College Democrats and that we strongly endorse this Bill and I hope you guys can take this testimony into consideration. I appreciate your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony and your patience in offering. Any questions from the panel? Seeing none? Thank you very much. Before we move13134 on to a 37 next to is Beth Ferris rejoined from Teams?13139
SPEAKER3 - Yeah.
SPEAKER1 - Beth Ferris,13141 who was knocked off earlier, book back on s 1098?
SPEAKER69 - Yes. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - We've got you. Go right ahead.
SPEAKER69 - Okay.
BETH FERRIS - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1098 - Good afternoon, Chair Day, Chair Eldridge and the committee. My name is Beth Ferris, and I live in Hingham Mass. I'm here today to testify in favor of Senate Bill 1098. As a friend of Joe who is a survivor of domestic violence, I share her belief that this Bill should become law and hold abusers, rapists and criminals accountable and protect the victims in the community. I believe Massachusetts needs to do better and to protect people. A GPS device is a privilege and an alternative to jail. Cutting or tampering with it should be a serious crime. I13204 ask you to pass this legislation through the committee. Thank13208 you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, miss Farish, for your testimony.
Alright. We will now move on to consideration of H3762 in act concerning the regulation of Kratum. and welcome Mac Hadda to come forward.
MAC HADDOW - AMERICAN KRATOM ASSOCIATION - HB 3762 - Chairman Day, Chairman Eldridge, members of the committee. My name is Mac Haddow, I'm the senior fellow on public policy with the American Kratom Association representing the more than 15,000,000 consumers in America and the more than 200,000 here in the state of Massachusetts who safely consumed creative, and that the reason we're here today is because of the FDA. As enlightened as the FDA may be on psilocybin, they are closed minded and wrong when it comes to Kratom. Part of the reason is the Kratom is not scheduled, and it cannot be scheduled despite the efforts that the FDA has made. In fact, they've thrown the best case possible that they could make using, what's known as the eight factor analysis under the controlled substance act, which is mirrored by the way with the same eight factors13283 here under Massachusetts law.
When that was evaluated by the the drug enforcement administration in 2016, they said it was insufficient evidence. When it was evaluated by the Department of Health And Human Services in 2018, the assistant secretary of health13298 called it a disappointingly poor evidence13300 of data and a failure to consider their overall public health because Kratom helps people. And when it was evaluated by the expert committee on drug dependence at the World Health Organization, at the request of the UN Commission of narcotic drugs who have been petitioned by the FDA to schedule Kratom internationally, under a far lower standard than we have here in the United States under the controlled substance act unanimously, 12 experts from around the world said there was insufficient evidence, but the FDA is undeterred. They convinced six states to ban Kratom, States in this area of Vermont.
On March 1st this year, Vermont removed Kratom from their drug rule list. Yesterday, the state of Rhode Island in the House voted 44 to 23 to remove Kratom from the ban list and to enact the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which is similar to what you have here today. In the state of Wisconsin, the controlled substance board, another banned state found that it was insufficient in the evidence to meet the eight factors that apply in their state as well. And Indiana of the house voted 53 to 40 to remove it. In13365 Arkansas, they have a Bill before the legislature that will challenge the Department of Health rule on Kratom, and that's all significant. The only state that is still under the influence of the FDA is the state of Alabama, and I13378 frankly can't explain that. But I can tell you that when it comes to Kratom, it benefits and helps people. It has alerting effects of low doses, it has the ability to help people that has struggle with depression.
And Johns Hopkins University looked at adult kratom users surveyed over just under 2000 found that it reduces their withdrawal symptoms, the hardest part of getting off and 35% were opioid free within a year. Those are dramatic statistics when it comes to the benefits that can be provided but because the FDA refuses to do anything at the federal level to regulate it, it is regularly adulterated. That's what this Bill will do, we ask you to pass this Bill out favorably so that we can protect the citizens of Massachusetts from adulterated products because they're what's causing deaths that13430 you may have heard about. It's not Kratom, it's adulterated products, and that's been proven by science. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, Mister Headeau. Any13438 questions from the Cuddy?
SPEAKER1 - Yeah, Rexley. Thank you very much, Krishna. I'll call Michael13445 Overstreet.
Got it.
SPEAKER71 - Alright.
MICHAEL OVERSTREET - THE KRATOM GUY SHOW PODCAST - HB 3762 - Thank you. My name is Michael Overstreet, I am a creative consumer advocate and researcher, and I'm also the host and producer of podcast, Kratom guy show. We have decided to formalize our group with a bunch of other consumer advocates into BAN, botanical advocacy network to provide up to date education science investigative journalism and we decided to do that after the cases of Marshall Price and Shane Brown, Marshall Price, Kratom's legal right now. Massachusetts is perfectly legal. This Bill we would like to see it amended to 18, because right now, 21, is saying, people 18 to 20 can't benefit from it, which I have seen firsthand at the Ken13506 Marshall Price is in Arkansas. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a bag of Kratom, ground up tea leaves, he was killed in prison three weeks into his sentence. Shane Brown right now sits in Alabama County, looking at 10 years of life for the same thing, a tea bag, tea leaves.
On my podcast, I've had Doctor Mark Swagger on clinical psychologist University of Dorchester. He's looked at all the available data at the time for psychosis, creating cousin psychosis is the plan and he says that there's no proof of this. I've had Doctor. Kirsten Smith on the show. We'd researcher at NIDA, National Institute of Drug Abuse, who's leading the current Kratom study,13560 and they looked at a bunch13562 of case reviews and showed that it already has a bias toward negative experiences. Many of these cases found that the adverse effects, adverse reports or deaths there was products that weren't tested, brands not identified, unknown if the other drugs in the system13584 or have they ever been tested for other drugs. I've also had doctor Ooma Donebala Harvard medically trained doctor. is family practitioner who is now a medical cannabis provider in Massachusetts. Together with her, I was able13608 to transition off of Suboxone, able to titrate with medical cannabis and and Kratom and she's fully supports both in my life.
The Suboxone FDA expiry released that it rots your teeth and blocks and fills the receptors. So, it's really disgusting medicine, and then those are the really only 213634 options, methadone or suboxone. and they're terrible medications. Suboxone has artificial sweeteners, flavors, food ties, preservatives, and Kratom is related to coffee plant, it is does react on the opioid receptors, but very differently, it acts in very specific decoupled proteins as a biased partial agonist versus OBM or a Poppy based drugs, which is a non bias full agonist. Doctor Andrew Krueghel and Doctor Jack Hennigfield, Doctor Andrew Kruegles from Columbia University, Henningbills from Agic professor of John Hopkins, Department of Psychiatry And Behavioral Science, both described it as a dimmer switch. so your traditional poppy based drugs have the ability to light it all all the way up. Kratom has the ability to turn on dimmers very little bit. So I don't get a high from it, and that's actually why I really like it, I almost consider it like a background program to be able13698 to get take on take on my day and just just a little bit less pain from sports injuries.
I know it's a long day, I'll try to wrap up. FDA reported 44 deaths related to Kratom but then when you look into those deaths, you find murdered by gunshot wound to the chest, suicide by hanging, nine deaths in Sweden from tramadol synthetic, another case somebody fell out of a second story window, broken13726 arm of leg refused medical treatment, and then we look at all of them the vast majority have drugs, alcohol, underwriting healthy conditions. CDC looked at 91 deaths, seven were afraid of only, the next sentence is other13739 drugs couldn't be ruled out. New England Journal of Medicine looked at Colorado. Colorado13745 they found 15 deaths were Kratom related and once they looked into it further, they found that only four were Mutagen only, which is active ingredient, and the way they did this is actually, I'm not going to bore you with that, but they did much more extensive comprehensive testing. The another claim is liver damage and then when you look into that study, you find out that it's 40 to seven year old American men with no mention of diet exercise, drug alcohol13776 history, underlying health conditions, poison control calls. We've had 1800 for Kratom related calls between 2011 and 2017, that's six year span. But then when you look at 2019 alone, we have over 100,000 calls for cosmetics and personal care and over 100,000 for cleaning products, so Kratom is a very, very small amount when that is incomplete and accurate unverifiable data. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
And
yeah. That'd be good. Yeah. It it's
creating saves lives, and it's and it's freedom. That's it. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for the test phone instruction. Appreciate it. Questions from the very quickly. Thank you very much. I'll move now to individuals who signed up to testify virtually. Wendy Chamberlain.
Out there?
Shannon Mins, Coolter? No.
Susan Ephard?
SPEAKER41 - Yep. I'm here.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Go right ahead.
SUSAN EPPARD - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3762 - My name's Susan Eppard, and I'm asking you that please vote no on House Bill 3762. My 22 year old son died from Kratom. His toxicology showed he had no prescription medications, no illicit drugs, and no alcohol in a system when he died. My son was a healthy young man, never had any health issues and is now dead because he believed the lies of the Kratom industry, that Kratom is a safe verbal substance for anything and everything. Many people state they are using Kratom in place of other drugs, but as evidenced by death certificates, emergency room visits, medical examiner findings, poison control center calls, Kratom is mostly just being added to the list of drug people are already taking, and with the added danger of an unlimited supply, proponents of Kratom will only cite outdated deaf information usually from 2016 to 2017. And many of the current legislative meetings, lead13914 people to believe that Kratom has only killed a few people. I know I've talked to many people that I've met online since my son died, who have also had loved ones die from Kratom. An article I read, a two year old, Elizabeth died from ingesting her mother's Kratom.
Elizabeth's mom, Canada, told detectives after her toddler's death, Elizabeth had discovered a pack of Kratom pills she had bought from a local tobacco shop. Police records say, she said she kept the pills in her purse usually out of reach her of her child. Canada said she took the herbal extract for pain management and to staff other opioids. The documents say, a few hours before Elizabeth's death, Canada caught her trying to eat the cradle pills. Police reports say. She told, police, she managed to fish two pills out of the child's mouth, but a third partial resolved. She said, after that, she never thought her child would die from it. The police report says, around 1:00 AM on April 17th 2021, Lacey Canada finished taking a bath and found her two year old daughter had stopped breathing. Police reports say, she rushed her to the bathroom, let water run over her body, tried to wake her and attempted CPR, but it was too late. Elizabeth Cannon Martin was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, the reports say.
Nearly all Kratom advocates who testify in House and Senate meetings admit they are profiting from the sale of Kratom. Kratom should be scheduled until studies can be done to determine if there are any actual medical uses. There are no human studies to determine what substances negatively interact with Kratom, nor any study human studies to show a safe or effective dosage amount. Both Kratom advocates and medical examiners are unclear what amount of Kratom causes death. Passing this Bill would cause14028 consumers to believe that Kratom is harmless14030 because reasonable people will assume that their state wouldn't allow a deadly product to be sold out of smoke shops and gas stations in a zip lock bag or a bottle easily opened by a toddler if it wasn't safe. Matthew was the youngest of my six children, he was an independent, strong, loving, outgoing, happy, hardworking, witty, and smart. His sisters, rather, and myself, family and friends all loved him deeply and are completely devastated that he's gone.
He made sense very easily and was the best kind of friend you could have, and he enjoyed all kinds of sports and activities and camping and snowmobiling, festive, dirt biking, fishing was his favorite playing with his cat. Matthew thought Kratom was the safe herbal supplement for energy, he thought it worked good at first, then towards the end of Matt's short life, he started getting the shakes, loss of appetite, so that much of his money on Kratom started hiding his Kratom purchases from his girlfriend and distancing himself from his friends and family whom he always loved and enjoyed to be around. On November 10th 2021, I was out for dinner, about 25 minutes away from where Matthew lived with his girlfriend, my phone rang, it was his girlfriend, she was crying hysterically and said, Matthew had a seizure is in cardiac arrest, and paramedics are working on him. I went into my car and drove as fast as I could to14122 get to him, I was crying and shaking and praying to God, please, don't take my baby, don't take my son from me.
When I got there, a man met me before I can get in the house, and he said we did everything we can do, but your son didn't make it. He said you can't go in the house yet and I was crying and screaming, I need to see my baby. They made me stay outside for like, hours while I scream for God to give me my baby back. When they finally let me in, I went over to him and now on the floor over him, saw this precious face, his hair, and kissed his14165 forehead I knew he was no longer there. His body was cold and stiff and gray and then had to make the heart wrenching calls to my other five children to tell them that their baby brother had passed away.14180 Matthew, who will never marry the love of his life, Hannah, he will never have children, grandchildren, he will never do anything ever dreamt of doing, Kratom took everything from my son. Before Matthew's death, I was a happy, healthy, wife, mother, grandmother with a good job and look forward to a bright future with my children, my grandchildren.
Now I'm in therapy, I have extreme anxiety, depression, insomnia and I'm unable to be in public for any length of time without becoming upset. I find very little enjoyment in life, and my days are a horribly long combination of pretending to be okay and wishing I could go be with my son. Mother should never have to bury her child. I had to request that they test Matthew for Kratom because it's not routinely tested for postmortem. Kratom deaths are without a doubt many times higher than what is known because of lack of testing and the fact that many people hide that they're doing Kratom from their friends and family. And if this Bill is to be passed, please include that Kratom is required to be in a child's proof safe container, and not a zip lock baggy that14260 any little kid can get into. I'm asking again, please vote no on House Bill 3762, and thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you for your testimony. I'm separate in in showing your story. We're sorry for your loss, your son. Any questions Alright. Seeing nothing. Thank you again for your patience and your testimony. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER16 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And move on now to Melissa Vidrien, The drive?
Hi. Yes. It's true.
MELISSA VIDRINE - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3762 - Yes, it's true, Kratom kills people across the United States and it's not being tested for, and people just aren't aware of it. My name is Melissa Vidrine, and I'm a licensed clinical social worker in Louisiana. My 26 year old son, Daniel died from Acute metrology and toxicity on February 21st 2021 in Louisiana. Daniel was a husband, father, veteran, and a loved person. The Kratom Consumer Protection Act as written does not fully protect the consumer, it protects the distributors and the vendors and the suppliers. The Kratom sold in the United States is not natural or pure. Louisiana legislators recently had a discussion regarding a KCPA in our state but it failed to pass because the American Kratom Association and others felt it was probably too restrictive. So our legislators only passed a proposed band Bill that would have scheduled Kratom, but changed the Bill at the last minute to only restrict the age to 21 and above. More than likely, those that testified today regarding Kratom are not only Kratom users, but are financially profiting from Kratom in some way.
House Bill 655 in Louisiana failed to pass, but it would have been a strong14364 Bill, so I suggest that you look at it, that would have protected the consumer. Families like mine across the country are devastated that Kratom is being touted as a solution to the opioid epidemic because it's just another dangerous substance. I ask that if you proceed with H 3762, you include amendments that would give local governments the option to be more restrictive and enact stricter regulations and ban it even. Two, provide the name, address, and phone number of the manufacturer processor on the labeling, there are multiple shell companies with Kratom and the consumer has no recourse through the legal system. We can't even serve people in a lawsuit that we have. Ensure Kratom products be displayed behind the counter, provide labeling that includes recommended serving sizes and recommended number of servings. Identify an agency that would have the authority to ensure the proper regulation of Kratom products. I did14419 not see that in the14421 Bill that you have. Please conduct research regarding Kratom and do not rely solely on the material provided to you by the American Kratom Association who takes money from vendors, processes, and retailers.
I ask that you14434 educate yourself and speak to experts. Do not base your decisions on the razzle14438 dazzle. My son died from Kratom, it's sold in gas stations and smoke shops, it's a toxic substance. There's no14447 recourse for families when these vendors and not transparent with labeling and contact information. My son used Kratom for approximately14455 four years, and over that14457 period, he became dependent on Kratom and was unable to stop14461 using this toxic substance. Daniel did not have any other illicit, illegal, or alcohol in his system when he died, but the AKA and others will blur the lines with non scientific data. We had to request the coroner complete a full toxicology because we had concerns regarding the Kratom that he used. I ask that you add an amendment that will give local governments and authority to be more restrictive, require improved labeling to protect the consumer. We do not know how Kratom interacts with prescription and over the counter medications because it has not been studied on humans and is currently labeled not for human consumption. Over the past few years, there have been multiple deaths from Kratom toxicity along with adverse events across the United States. Many others are severely dependent and addicted to Kratom products. Trust the FDA and take heed of their concerns. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, miss Petrine, for your testimony and and sorry as well for your loss of your son. Appreciate you coming forward to testify on it. this, Bill. Any questions from the committee members? See you done? k. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER3 - That concludes the list
SPEAKER2 - of individuals signed up to testify today in today's crimes, 2 hearings. I'd like to thank everyone who took the time out of the day to participate, Jared Aldridge, the other committee members, and I'd really appreciate it, your patience. If you'd like to follow-up with supplementing testimony with written testimony again, please send it14551 to judiciary committee research director Michael Musto at michael.must0@ma
SPEAKER3 - house dotgov. Thank you. That will conclude the hearing.
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