“Magic Mushroom” for treatment?Veterans helping to shake the conservatives

Salt Lake City (AP) ―――― Matthew Butler spent 27 years in the Army and took a day to convince him that post-traumatic stress disorder was out of control.

The recently retired Green Beret was already trying antidepressants, treatments and assistance dogs. However, his arrest for piercing the wall of his father after his family attempted to intervene in Utah revealed that none of them were working.

“I had a nice house and did a great job, but I couldn’t sleep, had frequent nightmares, broke my anxiety, and avoided the crowd,” he said. “My life was a wreck.”

He finally found psychedelic drugs, and he says they changed his life. “I was finally able to take a step back.’Oh, I know what’s going on here. I understand it now,'” Butler said. With his parents.

Butler, who lives on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, is one of the veterans of several states in the United States and has helped convince lawmakers to study psychedelic mushrooms used for treatment.

Conservative Utah has become at least the fourth state in the last two years for the federal government to approve research into potential medical uses of psychedelics, which are still illegal. A series of cities have also made so-called magic mushrooms non-criminal, and an explosive increase in investment funds is flowing into the arena.

Experts say the study is promising in treating symptoms ranging from PTSD to smoking cessation, but note that serious risks remain, especially for patients with certain mental health conditions. please.

Oregon is the only state to date that has legalized the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms. But studying them for treatment is not only in blue states like Hawaii, Connecticut, and Maryland, but also in Republican-led Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma, which passed a research bill that passed the State Capitol this year. It has penetrated.

A container of Psilocybe mushrooms left with the final product in the form of a pill at the Numinus Bioscience Lab in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, Wednesday, September 1, 2021.

Progress is in contrast to medical marijuana, which Utah lawmakers refused to allow until the ballot helped push it through. However, this year the proposal to study a wide range of psychedelic drugs has easily passed.

Texas hasn’t legalized medical marijuana yet, but former Republican Governor Rick Perry last year shepherd a bill to spend $ 1.4 million to fund research into silocibin for the treatment of PTSD. I helped.

“The stigma of psychedelics and most psychedelics dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. It was very difficult for them to overcome,” said Democrat Alex Dominguez, who sponsored the bill. “My approach was’find a group that claims to be endorsed by all sides’, and it will be a veteran.”

Related: Research Finds That Ingredients in “Magic” Mushrooms May Help Depression

He also heard from conservatives like Perry who supported the use of psilocybin to treat PTSD — and put supporters from that end of the political spectrum publicly in control.

Maryland has also given bipartisan approval to spend $ 1 million this year to fund alternative therapies for veterans, including psychedelics. Senator Sarah Elfles, a Democratic sponsor, noted that the area includes a US Navy School and that veterans’ suicides are on the rise.

“I don’t imagine VA acting right away,” she said. “We are at a true crisis level and it’s time for the state to step up.”

Psilocybin has been denialized in nearby Washington, DC, Denver has been denialized in 2019, followed by Oakland and Santa Cruz, California, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. ..

John Crystal, director of psychiatry at Yale University, said many venture capital firms have been invested by people with positive experience and “willingness” to invest in psychedelics as a treatment.

Rhode Island legislators are considering a proposal to decriminalize psilocybin this year, and Colorado is working to achieve state-wide non-criminalization on ballots. However, similar measures are stalled in other state capitols, including California and Maine.

However, studying psychedelics is gaining more traction. In Oklahoma, bills from Republicans Daniel Pae and Logan Phillips will legalize the study of psilocybin.

“We believe this study shows that there is a safe and responsible way to use this drug, which can save the lives of thousands of Oklahoma people,” Pae said in a statement. rice field. The bill passed the House of Representatives last month and is currently under deliberation in the Senate.

This is a surprising turnaround for areas that attracted researchers in the 1950s and 1960s, before mushrooms and LSDs became known as recreational drugs. They were outlawed by the federal government during the Nixon administration, driving research into a disastrous suspension.

However, new studies show that psilocibin may help treat everything from major depression to alcoholism, says Ben Lewis, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Mental Health Institute. I am saying.

“People call this current period the psychedelic renaissance,” he said. Up to 30% of people with depression are thought to be resistant to current treatments, and there are few recent breakthroughs in drug innovation, he added.

Psychedelics are considered to have a low risk of addiction and overdose, especially under medical supervision. Physical risks may occur depending on the condition of the heart, but the physical reaction of many people is not dangerous.

However, there are serious psychological risks, especially for people with a family history of certain forms of mental illness or medical conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Albert Garcia Romeu, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said:

Classic psychedelics include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and ayahuasca. Plant-based psychedelics have long been used in indigenous cultures around the world.

Related: US teachers trained in mental health to help students in the turmoil

Today, their therapeutic use at Johns Hopkins is being carefully monitored, Garcia Romeu said. Patients are rigorously screened and usually have at least 3 appointments. One is for preparation, the second is for taking medicine, and the third is for working on the psychedelic experience.

For Butler, his 2018 arrest at his parents’ home was a turning point. He has been deployed six times in Iraq and Afghanistan and has begun researching new ways to deal with PTSD suffering since he engaged in counterterrorism and hostage rescue for U.S. special forces in Somalia in 2017. I retired as a commander.

Eventually he came across Ayahuasca, which is part of the traditional culture of South America. Last summer he attended a ceremony that included psychotropic drugs and was supervised by a woman familiar with the effects. She spoke to him as her experience took hold, such as euphoria, geometrically shaped sights, and the feeling he was in the subconscious.

She told him about his childhood and how the army shaped his life.

“It was as easy as having an experienced person who understood medicine, the subconscious space, and PTSD. It was as easy as listening to her,” he said. rice field.

He admits that one session because he has about 80% control of his PTSD, but he may have another session if his symptoms recur.

About two-thirds to three-quarters of the people who participated in the study experienced a significant improvement in their symptoms, Garcia Romeu said. These are promising results, especially with regard to smoking cessation, where current treatments only work for about one-third of people.

The Food and Drug Administration designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” in 2018. This is a label designed to expedite the development and review of medicines for treating serious conditions. MDMA, often referred to as ecstasy, also has its designation for the treatment of PTSD.

It remains to be seen how quickly the state will move from research to wider availability. Connecticut recommended legal medical use only after psilocybin was approved by the FDA. This may take until 2025 or later as the FDA carries out a process that includes risk assessment.

Approval is important for safety and access, according to a Connecticut assessment. Without approval, many insurance companies will not be able to cover the treatment and will only be available to the wealthy.

In Utah, the research team will complete the work in the fall.

Republican Rep. Brady Brammer, who sponsored the bill, said, “See what you can and cannot do.” “If they feel safe, it will be an interesting vehicle.”

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Brian Whitte, Associated Press writer in Annapolis, Maryland. Sean Murphy from Oklahoma City. Susan Haigh of Hartford, Connecticut and Jim Vertuno of Austin, Texas contributed to this report.