A bipartisan pair of members of Congress are continuing their push to expedite the availability of psychedelic therapies that they believe can aid military veterans and other people who are struggling with mental health conditions.<\/p>\n
Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lou Correa (D-CA), co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies Caucus, appeared together on CNN last week.<\/p>\n
Correa said therapy with substances like psilocybin, ibogaine and MDMA \u201cworks,\u201d citing high suicide rates among veterans and arguing that psychedelics can be part of the solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have people in my community that have actually been alcoholics [that] have been cured, drug addicts that have been cured, people with mental illnesses that are cured,\u201d he said. \u201cThis promises to be that magic pill, that magic cure that we\u2019ve been waiting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman cited his own experience as a Vietnam combat veteran, saying he\u2019s \u201cseen so many of my brothers and sisters who came back in Vietnam who never assimilated back into society, a lot of times due to post-traumatic stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing things the same way forever in mental health and expecting different results,\u201d he said. \u201cNow it\u2019s the right thing for Congress to do, to get the money, direct the research\u2014whether it\u2019s the [Department of Veterans Affairs] or anybody else\u2014to do the research and get these therapies on the ground and working for the veterans and others as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe GOP congressman said it\u2019s important to not just free up legal access to psychedelic compounds themselves but also to provide resources for \u201cthe therapies that are going to be needed to work those veterans and everybody else through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we not only need the medicine, we need the therapist trained and ready to go,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cSo we have to move forward, and we will do it diligently and minimize, if not eliminate, the risk to anybody going through the therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Correa, for his part, spoke about U.S. military veterans who are traveling outside the country to access psychedelic therapies.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got a lot of veterans that are going to Tijuana, Mexico right now to get their therapy\u2014two or three days in the ibogaine treatment center, where they go through a high where they essentially confront their fears that have led them to suicidal thoughts,\u201d he said. \u201cThey come out on the other side essentially cured. This is not just hypothetical. These are truths evidenced by Navy veterans and other individuals that have essentially kicked the habit of doing drugs or alcohol. It does work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in our districts in this country are doing psychedelics, so Congress needs to catch up, needs to get the research there,\u201d Correa said. \u201cWe need to put those guardrails there to make sure people don\u2019t get hurt. But people are desperate for a solution, and this one promises to be the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n