The medicinal use of hallucinogenic mushrooms is making inroads in U.S. states as military veterans advocate for the therapeutic value of psychedelic drugs, including in conservative states like Utah, Texas and Oklahoma
Matthew Butler, who spent 27 years in the Army, holds a 2014 photograph of himself during his last deployment in Kabul Afghanistan, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, in Sandy, Utah. Butler is now one of the military veterans in several U.S. states who are helping convince conservative lawmakers to take cautious steps toward allowing the therapeutic use of hallucinogenic mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs.
Butler, who lives in the Salt Lake City suburbs, is among military veterans in several U.S. states helping to persuade lawmakers to study psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use. The progress stands in contrast to medical marijuana, which Utah lawmakers refused to allow until a ballot measure helped push it through. However, the proposal to study a broad range of psychedelic drugs passed easily this year.
Maryland also gave bipartisan approval to spending $1 million this year to fund alternative therapies for veterans, including psychedelics. Democratic sponsor Sen. Sarah Elfreth, whose district includes the U.S. Naval Academy, noted the spike in suicides among veterans. Rhode Island lawmakers are weighing a proposal to decriminalize psilocybin this year, and in Colorado there's an effort to get statewide decriminalization on the ballot. But similar measures have stalled in Statehouses elsewhere, includingStudying psychedelics, though, has gained more traction. In Oklahoma, a bill from Republican Reps. Daniel Pae and Logan Phillips would legalize research on psilocybin.
“People are referring to this current period of time as the psychedelic Renaissance,” he said. Up to 30% of depression sufferers are considered resistant to current treatment, and there have been few recent leaps forward in drug innovation, he added. Classic psychedelics include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and ayahuasca. Plant-based psychedelics have long been used in indigenous cultures around the world.
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