Are psychedelic drugs the future of health care?

CHICAGO (NewsNation) — As psychedelics are rapidly gaining popularity for mental health treatments, many celebrities and other influencers have hopped on board with the so-called “shroom boom.”

The research on these drugs’ effectiveness has been promising, but some say the science just isn’t there yet for such widespread use.

Despite their popularity, psychedelics are still illegal on the federal level and have only been legalized in a dozen jurisdictions across the nation, from the states of Oregon and Colorado to small towns in Massachusetts.

At the forefront of a growing movement, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, who this week dished out $5 million to build psychedelic drugs up as a mainstream treatment.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has been working to get MDMA approved by the FDA this year. If approved, Cohen’s donated money would help PTSD patients receive access to the drug.

He’s not the only major New York sports figure to be involved with psychedelics, either. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers spoke for more than four hours about his psychedelic journey at the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver on Wednesday — the largest psychedelic conference in history.

“You’re creating in the in-between a beautiful new piece of life and energy and love and divine guidance that comes in. It really changes your life,” Rodgers said.

The use of psychedelics for medicinal purposes has become a topic that reaches across party lines. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been pushing the Department of Defense to study the therapeutic potential for service members for years.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) have also advocated for the potential benefits of psychedelics for veterans.

“That is why I’m here once again, actually pushing for further research into psychedelics to treat PTSD, traumatic brain injury and CTE. CTE is, of course, a traumatic brain injury,” Crenshaw said during his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in May.

As a former Texas Republican governor, Perry may seem like an unlikely advocate of psychedelics.

“I’ve seen and talked to these young men who have given literally up their lives for our freedom and I think it makes sense for us to use [these] compounds,” he said. “My reputation is not more important than these young men’s lives. And I’m willing to stand up.”

In 2001, Texas legalized psychedelic medical research as Oregon had already legalized psilocybin, the hallucinogenic substance obtained from certain types of mushrooms, and California was considering it.

“I think that was the right thing to do,” Perry said. “And these young men deserve it. And we need to use every means. I think … to give them a chance to get a recovery.”

While the Denver conference is a sign of growing cultural acceptance for substances that proponents say may offer benefits for health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism, medical experts caution that more research is needed on the drug’s efficacy and the extent of the risks of psychedelics, which can cause hallucinations.

There are hundreds of registered clinical trials exploring the effects of psychedelics on a range of conditions.

But some lawmakers said there is still a lot more to learn about these psychoactive drugs and that they’re not ready for mainstream use — yet.

“This is not ready, yet. We need larger studies. We need to see more long-term effects,” Virginia State Delegate Wren Williams said.

Even doctors who help develop psychedelic treatments have warned against the drug being abused recreationally.

“Don’t just go off and run and start using these substances just because you read something about them. Make sure you have a proper assessment by a health professional,” said Dr. Itai Danovitch, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Tom Palmer and Devan Markham contributed to this report.