Can psychedelics save lives? A GOP congressman says yes

(NewsNation) — Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s “turning point” on psychedelics started three years ago. Twice in the same night, the Texas Republican says he unexpectedly spoke with veterans who say they benefitted from therapies involving psychedelics.

As a veteran himself, Crenshaw took it as a sign to look into how psychedelics could potentially help other veterans. In June, he unveiled the Douglas ‘Mike’ Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act. Day served 21 years as a Navy SEAL and took his own life.

“Why am I pushing for this? Because it works. And as Mike’s widow Brenda would attest to, it could have saved Mike’s life,” Crenshaw said when announcing the legislation.

The bill aims to create a grant program within the Department of Defense to conduct research into the use of psychedelics to treat post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries in active-duty service members. It has rare, bipartisan support with cosponsors on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is one of them. Just months into her job as a congresswoman in 2019, she tried proposing similar legislation that she told The Washington Post was met with laughter and failed by a 331-to-91 vote. Four years later, she is hopeful the bipartisan coalition can help the overall effort to study psychedelic-assisted therapies.

“It’s frustrating it’s taken this long to get this legislation at least being taken seriously,” Crenshaw told NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas on Wednesday. “We’re not over the finish line yet.”

“But for the most part, it’s very bipartisan. We have a large swath of people from all sides of the aisle who are in support of this,” he added.

While Crenshaw has not tried psychedelics himself, he says he’s heard several success stories of psychedelics being used to treat mental health.

“I’ve never done it, so I don’t exactly know. I just know what these testimonies are and a lot of them are from good friends of mine that I really trust,” Crenshaw told Vargas. “These are people who are really having a hard time and almost immediately change.”

One of the men who first told Crenshaw about psychedelics three years ago is now by his side supporting the bill. Jonathan Lubecky is an Army veteran who underwent psychedelic treatment.

“If I hadn’t gone through it, my son would have a folded flag, and instead, he has a father. I think we need more mothers and fathers and less folded flags,” Lubecky said.

Days after being joined by Lubecky and others to announce his legislation, Crenshaw learned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published its first draft guidance on the use of psychedelic drugs for the potential treatment of certain medical conditions, including psychiatric disorders and addiction.

“Psychedelic drugs show initial promise as potential treatments for mood, anxiety and substance use disorders,” the FDA published. “However, these are still investigational products.”

The draft guidance focused on what the FDA calls “classic psychedelics” such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, which act on the brain’s serotonin system, as well as “entactogens” or “empathogens” such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as MDMA or Ecstasy.

With many questions still unanswered, psychedelics are currently not legal at the federal level. They have reportedly been legalized in a dozen jurisdictions across the nation, from the states of Oregon and Colorado to small towns in Massachusetts.

While at least 25 states have considered legislation on psychedelics, JAMA Psychiatry predicted that a majority of states will legalize psychedelics by 2037.