(The Center Square) – It has been difficult for lawmakers to draft policies that make a meaningful impact on mental health issues within the veteran community, including high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
Among the treatments showing the most promise, however, are those using drugs like psilocybin and MDMA to treat the disorder. The psychedelic drugs have long been relegated to federal Schedule 1, indicating they have no medicinal use.
Nevertheless, researchers have pursued use of the drugs to help those suffering from a host of disorders and found significant success. Patients with PTSD, addiction, depression and even anxiety related to terminal illness, have all seen some relief through their use, and major research institutions like Johns Hopkins University have published extensively on their successes.
It’s enough to garner support from the most unlikely sources, state and federal lawmakers. In Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Tracy Pennycuick of Red Hill has recently introduced a package of bills that would make the therapies accessible to veterans living with PTSD and treatment resistant depression.
Pennycuick, herself a veteran with PTSD she says is stable, spoke with The Center Square about her hopes for the bill.
“This is another tool for veterans and for their providers to figure out what works best so the veteran can have the best life possible — or anyone with PTSD — that they can get their treatment, kind of put where it belongs, and then move forward with their lives,” said Pennycuick.
The legislation proposed would tie Pennsylvania’s policies to that of the federal government, ensuring that if psilocybin is rescheduled under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, the same will occur in the commonwealth. In August, the Drug Enforcement Administration formally requested a review by the Department of Health and Human Services on the matter.
Pennycuick says that there’s reason for optimism that a reclassification of the drug will come in the next two years. Compass Pathways, a biotechnology company developing treatments with synthetic versions of the drug, says that its drug is on the fast-track toward FDA approval. The agency has awarded psilocybin multiple breakthrough therapy designations already.
Though veterans are the group targeted with the most urgency, Pennycuick sees treatments expanding to others who suffer from PTSD or treatment resistant depression in the future.
Still, there are skeptics in the legislature, as the drugs work to overcome a long history of criminalization and the potential to become drugs of abuse. As a Republican, the senator says she initially got “a lot of pushback” for her position. To change people’s minds, Pennycuick says education is essential.
“It’s always the fear of the unknown,” said Pennycuick. “The effects are very real, and the treatment does work, and I think you just have to get people beyond that fear.”
Pennycuick sees psilocybin and other breakthrough treatments as just one possible option for veterans and others who haven’t found success with traditional therapies. She expressed support for innovations in the field like hyperbaric therapy saying, “We’ve got to be able to adapt and try new things.”
“What works for one may not work for another, which is why every tool that’s a possibility should be available.
