A ‘tidal wave’ in psychology: Advocates call on lawmakers to approve psilocybin

Mark Keller still uses his call sign “Slider,” even though he retired from the Navy in 2012.

Keller excelled during his 20 years as a naval flight officer. But when he retired, trauma from an incident in 2005 when he accidentally killed 12 innocent people began to resurface, he said.

Like many veterans, Keller has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He initially sought help from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which he described as “incompetent,” then from private healthcare providers, who prescribed him Ativan, a sedative. 

Ativan, Keller said, was “not the right answer;” he became addicted. 

“I lost my family. I lost my business. I was one day from being homeless at one point,” Keller said. “And I was a drug addict.”

And, Keller said, he wasn’t healing. As he emerged from his addiction, he said heard from a friend about veterans who received psilocybin treatment for PTSD in Peru. Keller traveled to Peru and got the treatment himself, and described it as “profound.”

“I found a peace that I had never known before,” Keller said. “I felt God’s love.”

Keller became involved with No Fallen Heroes, a documentary that advocates for psychedelic treatment for veterans. He shared his story Wednesday during a Capitol news conference put on by the Center for Psychedelic Education and Reason for Hope, which advocate for access to psychedelic therapy. 

“Why is it that we go off and we fight these wars for our country,” Keller asked, “and we come back with these wounds, and there’s nothing for us?”

Can magic mushrooms help fight mental illness? A bipartisan group of Pa. lawmakers think so

Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Montgomery, asked the same question. With her bill to start trials of psilocybin, a drug found in “magic mushrooms” that has psychedelic effects, she hopes to make Pennsylvania the latest state to increase access to psychedelic mental health treatment. But it’s not clear whether the bill will pass. 

Psilocybin is one of several psychedelic mental health treatments, including ketamine and MDMA, that researchers have recently found to have potential as mental health treatments. Studies suggest psilocybin may be able to treat depression, PTSD, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and substance use disorder, among others. 

Pennycuick is a veteran and has had PTSD since 2012 due to a traumatic experience when she was an Army helicopter pilot. She introduced the bill because she was frustrated at the lack of progress for PTSD treatments and saw promise in psilocybin.

“Right now, veterans with PTSD have a mirage of opportunity. Yoga, service dogs, warrior writing, warrior photography,” Pennycuick said. “The bottom line is it’s not working, and we know that because we’re losing 20 veterans a day.”

But Pennycuick’s bill has been sitting in the House’s health committee since 2021.] It can’t advance out of committee until the committee’s…