'Magic mushrooms' for therapy? Vets help sway conservatives

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

‘Magic mushrooms’ for therapy? Vets help sway conservatives

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
April 16, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Matthew Butler spent 27 years in the Army, but it took a day in jail to convince him his post-traumatic stress disorder was out of control.

The recently retired Green Beret had already tried antidepressants, therapy and a support dog. But his arrest for punching a hole in his father’s wall after his family tried to stage an intervention in Utah made it clear none of it was working.

“I had a nice house, I had a great job, whatever, but I was unable to sleep, had frequent nightmares, crippling anxiety, avoiding crowds,” he said. “My life was a wreck.”

He eventually found psychedelic drugs, and he says they changed his life. “I was able to finally step way back and go, ‘Oh, I see what’s going on here. I get it now,’” said Butler, now 52. Today his run-ins with police have ended, he’s happily married and reconciled with his parents.

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.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/magic-mushrooms-therapy-conservative-states-3384fd864634204deba9fa8c21d4dcf8

[pbmus]

1. A snowballs chance has better odds

These backward thinking politicians and their constituents would rather pay for emergency room visits and funerals than allow mental health to actually try something innovative

[applegrove]

3. And there are magic mushrooms on every continent and every land mass. Humans

have been using them for hundreds of thousands of years. I get that there can be bad trips and you may need a counselor to steal you for safety reasons. But srooms are good for stopping some depression and ptsd and anxiety, they increase connectivity, tolerance and can change narratives. There are hundreds of kinds of them.

[Karadeniz]

2. I was so excited that veterinarians were using this type of therapy on animals!!!!!!!

[tirebiter]

4. Cures what ails ya

[Midnight Writer]

5. Good old boys around here pick it off of cow patties. A springtime morning dew will sprout some.

They can pop up in just hours.

[jfz9580m]

6. That is great news

Last edited Sun Nov 12, 2023, 12:20 AM - Edit history (1)

Unfortunately psilocybin is illegal where I live and jokes aside I never mess with anything illegal (because it is not worth it). But I can certainly believe this is true.

[dwayneb]

7. This is good news but how about other valuable psychedelics?

Mescaline in many ways is a better therapy drug than psilocybin. And there are many others that would help many people, used in the right settings.