(ConservativeHub.com) – Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas have surprisingly joined forces in an effort to provide military personnel with legal access to psychedelic substances for treatment purposes.
According to a recent article in the New York Daily News, Ocasio-Cortez expressed that psychedelic drugs have demonstrated substantial potential in treating mental health conditions. She emphasized the urgent need to discover innovative treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and traumatic brain injuries, especially for those who have served in the military. She noted the sobering reality that half of all individuals with PTSD do not respond to existing treatment options.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and the military are grappling with an escalating prevalence of PTSD among veterans, particularly those returning from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. The occurrence of PTSD among these individuals is double that of those who served in Vietnam. Over two decades, from 2000 to 2021, there were in excess of 450,000 combat veterans who sustained a traumatic brain injury.
Crenshaw, himself a Navy SEAL veteran who lost an eye while serving in Afghanistan, gave a personal perspective on the matter. He shared that several of his comrades returned from the battlefield with unresolved medical issues that were only alleviated when they obtained psychedelic substances unlawfully.
Specifically, Crenshaw mentioned a clinic that provided his friends access to ibogaine, a psychedelic substance which had therapeutic effects. The unconventional bipartisan duo wanted the initiative added to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. According to reports, a “watered-down version” of the proposal was left in, but Crenshaw says House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has plans to get a more complete version of it into the Defense legislation.
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