By Jonathan Lubecky

The Boston Globe recently published a story highlighting President Donald Trump’s April executive order aimed at speeding the development of psychedelic therapies for serious mental illnesses.

I was personally encouraged to read about it because I know firsthand what these treatments can do.

I am a medically retired Army veteran and Marine who once suffered from severe PTSD. In 2014, I participated in an FDA-monitored clinical trial using MDMA-assisted therapy. After completing the four-month treatment protocol, my PTSD was eliminated. Since then, I have made a dozen month-long humanitarian and medical aid missions into Ukraine without experiencing the nightmares or debilitating symptoms that once controlled my life, and what I have seen and experienced in Ukraine is far worse than anything I did in Iraq. 

That experience is why I have spent the past twelve years advocating for FDA approval of psychedelic therapies.

Much of the mainstream media, however, has focused on criticizing the Trump administration’s broader effort to accelerate the FDA’s testing and approval of promising medical treatments.

That criticism overlooks the tremendous human cost of delay.

Former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Tomas Philipson recently estimated that shortening FDA approval timelines by one to six years could generate between $10 trillion and $49 trillion in economic value. For veterans, however, the value is measured in something far more important than dollars.

It is measured in lives.

The daily toll of Veteran Suicide has become a talking point, and improper or unethical providers rely on this trauma to advance “the propaganda war to end the war on drugs.” While I know many who, through proper treatment and therapy, no longer suffer, others committed suicide due to improper care or being exploited. This can be easily fixed with FDA approval. 

From brain injuries to PTSD, many veterans feel like they have been abandoned. Others find their only hope in proper and safe psychedelic-assisted therapy. It worked for me. 

Like any big bureaucracy, the VA has been slow to change and recognize there is a solution. Not only does it refuse to offer treatment, it actively discourages it. This isn’t because they don’t want to; it is because they aren’t legally allowed to. And the current narrative that decriminalization is the answer makes the VA reluctant. The VA stands ready, but only with FDA approval.

Faced with no alternatives, many veterans travel overseas for help, spending as much as $25,000 on psychedelic retreats in foreign countries like Portugal, Peru, and cartel-controlled areas of Mexico. Given the number of current and former Special Operations personnel going to cartel-controlled areas to share their deepest, darkest secrets with foreign nationals, this is a National Security Threat. Many aren’t safe either. The U.S. State Department warns Americans traveling to several countries that have become popular destinations for psychedelic retreats about risks including violent crime. Others have cautioned that the rapidly expanding psychedelic retreat industry poses physical, psychological, and interpersonal risks because safety standards vary widely.

Those who cannot afford to travel abroad often turn to the black market, where they may receive drugs produced to street standards rather than pharmaceutical standards. Some illicit psychedelics have been found to contain dangerous adulterants, including fentanyl. 

RELATED: THE ESSEX FILES: Trump Order Accelerates Review of Ibogaine for Veterans Suffering From PTSD

My own experience shows there is a better way. Rather than forcing veterans to spend their life savings to save their lives, they should be able to get treatment with FDA-approved medication under the supervision of licensed clinicians.

I participated in a clinical trial conducted under FDA oversight, in which pharmaceutical-grade medication was administered. There were ethical safeguards, professional standards, and clear avenues for reporting problems if something went wrong.

That is exactly how psychedelic therapy should be delivered.

Unfortunately, I have also learned that speaking honestly about problems within parts of the psychedelic movement can come at a personal cost. My family has faced harassment because I refused to remain silent about unethical conduct I have witnessed. Ironically, after years without PTSD symptoms following my clinical trial, much of the trauma I now struggle with stems not from Iraq or Ukraine, but from efforts to intimidate those who raise legitimate concerns.

That is why fast FDA approval is so critical.

Approval would allow psychedelic therapies to be offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs and covered by Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Defense, and private insurance. Veterans could receive treatment from licensed medical professionals using pharmaceutical-grade medicine under established standards of care — not from self-described shamans or therapists operating outside the American healthcare system.

The benefits extend beyond patient safety.

When I calculated what the VA could save if FDA-approved psychedelic therapies became available, the savings reached well into the millions of dollars through reduced spending on chronic mental health care, medications, and conditions secondary to PTSD.

Most importantly, veterans would receive the care they deserve.

This is the real meaning of compassionate use — not sending vulnerable veterans to underground drug dealers or expensive foreign retreats, but making effective treatments available through America’s healthcare system with proper safeguards, accountability, and oversight.

If psychedelic therapies truly hold the promise that growing evidence suggests, and that I personally experienced, then we should be looking for responsible ways to make them available sooner while maintaining rigorous scientific standards.

Every unnecessary year of delay means more suffering, more expense, and, for some veterans, lives that might otherwise have been saved.

Our veterans should never have to choose between untreated PTSD and an unsafe underground treatment market.

President Trump’s executive order offers a path toward something far better: safe, FDA-approved psychedelic therapies delivered where they belong — in American medicine.

Jonathan Lubecky is the Legislative Director for Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions and the Vice President of Communications for the Apollo Pact, a patient-led medical psychedelics nonprofit. He is a 12-year retiree of the U.S. Armed Forces, serving in both the Marine Corps and the Army. He has appeared on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, three number one Netflix specials, CBS, and Fox.

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.