By Cole Brumbelow
Published: Apr. 9, 2024 at 7:09 PM CDT|Updated: 2 hours ago
LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) – In 2023, the State of Oklahoma ranked 43rd for the state of mental health amongst adults.
This is according to a study done by Mental Health America. The rankings took into consideration things like adults with mental illnesses, substance abuse disorders, thoughts of suicide, lack of treatment, insurance and ability to seek out care due to cost.
Oklahoma also ranks in the top 15 at 11th in the U.S. for a total share of the veteran population with 8%, a total of over 240,000 Oklahomans. The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) says those veterans are 50% more likely to die from suicide than those who haven’t served.
The gravity of the mental health crisis in Oklahoma has been made known through various statistics and studies. Those cases rise when veterans are added to the mix.
“I think the rate of mental health issues and suicidality are becoming almost unmanageable despite the current pharmacological and psychotherapy treatments that are being offered to these patients that something has to give.”
When the crisis begins to overwhelm the systems in place, where can Oklahomans turn?
State Representative Daniel Pae has an idea, inspired by Oklahoma’s neighbor down south.
“We always look to our colleagues around the country for what they’re doing in the process,” explained Pae. “So, a couple of years ago, Texas had passed a bill to authorize clinical research on Psilocybin and how it can help treat PTSD, depression, anxiety, a whole range of mental health conditions.”
But, before we move forward, a great question to ask may be, “What is psilocybin?”
WHAT IS PSILOCYBIN?
Psilocybin is the active component in what you may know as “magic mushrooms.”
“Psilocybin in general is considered a psychedelic because it does alter the state of consciousness of the mind which is one of the key factors in how it affects and how you can create, with the proper talk-therapy, positive feedback, thought-loops of the mind.”
Dr. Sarah Knife Chief, an orthopedic surgeon at Inspire MedSpa in Tulsa, explains the science at work behind using the drug in treatment.
“Serotonin is a neuropeptide which is associated with feeling pleasure or joy or happiness. Psilocybin increases the serotonin levels in the brain and that’s how it brings its effect,” explained Knife Chief. “Psilocybin has also been known to enhance what is called neuroplasticity, which involves functional changes to how the brain’s connections work, so it seems to benefit in two ways.”
Chief, whose work includes helping to treat those with PTSD, cites her background as a veteran and as a tribal member of the Pawnee Nation as a reason why this research is close to her.
“Both of those communities have taught me the significance of the amount of suffering that they’re going through with the rates of depression, PTSD, and now suicide rates are skyrocketing,” she shared.
And while Knife Chief is a firm believer in the treatment and that it’s mostly safe and effective, she understands that the treatment isn’t for everyone.
“Psilocybin is not going to benefit everybody,” stated Knife Chief. “You do have to take it patient-by-patient. There are some things that you have to be cautious about.”
However, despite the drawbacks, Knife Chief says that the treatment presents an opportunity to those with no other option.
“We’re really getting to an impasse where the medical industry is kind of running out of things to help patients in this arena,” she says. “It’s frustrating to patients when they don’t have any other options. If they can have something out there, maybe a glimmer of hope to at least get some relief then they’re all for that.”
Even with newfound support, the stigma around the drug remains. If a drug that allegedly has the potential to cure mental illness exists, why is it illegal?
To find the answer to that question, we’ll have to take a brief look into the history of psilocybin.
HISTORY OF PSILOCYBIN IN THE U.S.
In the 1500s, the use of psychedelic mushrooms in rituals was studied amongst Aztecs in present-day Mexico. The mushrooms were referred to as ‘teonanacatl’ meaning “God’s Flesh.”
The mushroom’s existence was denied until the late 1930s when a Harvard professor obtained the mushrooms. However, research was interrupted by the beginning of World War II.
Things picked up in 1952 when ethnomycologist and a former vice president for J. P. Morgan Chase, R. Gordon Wasson and his wife, Valentina P. Watson, received a letter detailing the use of mushrooms in Mesoamerican rituals. The two made several trips to Mexico with one trip documented in a Life Magazine article from Allan Richardson.
After reading that article, an American psychologist from Harvard University, Timothy Leary traveled to Mexico for a ritual and claimed that experience changed his life. He said he, quote, “learned more about... (his) brain and its possibilities... (and) more about psychology in the five hours after taking these mushrooms than... (he) had in the preceding fifteen years of studying doing research in psychology.”
When Leary returned, he immediately began the Harvard Psilocybin project to study the drug further with word spreading to a wide audience before his firing in the mid-1960s.
He then began traveling the country and distributing the mushrooms during the height of the ‘hippie movement,” before the drug was labeled as a Schedule I drug in 1970.
“There’s a certain stigma associated with psychedelic drugs, particularly psilocybin,” said Pae. “A lot of people associate it with the 1960s, with ‘hippies’ who use it, for example.”
While Pae explains the stigma that’s been laid out through the last few decades, it’s 2024. To get the best idea of the climate and legalities surrounding psilocybin in Oklahoma, we turn to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
LEGAL AND LAW
“Right now, there is not an avenue for public consumption, whether that’s through teas or smoking or any other method of ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms because of their potential for abuse and the intoxicating effect that can obviously serve as a public safety concern.”
Before research can be done into the drug and its possible benefits, OBN Education Officer, Mark Woodward explains that legislation must be enacted due to the current nature of the law surrounding psilocybin.
Being labeled as a Schedule I drug, the punishment for possessing psilocybin mushrooms as labeled in Oklahoma Statute 63-2-402 includes “imprisonment for not less than two (2) years nor more than ten (10) years,” or for a second possession charge, including, “imprisonment for not less than four (4) years nor more than twenty (20) years.”
With this being the nature of punishment for these drugs and the recent changes in legislation regarding marijuana, what has the psychedelic mushroom scene been like for the state of Oklahoma?
“I’ve been with the bureau 29 years and I’ve seen isolated cases almost every year,” claimed Woodward. “It’s never gone away, but it’s never been one of the top abused drugs or illicitly sold or marketed drugs. It’s kind of a niche market when it comes to the recreational use and the cultivation and trafficking of Psilocybin mushrooms in the state of Oklahoma or really around the U.S.”
As for its use compared to that of other substances, Woodward says it’s not even close.
“It is not even comparable to, say, the use of marijuana, alcohol, tobacco and some of the other products that we see,” explained Woodward.
However, that doesn’t alleviate the dangers of the substance as unsafe practices can lead to bodily harm and even death.
“You’ve got the potential for intoxication, hallucination, which can cause the person to either be involved in behavior that can get themselves hurt or hurt others,” said Woodward. “They have fallen off of balconies, jumped off of balconies, those are rare instances. You do have the potential for harm to themselves as well as others.”
With the potential for abuse and harm coming from the use of psychedelics, the OBN has worked with legislation to ensure a safe environment to study the effects and potential of psilocybin.
“It would be in a controlled environment to simply study the effects to see if this drug might have some sort of medicinal application,” shared Woodward. “We would not see the research into psilocybin mushrooms as any type of a public safety threat, because we do believe there’s going to be guardrails and parameters to make sure that everything is controlled.”
With the legalities out of the way, it’s time to dive into the nature of the bill, but before that let’s briefly discuss the history and current climate surrounding clinical trials and research.
CLINICAL TRIALS & RESEARCH
Institutions across the nation and the world have dedicated themselves to studying the effects of psychedelic drugs in mental health treatment.
But where did it all begin?
According to John Hopkins University, in 2000, researchers from the institution were the first to obtain approval to resume research in psychedelic treatment and therapy.
However, the first modern clinical trial came in Tucson, Arizona.
In 2006, researchers at the University of Arizona completed the first modern clinical trial for psilocybin. Nine people with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were given different doses of the drug. While there were significant reductions in OCD symptoms, there also seemed to be no correlation between dosage and results.
Unfortunately, due to the cost of working with the drug, research was halted.
Multiple clinical trials were conducted using Psilocybin at research institutions across the country, many showing benefits with no adverse side effects.
In addition, many trials took place with placebos implemented to ensure that the drug was actively working to improve the mind.
In 2011, a group a researchers at the University of California – Los Angeles, did a study on the effect of psilocybin on patients with advanced-stage cancer suffering from anxiety brought on by their diagnosis.
The results showed improvement in depression and anxiety in the documented six months following treatment. There were also significant differences in improvements when the placebos were used.
In 2014, researchers at John Hopkins brought in patients who were cigarette smokers to use psilocybin to help them quit. After six months of follow-ups, there was an 80% success rate with 12 of the 15 participants quitting.
Other studies took place over this time with psilocybin at the forefront of treating mental disorders, all with relatively positive results.
In 2019, John Hopkins also became the first institution in the United States to implement a widescale psychedelic research institution and, in 2021, secured the first federal grant for psychedelic research in 50 years.
Also in 2021, Texas legalized research and clinical trials into psilocybin, inspiring Daniel Pae to write a bill for the State of Oklahoma.
THE BILL
In 2022, Pae said he believed that the project was worth looking into and took the lead. Pae enlisted the assistance of former Oklahoma State Representative for District 24, Logan Phillips, who was a veteran himself. Both, passionate about the research and the possibilities it could hold, convinced colleagues to help push HB 2107 through the Oklahoma House.
Some of the highlights of the bill include the potential candidates for the treatment, listed as those with PTSD; with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety or OCD; with traumatic brain injury; in early-stage dementia; in palliative care; in end-of-life care; with opioid use disorder; or with moderate to severe chronic pain.
The trials would be hosted by universities or other institutions of higher education in the state of Oklahoma. Pae says they have already been in contact with multiple universities in the state.
“We’ve had great conversations with two flagship universities, OU and OSU,” claimed Pae. “We’ve also heard positive feedback from Northeastern [State] University.”
He says that in 2024, he anticipates more universities being keen on the research. This research, as stated in the bill, will include clinical trials on willing participants, the extraction of psilocybin and even the cultivation of the mushrooms.
The institutions involved in the research will have to register with the state and be approved for accreditation to participate.
The bill eventually passed the floor vote with a total of 66 yeas and 32 nays. Among those nays included Rande Worthen, Representative for District 64, and Brad Boles for District 51. Both declined to comment when asked to interview for this report.
“We heard from many veterans,” said Daniel Pae. “They shared personal testimony about how they struggled with mental health over the years and they’ve discovered psilocybin and its potential.”
VETERANS SUPPORT
On December 22, 2023, President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2024 Fiscal Year into law.
As part of the bill, funds were allocated to conduct psychedelic clinical studies on participants from the military who have been diagnosed with either PTSD or traumatic brain injury.
The provision is known as the Douglas Mike Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act, named after a Navy SEAL who died by suicide after serving in Iraq. U.S. Representative Daniel Crenshaw of Texas authored the bill in a push to assist the growing mental health crisis amongst active-duty military and veterans in the U.S.
When promoting psychedelic treatment for veterans in 2022, Crenshaw commented on its accessibility in the U.S.
“All I’m asking is that we give our servicemembers the ability to access this treatment instead of forcing them to travel abroad to psychedelic clinics to save their own life,” said Crenshaw.
One veteran who sought out such treatment abroad is Jesse Gould, a veteran who served three times in Afghanistan as an Army Ranger and founded the non-profit Heroic Hearts Project, dedicated to advocating for psychedelic treatment for veterans.
“My mental health issues from my time in service really started to come into focus and affect my life,” said Gould. “Diagnosed with PTSD, self-diagnosed with traumatic brain injury from my time as a mortarman. Going through the VA was pretty much a fast track to just medication which tends to be more of a maintenance protocol.”
With the odds of staying medicated and dealing with these issues for the rest of his life, Gould opted to further explore treatment.
“I had heard about these psychedelics, never done them before, had no interest in doing psychedelics,” explained Gould. “I didn’t see how another substance, especially one that made you trip could help out with the issues that you’re already going through, but the more I looked into, the more it seemed to be something there. I had no other tools or no other options, so I took a leap of faith and went.”
Gould made the trip to Peru after finding a location for treatment using ayahuasca, a potent psychedelic brew made from different South American leaves and vines. He described the treatment as a week-long, intense, isolated experience in the Amazon jungle.
“Over the course of the week, there was the opportunity to perform ayahuasca ceremonies... It was very challenging, probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done... Eventually, I broke through and through that, it was able to relieve a lot of the trauma, because of the hallucinogenic effect, it was able to for me to see things that I had experienced in my life in a different direction... A lot of these things I had been compartmentalizing was able to be released or actually processed in a healthy manner.”
Although the experience is one that Gould says changed his life he wishes he would’ve had support, the basis of his non-profit’s founding. And while he notes that, while the results of his experience aren’t set in stone, he says they have continued to last.
“My brain was functioning better, I felt hopeful, I felt at peace and while all that is anecdotal and possibly a placebo, the benefits lasted and have continued to last,” explained Gould. “Not magic by any means, I still have anxiety and still have to be conscientious, but no longer just steamroll me in a way.”
Gould also says that, in his case, the proof speaks for itself.
“[I] would not be able to be in the spot where I am today where [I’m] running a multi-million dollar non-profit, having a healthy marriage and relationship, all that kind of stuff is a direct result and a direct ‘proof-in-the-pudding,’ of the benefit I got out of my experience.”
When discussing HB-2107, Gould says he hopes the right decisions are made.
“I hope we take these lessons and create the America we can be proud of and I think that this is a good step,” stated Gould. “Even if there’s fear, even if there’s stigma around the substance, they deserve every shot to get back to a normal life.”
A sentiment that the bill’s author, Representative Daniel Pae can get behind.
“They’re the ones who sacrificed and persevered to defend our liberties and freedoms as a country and I think to try to help them, those that are struggling, that’s the least we can do in return.”
CONCLUSION
“It’s definitely a different, unorthodox policy idea compared to others out there, but I believe that’s indication of the times we live in, which are very unconventional.”
Representative Pae says that the crisis that we’re facing requires lawmakers to think outside of the box. Just a few years ago, the idea of using psychedelic drugs to treat mental disorders may have been met with confusion. Now, the conversations have opened and Pae believes Oklahomans are willing to listen.
“It caught my attention in that it was a very broad coalition,” explained Pae. “Democrats, Republicans, veterans, medical professionals, you name it. All coming together.”
Dr. Sarah Knife Chief says that she hopes Oklahoma will be at the forefront of what she believes is inevitable change.
“I do believe psilocybin at some point is going to be available nationwide, regardless, and therefore, Oklahoma should kind of take, in my opinion, the first step in being one of the states that implement that before the nationwide implementation.”
Pae even states that this bill could open the doors to studying other psychedelics for the use of treatment.
“I anticipate the FDA in the coming years, before the end of this decade, will address some of those other forms of treatment and authorize more research to be done,” Pae predicted.
Following its passing, the fate of the bill now lies in the hands of the Oklahoma State Senate. With the vote on the bill looming, Pae remains hopeful no matter the outcome.
“I think no matter what happens in the coming months and years ahead, the fact that we’re now having this conversation, that we’re starting to destigmatize psychedelic therapy and we’re trying to understand the nuances that come with it, I think that’s progress,” Pae stated.
INTERVIEWS
To watch the full interviews from each individual, you can find them below:
Daniel Pae | Dr. Sarah Knife Chief | Mark Woodward | Jeremy Gould
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