Sen. Thompson Rehder sponsors psilocybin therapy bill for veterans with mental health issues

Missouri military veterans may soon have the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial testing the potential benefits of using psilocybin as an alternative therapy to treat mental health ailments.

District 27 Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder’s proposed Senate Bill 768 was heard by the Senate Emerging Issues Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 6. During the hearing, six witnesses testified in favor of the bill and none opposed.

The bill would allow veterans to seek treatment through the use of psilocybin, also known as “magic mushrooms” or “shrooms”, under the supervision of a qualified facilitator to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, substance use disorders or those who require end-of-life care. The bill also would allow veterans 21 or older, who suffer from the previously listed medical conditions and are enrolled in a psilocybin study, to seek the therapy without facing legal consequences.

“This treatment is administered in a clinical setting with a therapist that walks you through the whole process and is with you through the process,” Thompson Rehder said. “What the studies are showing is that over several treatments — some people it’s one or two and some it’s more than that — it completely rewires their brain with the PTSD and with the depression, where the alternative is a lifetime of pharmaceuticals, which aren’t safe and don’t take care of the problem. They just mask it and that oftentimes increases their risk of addiction.”

Upon passage, a medical university in Missouri, which will be determined through a bidding process, will conduct the study.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, psilocybin is a Schedule I controlled substance, which are currently illegal to use as investigational drugs in Missouri. Thompson Rehder’s bill would modify the law by repealing that prohibition.

“They have laid down their lives for us, and I think no option should be off the table when it comes to our veterans. They’ve already gone through so much for us,” Thompson Rehder said. “These are natural remedies, natural alternatives. I absolutely think if you take pharmaceuticals and that’s what works best for you, OK, you should be able to do that. But they come with so many negative side effects.”

Johns Hopkins Medicine has conducted extensive research on the use of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders, discovering several potential benefits, including helping longtime smokers quit, treating alcohol abuse and relieving major depression for up to a full year in some patients.

Thompson Rehder’s decision to pursue legislation on this issue came after she was approached by a group that expressed interest in the use of psilocybin as a form of alternative therapy in 2023.

Her attempt to pass this law failed at the last minute in 2023, but Thompson Rehder said by narrowing the focus to veterans she is “very hopeful” it will make it to the governor’s desk for signature this year.

“I would love for it to be open to everyone. You guys know the work that I’ve done with substance use disorders for a decade now, and I know that this is something that’s going to help that,” Thompson Rehder said during the bill’s committee hearing Tuesday. “The reason that we have narrowed this down to veterans is because of the pushback from the House members that shut it down last year and killed the bill at the last minute. ... My hope is that once we do the study, we see that it’s certainly successful and we have Missouri data — there’s data all over the U.S. right now on the wonderful outcomes of psilocybin, but once we have a Missouri study — we could then open it up and move forward with this being a treatment.”

Will Wisner, executive director of the Grunt Style Foundation, a national not-for-profit organization focusing on the mental health and wellness of veterans, attributed psychedelic therapy with helping relieve complications arising from PTSD after spending years in military service.

Wisner served in the U.S. Army from 1992 to 2008 with an in-service transition to the National Guard in 1999 before leaving the military. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Wisner rejoined the military. In 2007, he was deployed to Iraq where he served at the al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Center, outside of Baghdad.

“A lot of guys in my unit became sick. I also became sick upon returning from that deployment and leaving the military, and I was kind of left to navigate the system on my own,” Wisner said. “They were really kind of ill-equipped to engage in issues of military-related toxicity and illnesses, so I kind of had to sort it out myself.”

As a result, Wisner sought treatment through alternative methods.

“My healing journey was kind of in reverse,” Wisner said. “I grew up in the military. I don’t drink, I’m not a marijuana guy and I’ve never done any of that stuff. When I first came into contact with alternative modalities, that was by way of ayahuasca, which is several times more potent than psilocybin. ... I kind of went straight to the deep end of the pool there with those types of modalities. But the healing and clarity that was received was tremendous and life-changing, and I feel that we should all have that option, especially if we have tried everything else that’s made available and none of that works.”

Wisner first met with Thompson Rehder in 2023 at the statehouse in Jefferson City and told the senator his story, which he said she seemed "open-minded” about.

“Looking at our testimony and our personal experience is what really first made that connection with the senator,” Wisner said. “We’re super thrilled to see her work progressing this year with the Senate bill.”

According to the National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report in 2023, which analyzed data from 2021, suicide was found to be the 13th leading cause of death for all veterans and the second-leading cause of death among veterans under 45 in the United States.

According to a 2021 study by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans committed suicide that year in Missouri at a “significantly higher” rate than the national rate. In 2021, 185 Missouri veterans committed suicide out of 1,139 total suicide deaths across the state. Between 170 and 180 of the veteran suicides were committed by men, while less than 10 were committed by women. In addition, 80% of veteran suicides in the state were committed with firearms as opposed to 63.4% of total Missouri suicides and 54.9% of suicides nationally.

Wisner said he believes passing this bill and allowing veterans to use psilocybin as an alternative therapy will help save lives.

“Right now, it’s a matter of education and accessibility. We work in that arena and we deal with mental health and wellness, suicide prevention and all that,” Wisner said. "Those folks grew up in the ’80s, too, and the ’90s as well. They remember the D.A.R.E. program and ’Just Say No.’ Nobody’s advocating for recreational use, like let’s have a big party and abuse these things. In fact, many of these psychedelic-assisted modalities are in no way recreational. They’re not even fun. They can be a harrowing thing to go through because you’re really coming to terms with those darker parts of yourself that need to be released, and these traumas and experiences that occur and happen. What I like to say is that these alternative modalities like psilocybin, like ayahuasca, provide both a physical and spiritual component that allows someone to engage in recovery, whether that’s recovery from addiction, whether that’s recovery from post-traumatic stress. It’s a big list.

“If this bill passes, that is a beacon of hope for people that are in these dark places. They’ve exhausted all of their other efforts, and they’re going along with that status quo to no good impact or no good results. They now know, ’Hey, there are other things out there, let me take a look into that.’ ... It’ll absolutely save lives, 100%, no question in my mind.”

According to Thompson Rehder, the bill has received bipartisan support in the Senate, and she hopes by introducing the bill earlier in the session it will get it through the House this time around.

“It passed the house the first round overwhelmingly last year,” Thompson Rehder said. “It was the final vote in the House where it died, there were some hiccups and we didn’t get across the line and over to the Senate. Well, we got it started earlier this year, and I think seeing the veterans groups and seeing the war heroes that were in Afghanistan and other countries come into the Missouri capitol, talking to members and telling their stories, it’s very compelling.”