Colorado Veterans Turn To Psilocybin Amid Suicide Crisis
Colorado’s veteran suicide rate far outpaces national averages, according to a state-level analysis from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Combat veterans and their doctors believe psychedelic medicine can help.
A staggering suicide crisis:
The national veteran suicide rate remains near two decade highs—31.7 per 100,000 veterans. It’s signficantly worse in Colorado—39.3 suicides per 100,000 veterans. Those stark numbers come from the Veteran Affairs’ 2022 Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.
Colorado’s veteran suicide rate among people aged 18-35 is nearly double its non-veteran suicide rate among the same age group.
Natural psychedelic medicine provides Colorado veterans with reason for hope.
Multiple natural psychedelic medicine trials—including trials focused on psilocybin—are underway at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The first psychedelic medicine trial for treating veterans began last summer and three other clinical trials are expected to begin this year, The New York Times reported. “It’s our priority to make sure veterans are safe and getting the best care,” Dr. Shannon T. Remick, a psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs, told the NYT.
Colorado has an opportunity to be ahead of the curve. Proposition 122 is on the ballot this November. If passed, adults over 21 could access state-regulated natural medicine-assisted therapy. Colorado’s healthcare regulatory agency would establish guardrails for the safe and effective administration of natural medicine therapy in consultation with a new expert advisory board, which includes medical and other healthcare professionals. They would license both the facilitators who provide the therapy and the healing centers where the treatment happens. The proposition would also give state health regulators the ability to study, approve, and put guardrails on the use of other natural medicines that could help treat veterans in the future.
What access to natural medicine treatment close to home would mean for Colorado’s veterans: On Christmas Day, 2011, Anthony Caballero, a U.S. Army combat soldier serving in Afghanistan, “watched a man get blown up into pieces and [] had rockets launched at me.” When he returned home to Colorado, he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He tried antidepressants, but they didn’t work for him. Then, “I had a suicide attempt where I was really close and that is when I knew something had to change.” As the Colorado Springs ABC affiliate reported, after psilocybin therapy Caballero’s “suicidal thoughts began to clear” and “it changed his life”. Caballero told ABC that if “natural psychedelics are allowed to be integrated in therapy it can save more veterans in our community from taking their own lives.”
Dive Deeper:
The National Context: Bipartisan Push For Psychedelic Medicine Amidst Veteran Suicide Crisis
Colorado Natural Medicine Explainer: Colorado Voters Could Authorize Natural Medicine-Assisted Treatment. What You Need To Know.
