Two key Orange County leaders are spearheading a charge to get innovative drug therapies for people suffering from PTSD, addiction and mental illness after President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order opening up a path to alternative treatment.
If the push is successful, that means veterans and people struggling with mental illness and addiction can get clinical treatment through psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.
Congressman Lou Correa – who represents Central Orange County – earlier this week told me he is working with local veteran and labor leader Nick Berardino to create an advisory committee for companion House legislation he is co-sponsoring, which would codify Trump’s executive order and create guidelines and funding for the initiative.
The OC advisory committee – currently made up of about a dozen local leaders in business, medicine, labor, law enforcement and veterans’ issues – meets privately today in Anaheim for its first meeting.
Organizers say the panel could also hold public forums to further gather input as the legislation is crafted.
Correa said the panel is there, “to make sure we spread the word,” adding that it’s been difficult to get the Veterans Administration to accept the idea and even challenging to get Democratic leaders to endorse it – with the strongest support so far coming from Congressional Republicans with military experience.
“We need people in Orange County to say this has arrived,” Correa said, adding that he expects such drug treatments could go a long way to solving the challenges facing homelessness in our region.
Psilocybin, ibogaine and MDMA aren’t typically words you would associate with Correa, a moderate Democrat and currently one of Orange County’s longest-serving members of Congress.
But Correa, who has been supported by law enforcement unions in just about every campaign he’s ever waged, said this isn’t some sort of counterculture effort.
It’s about public safety.
“This is not just about dropping acid,” said Correa, who co-founded the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus with Republican Congressman Jack Bergman.
The caucus – which brings together many members of Congress around the idea – has been a leader in advocating psychedelic science and research.
Last year, Correa and Bergman introduced legislation that would, among other things, provide $30 million to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for excellence” at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the U.S.
There is already similar legislation making its way through the U.S. Senate and Correa said he expects both bills to move quickly this year.
“Living with PTSD, you can manage it. But living with it … you live in a dark cloud the rest of your life,” said Berardino, a Marine combat veteran who deployed to Vietnam in 1967, coming back later to Orange County and starting a career in labor organizing.
Berardino, who fought in intense battles like Khe Sanh, said PTSD can often lead to suicide.
“You can manage it. But people don’t understand,” Berardino said about what veterans with PTSD go through, adding, “this is why people kill themselves. Watching your friends killed is a dark, dark place, and nobody walks out of that.
“It’s hell to live with that,” he said, pointing to Veterans Administration studies that have in the past concluded that 22 veterans committ suicide every day.
“So if there’s ways to fix that, let’s go. Let’s do it.”
Correa, who has a son diagnosed with Autism and has hopes that such psychedelic treatments could also hold promise for neurodivergent people, said the evidence supporting this type of therapy is overwhelming, calling it a “magic cure.”
“It resets your brain,” he said.
“Everybody recognizes this stuff is going to change, revolutionize mental health,” Correa said. “Private money is lined up.”
Both Correa and Berardino argue that while the treatments hold great promise and support is building in the halls of Congress, in order to really get things moving, policies need further fleshing out at the ground level to get public sector leaders to embrace what many see as controversial, taboo, subjects.
“Our commitment is to provide a broad community analysis to Congressman Correa for his consideration that embraces healing, innovation, and compassionate care, while addressing the societal implications and regulatory frameworks necessary to ensure safe and ethical practices,” Berardino said.
He expects that the advisory group can eventually work with key leaders across Orange County to begin building support at places like the UC Irvine and the OC Health Care Agency to spur research and education into the use of psychedelic treatments and promote the integration of alternative therapies into conventional mental health resources.
Both are hopeful that beyond influencing the drafting of national legislation, the committee can gather key community stakeholders to enhance access to these therapies.
Correa said the biggest challenge to move the dial on this magic cure is to get people and the bureaucracy to rethink the old ways.
“We’re talking about reexamining the war on drugs, which was not based on science but politics,” Correa told me, adding, “‘Just say no’ hasn’t worked.”