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Jan. 12, 2025 - Stew Peters Show
01:01:18
A Fight For Healing: The Battle for Psychedelic Healing
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Effective forms of treatment for veterans.
Primarily, today we're going to talk about primarily around depression, PTSD, things like that.
What are effective forms of treatment that veterans are experiencing?
Are all of them effective?
No, probably not.
In fact, I'd go out on a limb and say, of course not.
Of course not all of them are effective.
What happens when there's new forms of treatment?
What happens when veterans, for the most part, not 100% responsible for finding their own form of treatment, but had a large hand in developing a new alternative form of treatment?
Start to get shot down.
Today's conversation is going to center a little bit around that.
It's a new form of treatment.
And it's interesting to me.
My opinion can be swayed one way or another.
But I think that we'll get through it.
We'll check it out.
So don't go away.
Stick with us.
We start now.
Hey folks, and welcome here to the first, the first installment and welcome here to the first, the first installment of the Richard Leonard Show in the year of our Lord 2025. the It's good to be back.
Thank you for joining us.
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So welcome back.
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Let's get into it.
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Okay, so let's jump in.
And before we get started, I'm going to full clarity, I'm going to admit that as a show host here on the Stu Peters Network, I should probably be a lot more informed about this topic.
But I believe that my opinion on the information that we have so far doesn't hinge upon the details of these treatment options, but more about what the hell is the holdup?
And why is it taking so long?
And so I found it.
Of course, I found an article.
I found some things that we can go through.
And just kind of talk about on the way through.
And the topic of the day is psychedelic treatments for veterans.
So just recently, very recently, the state of Colorado has made psychedelic treatments legal.
So things like psilocybin.
It didn't sound like they had MDMA legalized yet, but it is legal in Oregon.
Along with psilocybin is also legal in Oregon for treatment.
And Colorado just made psilocybin legal for treatment options.
But what I will say is they've been discussing it for a couple years.
And just like anything else, I think like we saw with the legalization of marijuana, the government has to dip their fingers in.
And they're going to tell us, they're going to tell the community that, well, you know, we have to figure out and make sure that this is going to be safe, it's not going to be abused, and that the right people are getting the right treatment at the right times.
And so, like that, I get.
I understand.
We don't want...
We don't want people that aren't going to benefit from the therapy to get their hands on these types of things because it's probably not going to be advantageous to their well-being and maybe even their productivity as members of a community.
But as we go through this, you're going to learn that psilocybin treatments, or mushrooms, Done as treatment options, legally are done in what they call like a wellness center.
And they're administered by licensed practitioners.
And they remain with you the whole time you are under the effects of psilocybin until it's over.
And there's seemingly a whole treatment plan of sorts put into place.
So, it's not like you're going to a dispensary like you would for marijuana.
And just, hey, give me that jar of mushrooms.
Here's your $110 or who knows whatever they cost.
And I'm out of here and I'm going to go surfing on the moon for the evening type thing.
That's not what it is.
Or at least that's not what they talk about.
And so, like, it brings up this concern about how we are progressing in seemingly, seemingly as a worldwide community, we're progressing in medication and just we're progressing in medication and just the medical industry in general.
And some of the things they have nowadays are just astounding.
Like, let me tell you real quick.
I brought my wife recently to the doctor.
She was having a procedure done.
And they were giving her an IV. And sometimes it's hard to find a vein on her like many other people.
So the nurse reached into this drawer and pulled out this device that looked like a...
It looked almost like a...
A thermometer that you use to swipe across your head or something like that.
And what it does is it casts a picture on the skin.
It's like an x-ray camera to show you exactly where the veins are.
And, you know, when they're a little lighter, they're a little deeper.
If they're really dark, it means they're on the surface of the skin.
It was amazing.
I've never seen anything like it.
She seemed more surprised than I was surprised.
Like, hey, we've had this thing forever.
But I had never seen it before.
I thought it was really cool.
And so, like, we have all these advancements going on in the medical industry.
But yet, we're still tiptoeing around some of these other forms of treatment.
And it makes me wonder why.
And we'll get into that later.
But let's get into the information here.
And see what we can discern from all of this, right?
Alright, so, this article is titled, let's show you here, Psychedelic Therapy Sparks a Clash Between Colorado Officials and Veterans.
As Colorado becomes the second state to legalize psychedelic therapy this week, a clash is playing out in Colorado Springs, where conservative leaders are restricting the treatment Over objections from some of the city's 90,000 veterans who've become flag bearers for psychedelic therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Colorado residents voted to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the chemical compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, in a 2022 ballot measure launching in two years of rulemaking.
Two years!
Of rulemaking before it could be used to treat conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress.
This week, companies and people will be able to apply for licenses to administer the mind-altering drug through treatment will likely be available for some, or it will not be available, this treatment will not be available for some months as the applications are processed.
And so, like, here's the thing.
Like, they announced this, and there's already a bunch of red tape.
And you would think that they see this coming on the horizon.
And maybe I'm out of pocket for thinking this way.
But you would think they see this coming on the horizon.
Not that they should have allowed early applications, right?
Because you don't want to...
You want to get the whole community up in a stir that, hey, this treatment is coming.
And then, of course, you get this mad rush for people to be first.
And you get this mad rush for people to start scooping up clients.
And then it becomes a money grab, right?
It becomes a money game.
The first one that's out there open to administer treatment is going to make a shit ton of money because they're the first.
As we saw here in Colorado Springs, there's 90,000 veterans that live there.
And so there's a lot of people that are probably itching for this therapy because they need relief.
They want relief.
They want to just feel better.
But now, we don't have, we're not going to be able to, we're not going to, here it is, folks.
We're going to do this.
This is going to become legal.
So congratulations, but you've got to wait a few more months.
We've got to get applications out.
And so maybe two or three months is an acceptable amount of time to process applications.
And probably these people and these businesses that are going to apply, they're probably making a mad dash to fill out these applications and what have you.
And it's probably safe to say that there's some people on the inside that know some people on the outside that were probably like, hey, here's a copy of the application.
Don't turn it in yet, but if you want to fill it out so you turn it first on day one, here you go.
And just like everything else that we're learning in this country, there's a lot of backdoor, under-the-table deals happening in many different industries.
Because everyone wants to make the money.
So why would we think this is anything different?
Let's move on.
Let's see here.
Colorado joined Oregon in legalizing psilocybin therapy through the drug.
Though the drug remains illegal in most states, every other state except Oregon and Colorado, and federally.
So just like marijuana, the federal government is not going to legalize psilocybin.
Over the last year, a growing number of Oregon cities have voted to ban psilocybin.
While Colorado metros cannot ban the treatment under state law, several conservative cities have worked to preemptively restrict what are known as healing centers.
At a city council meeting, From the lectern, veterans implored them not to do this.
Well, what's interesting to me is, what other locations?
So we don't want these healing centers by schools.
Maybe that's okay.
I mean, I'm sure that Colorado Springs isn't just littered with schools everywhere.
There's probably space to put a few healing centers here and there.
But what are the other locations?
And how ridiculous is it?
Maybe.
And why all of a sudden?
Why all of a sudden is places like Oregon voting to ban psilocybin when it's been legal?
They don't give us that information either.
So what's really going on?
Now, this is going to spark people to say, well, maybe it's not helpful.
Maybe it's not safe.
Maybe they know something that we don't.
And if I had to guess my wandering brain if I had to guess I'm guessing that it has something to do with money and control.
And if I also had to guess there's probably some scuttlebutt out there about how this is now going to be privately Done.
Is it possible that it's going to be privately done?
And maybe part of that concern is, well, are we going to then now see an uptick in crime revolving around psilocybin stuff?
I believe they make gummies and chocolates.
I think the days of just buying a baggie of mushrooms or a jar of mushrooms or however they deliver it.
Is not just that anymore.
I'm sure that there's all kinds of different ways.
I think the only thing you can't really do with mushrooms, if I had to guess, is smoke them.
I think you have to ingest them.
But maybe you can.
I don't know, I guess I've never, in the 15 years that Stu and I were bounty hunting, we never heard of anybody smoking mushrooms.
We've heard of people smoking all kinds of other things, catnip, oregano, all kinds of crazy shit other than that, but never mushrooms.
So, it's interesting to me how they leave out these little details that are probably a big deal.
So if we're going to change the rule from we can't have healing centers a thousand feet away from a school or other certain locations to one mile, well, what are those other certain locations?
Is it strategic?
Like, did somebody, and I wouldn't put it past anybody, Did somebody sit down with a map of Colorado Springs and go, well, you know, if we draw a circle, a one-mile circle from any one of these proposed places for healing centers, what's inside the one-mile circle that we can say?
You know, it shouldn't be hospitals, right?
Because hospitals are probably necessary if somebody doesn't react well to it, just like any other treatment.
Is it churches?
What else could it be?
Schools and churches?
Daycare centers?
I think that ramps up with schools.
But we just don't know.
It's pretty interesting to me.
Moving on.
We have an opportunity to support veterans, and it's a really easy one to say yes to, said Lane Ballone.
Sorry, Mr. Ballone, if I... Just murdered your name.
But he is a Special Forces veteran who said he has benefited from his own psychedelic experiences.
Ballone argued that restrictions effectively limit the number of centers and it would mean a longer waiting list for the treatment.
Veterans have pulled in some conservative support for psychedelic therapy, managing to set it apart from other politically charged drug policies, such as legalizing marijuana.
This next part is interesting.
That discussion was made clear by City Council Member David Lineweber, who said at the council meeting both that marijuana is literally killing our kids.
And that he supported greater access to psilocybin therapy.
Well, wait a minute here.
Marijuana is killing kids?
In Colorado?
I mean, I guess it's possible.
I'm not going to say it's impossible.
But why is marijuana killing our kids?
How are they getting access to it?
And the answer is probably real easy, right?
It's legal.
You can buy it at a dispensary just like you can buy a pack of cigarettes at a tobacco shop.
But has anybody ever heard of anybody dying from THC? I mean, it's probably possible.
I would think that you would need to use a lot of THC to overdose from it.
I would think that you would probably be snoring and drooling on yourself before you had the opportunity to overdose, but maybe not.
I mean, I'm not a medical professional, and I'm not an expert in marijuana or mushrooms.
But that's a pretty strong statement.
And so again, here we are with information that's pretty strong with no data.
And of course, we can do further research to figure it out.
And maybe it's true.
Marijuana is killing kids in Colorado.
And so, I don't know.
What is the answer to that?
Is the answer to that just to say, nope, we can't have it anymore?
Because before that, it was, well...
We can't sell menthol cigarettes anymore unless they're in a...
And that wasn't in Colorado.
That was here in Minneapolis, in the big city.
You can't sell menthol-flavored cigarettes in a gas station.
You have to sell them in a tobacco shop.
But if you buy cigarettes in a gas station, you've got to be 18. And if you buy cigarettes in a tobacco shop...
You've got to be 18. And then the state of Minnesota made it okay for these gas station owners to renovate their properties.
And they would renovate like a, I don't know, a 15 by 25 space and turn it into a little tobacco shop just off the side of their gas station.
And many business owners were very frustrated with this because renovations are expensive.
But now you have to apply for a license.
If you don't get approved, and I don't know this for sure, but some business owners were saying this, but if you don't get approved, you may not get your money back that you paid for the license, which was probably a hefty application fee.
And then now you have two businesses to pay taxes on.
Extra insurance for a second business in the same building.
And maybe there's ways to bundle all that stuff, but it's more expensive for the business owner.
But it's more money in taxes and fees and all that other garbage to the state government and the city government, or not the city government maybe, but for sure the county and the state.
And so, like, this makes me think, well, is this a money grab?
Much like it was here?
I don't know.
So what are we going to do in Colorado to regulate the sale of marijuana?
Are we going to go back and make it illegal again?
I don't know if I see that happening.
Because...
If for no other reason other than the state of Colorado makes an ass load of money on the sale of marijuana, I'm sure.
The state of California probably makes an ass load of money on marijuana.
Arizona, Montana, Michigan.
Marijuana is legal here in Minnesota, but there's no dispensaries put up yet because the state's still trying to figure out how they're going to make money and how they're going to regulate it.
Well, you regulate it the same way you regulate tobacco.
I don't know, man.
And maybe that's just my jaded point of view.
But I believe...
That when the government gets involved to this degree, it's going to cost business owners.
It's going to cost the people that are applying for this license.
It's going to cost the people that are trying to build and own these wellness centers.
It's going to cost them a lot of money.
A lot.
Let's see here.
That distinction was so, going on, they were talking about how marijuana is literally killing our kids.
Psilocybin is far more restricted in Colorado than marijuana, which the state legalized in 2014. Psilocybin is decriminalized, but there won't be recreational dispensaries for the substance.
Which will be largely confined to licensed businesses and therapy sessions with licensed facilitators.
Okay, so now we're going to get into how it's administered.
Patients will have to go through a risk assessment, preliminary meetings, then follow-up sessions to remain with a facilitator while under the drug's influence.
The psilocybin will also be tested and the companies that grow them will be regulated by a state agency.
Of course they will.
Still, allowing broader access to the treatment hasn't been easy for most of the City Council members, including three of which are veterans.
Colorado Springs is home to several military installations, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, and local leaders have touted it as an ideal community for retired service members.
So here's some quotes.
I will never sit up here and criticize a veteran for wanting to find a medical treatment to fix or to help the issues that they carry.
And that was said by the council president, Randy Helms, who is also a veteran.
But he continued, City Council passed the proposed restrictions.
Okay, so here, check that out.
So they passed the proposed restrictions, which means these wellness centers are going to have to be a mile away from schools and whatever other random or designated places that it has to be a mile, churches or whatever.
And then they also talk about All these guidelines that you have to go through, a risk assessment, preliminary meetings, and then you get your treatment, and then you have to have follow-up sessions.
But most importantly, when you're under the influence of psilocybin, you're going to be in the care of a licensed practitioner the whole time.
And so why all the strict rules?
If the state is regulating the growers to make sure that the stuff is clean and pure, if the state is regulating the administrators or the doctors or whatever they're going to call them, the people that administer the drug, and then sit with you and guide you through your journey or whatever they call it, they're going to sit there with you the whole time.
And then after that, you're going to have follow-up appointments in between your appointments where they administrate the drug to you.
So, yet we still have to have all these super strict rules.
And they even go on to say, That it's way more, way more regulated than marijuana is.
Sometimes, folks, the stuff just seems a little wonky, if you will.
Let's continue, and then we'll take a break here for a second.
While research has shown promise for psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA, also known as MOLI, in helping people with conditions such as alcoholism, depression, and post-traumatic stress, the scientific field remains in its relatively early stages.
But I'm very concerned that we've gotten too far ahead of our skis, says Mr. Jeffrey Lieberman, who is a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University.
He's also been involved in the studies of psychedelic drugs for therapeutic reasons.
The risk, Lieberman said, includes customers being misled and paying out of pocket for expensive treatments.
He also said there are cases where drugs can exacerbate some extreme mental health conditions such as schizophrenia.
Well, hold on a second.
We've already had preliminary meetings.
We've already had follow-up meetings.
We've already had records checks.
We've already had all of this.
All of this has already been discussed.
Does anybody think that if I have to go into a wellness center to get a treatment, that I don't have to provide medical documentation?
I don't have to disclose medical records?
And then if somebody tells me, if the doctor or the administrator tells me, hey, if you have any of these conditions on this list, It's going to be bad for you.
That folks are going to just be like, hey, well, whatever.
I don't care.
Load me up, Doc.
Let's go surfing on the moon.
I don't know about that.
Maybe.
Maybe there's some.
So I think it's a good idea to have.
Preliminary hearings and bring your medical records and talk to them about what ails you and why you're there and any other pre-existing conditions and all of that garbage.
Of course that's a good idea.
But then why are we also talking about how it's going to exacerbate all these extreme mental health conditions?
We've already talked about that.
And if you have this...
This is not for you because it's going to go bad for you.
I think that veterans, in particular, who are at a place where they need this type of treatment, they don't want things to go bad for them.
They're not just looking to get high anymore.
They understand that this is administered and monitored.
That you're not just going to give me a bag of mushrooms and tell me to go home and enjoy myself.
There's a lot of heavy bags being carried by these men and women.
And they just want to feel better.
And it seems like...
Colorado Springs is trying to regulate them right out of the treatment that they're seeking.
It all is kind of fishy to me.
We've got to take a break.
We'll be right back.
Don't go away.
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All right, folks, we are back.
Let's just keep going.
I was starting to climb up on a soapbox, but we got a little bit left of this article, and then maybe soapbox time is coming.
We'll see.
Let's continue.
In Oregon, where the treatment started in June of 23, the cost can reach up to $2,000 for one session.
Of the over 16,000 doses administered by the state, the staff have only called 911 or taken a patient to the hospital five times.
I'd say it's a pretty safe treatment.
In Colorado Springs, City Council members raised concerns that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved psilocybin to treat mental health conditions and, in August, rejected a psychedelic MDMA. To treat PTSD. A number of clinical trials are still underway for both drugs.
I do know, it wasn't long ago, maybe three or four months ago, we had Mike Wellnitz, a friend of mine that I deployed with on the show, and we talked about these alternate forms, and he was talking about MDMA treatments.
And we talked about how in Oregon you can get these treatments done.
And it seems, and he's a lot more educated on the whole thing than I am because he's interested in these treatments because he thinks it'll help him out a lot.
And it seems that they're working.
They're working for the people that are seeking them out.
Because they're doing the research.
They're talking to others who are having these treatment options administered to them.
And so, especially veterans, especially veterans who are seeking out this treatment, they're having a lot of success, it seems.
And so, in the intro, I was talking about how veterans had a big hand in seeking out and researching and finding this treatment and bringing it to the forefront as a treatment option and advocating for themselves and for their community to have this offered.
And I don't think that anybody's ever said, this is the cure-all treatment for post-traumatic stress.
Never heard anybody say that.
But what I can tell you is the few people, and I'll say six to eight people that I have personally talked to that have explored these options have all found great success with them.
And all of them have been to, have traveled to Oregon to have these therapies administered to them.
And had a great experience and felt way better.
And so, how do you, as a government official, as a city council member, how do you argue with that?
How long can we hide behind the FDA? And how long can we hide behind government regulations?
And the answer to that probably is, as long as they make us.
Because it's not going to become available unless they give it the green light, of course.
But it really makes me wonder, after all that this country has been through, especially in the last five or six years, and after all the men and women who have signed on the dotted line to serve this country, Over the last, let's just even say, 30 years or more.
I mean, shit.
All the way back to the Great World Wars.
Haven't they deserved it?
Don't they deserve to have a say?
And by have a say, I mean, don't they deserve to come to the table and say, look.
Here's what we've done.
Here's where we've been.
Here's what we've tried.
Here are the professionals in the field that can give you the data.
Is it data or data?
I say data.
Anyway, here are the professionals with the data to back up what we're saying.
Here are the success stories.
Help us out!
Everybody who's ever been voted into a government office, and I, wait, I shouldn't say that.
Most people, most people that run for a government office or who are voted into a government office, if they're ever asked or challenged about what they're going to do with veteran issues, always have some magical speech prepared.
About how veterans are our most important community.
How they deserve to be taken care of the most.
Or whatever.
Some bullshit like that.
And then we see.
We see exactly how much they agree with the idea that they're supposed to be taken care of the most at times like this.
Yes.
Psilocybin and marijuana and MDMA have been illegal for a long time.
Hell, there's people sitting in jail right now for marijuana crimes.
And look where we're at.
You can walk into a dispensary as long as you have a valid ID and are of age and buy weed.
Marijuana.
Step right outside and light it up.
Now there's consequences, right?
Like you can't smoke and drive.
They'll give you a DWI. But the fact is that it was illegal.
People are in prison.
And now you can walk in, buy it.
And in 30 seconds after you leave the place, you can be high.
Just like you can walk into a liquor store, and in some states in this country that don't have open container laws, you can crack that sumbitch right in the parking lot.
Have a beer with your boys.
And as long as you're not over the limit, you can then get in your car and go home.
Shit, one beer in the parking lot with the guys?
It's not a problem.
As long as you're not drinking it while you're driving your vehicle.
But it really seems like the city council here, even though the president of the city council is a veteran, a special forces veteran, it seems, if I remember correctly.
And they're trying to regulate it right out of there.
And he's tried it.
He's tried it.
He's done.
He's done psilocybin treatments.
And we're going to hear about them.
Let's continue.
One second here.
Let's see.
Some researchers and advocacy...
Boy, I cannot talk today.
Some researchers, advocacy groups, and veterans worry about waiting on slow-moving bureaucracy, namely the FDA, of course.
And it carries its own risks as people continue to struggle with mental illness.
Advocates argue that psychedelic therapy offers an option to those whom talk therapy alone and antidepressants have not helped.
This is a crisis that we are in.
And this is a tool that we can add to our toolbox, said Taylor West, who is the Executive Director.
of the Healing Advocacy Fund, which advocates for psychedelic therapy.
Ballone, who is the president of the city council, said he's carried his military experience long after leaving the Special Forces.
It started when he first heard artillery sirens wailing in the U.S. base in Iraq, his breath catching with fear for a few thudding moments.
Let me just explain this to you.
When we were in Iraq, for example, just what he's talking about, you never know.
You never have any idea.
You could be doing anything, right?
Like, on the base is your home.
If you're sitting out at the gazebo where the grills are and you were lucky enough to find a couple flash-frozen like brick steaks at the PX, and you're going to have remnants of what a steak on the barbecue might be in the desert of Iraq to remind you of home, you may be interrupted by mortars hitting your base, or you may be interrupted by rockets.
You don't ever really hear them coming until the first one hits.
Or until a siren goes off.
Depending on the base you were at, some of them had detection systems, right, that would be able to tell you that incoming is coming and you can run for cover.
But when those mortars and those rockets hit, man, they hit like a ton of bricks.
And they cause destruction.
People die.
Equipment gets destroyed.
And so I'm sure that it's something that people carry with them.
I'll never forget it.
Not as long as I live.
And so I'm sure that he doesn't either.
That fear kept Mr. Ballone on edge when he returned stateside and found himself Always keeping his back to the wall, looking for exits to every room he was in, and never quite able to give himself fully to the music at a concert.
A psychedelic experience with psilocybin, said Ballone, helped him connect the fear that attached to him in the war zone to the ceaseless anxiety at home.
Does that make sense?
Helped him connect the fear that attached to him in a war zone to the ceaseless anxiety at home.
It didn't solve everything overnight, he said, but it allowed him to better identify when that humming fear is getting in the way of a joyful life.
So the president of the city council in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Just got done telling this reporter, I've done it.
I've done psilocybin treatments.
It's really helped me.
And then now sits on the council that has now made it extremely more difficult for veterans to get the treatment that they're seeking out.
And why?
Is it because of red tape?
Government bureaucracy, like they said in the article?
I wonder this.
What's going to happen?
What's going to happen in this country when the general populace has post-traumatic stress?
What's going to happen when the people of America who aren't ready to witness war-like scenes, war-like actions, down the street from their home, at their workplaces, at the football game they might be going to this weekend, or whatever.
Much like we saw in New Orleans.
Much like we saw in Las Vegas, New York, now California.
All these things.
LA looks like Stalingrad.
Back during the war.
And if you ask me, and I'm sure it's been said many times by now, but if you ask me, LA may have burned Mostly to destroy evidence.
Evidence of all the weird shit going on in Hollywood all these years.
If I remember right, one did his homes burnt down.
I wonder how much evidence was in that place.
I think we've seen that whoever is doing all of these things around the country We've seen that they'll go to great lengths.
They don't care who they hurt or kill.
They don't care what property they destroy.
They don't care about anything.
But they'll do all of it to take out one person.
Because one person might know enough to put them in prison for the rest of their lives.
So what's going to happen?
When the general populace of this country is absolutely devastated by watching trucks run over their friends on Bourbon Street.
Veterans, especially combat veterans, seen it.
Trucks blowing up, vehicle born.
Explosive devices.
Trucks blowing up in crowds of people or at buildings to do destruction and damage and killing.
Seen that too.
Happened all the time in war.
Random people entering a town square or a highly populated area.
Pulling out a rifle and just shooting in any general direction and taking out whoever the bullets hit.
That happens in war too.
Veterans of this country have seen these things happen with their own eyes, in real life, in real time.
So when the general populace of this country is witnessing all these dastardly deeds happening all over, and they've got to watch it, and may even have to step in and help their neighbor who's been shot or hurt or whatever, who knows what, it isn't going to leave them.
We're going to have unprecedented amounts of claims of PTSD, of anxiety and depression, and all kinds of shit.
Maybe then this country is really going to understand why you take the time, the 30 seconds maybe, to think a veteran, if you do that.
Maybe we're going to figure out why we go to a certain lengths to fight battles on foreign soils.
This stuff isn't new to a few million men and women in this country who've watched it.
It's not new.
But guess what?
They're expected to come home and wait, wait for the therapy that they say helps them, and then deal with the bureaucracy and the red tape that pushes their therapy or their treatment that helps them further out of reach, requires them to travel somewhere other than their own hometown to feel better.
And why?
Because the government doesn't know how to regulate it, they say.
We need to have better regulation.
Stricter laws.
And don't get me wrong, folks.
I'm all for making sure that these drugs and these treatment options aren't abused recreationally if they're not supposed to be.
But I'll tell you what.
I don't believe that psilocybin is more harmful than alcohol.
I don't believe that THC is more destructive than alcohol.
So why make them wait?
If you've got to open up a government facility, build a VA Seabock in Colorado Springs, build a VA facility, a VA wellness center.
Let the VA manage it, but give these men and women the treatment that they say is helping them.
And then the others that are coming, that are talking to the ones that have had it, that is working for them, I think, well, hey, this might be great for me.
Maybe I can get through the day without breaking down.
Maybe I can sleep a whole night without waking up every hour.
Maybe I won't have nightmares.
Maybe I won't act out my dreams and wake up injured because I've been acting out my dreams in my closet.
Or whatever the case may be.
Stop making them wait.
Every time it seems that there's something that's helpful for these men and women, they gotta fucking wait.
Again.
Longer.
And now they gotta go farther away.
Instead of being at home.
Instead of being two miles from home to get the treatment that's helpful, where they're comfortable, they gotta go...
God knows where.
Make a weekend out of getting help.
This, folks, is not what these men and women were promised.
and This is not how they were expected to be treated when they decided to put on a uniform and don the United States of America on their chest and a flag on their shoulder.
And then strap on some boots and go forward and fight the wars of this country.
Whether they are right, wrong, or indifferent.
That wasn't up to us.
We were told where to go, what hill to take, what objective to take, and to do it with professionalism and be the best.
Because if you're not the best, you're going home in a box draped with a casket.
Stop making them wait.
I just hope that this isn't a precursor to all the other things that we're going to try to do for veterans in the future.
But unfortunately, I believe it may be.
It's frustrating.
Anyway.
We've run out of time for this week.
Thank you for being here.
Again, Happy New Year.
We'll see you next week.
week.
Have a great evening.
As Christians in a Christian country, we have a right to be at minimum agnostic about the leadership being all Jewishly occupied
We literally should be at war with fucking Israel a hundred times over, and instead we're just sending them money, and it's fucking craziness.
Look at the state of Israel, look at the state of Tel Aviv, and look at the state of Philadelphia.
You tell me where this money's going, you tell me who's benefiting from this.
I am prepared to die in the battle.
Fighting this monstrosity that would wish to enslave me and my family and steal away any rights to my property and to take away my God, go fuck yourself.
Will I submit to that?
And if you've got a foreign state, you've got dual citizens in your government, who do you think they're supporting?
God, right now, would you protect the nation of Israel and protect those of us, not just our church, but every church in the world and in this nation that's willing to put their neck on the line and say, we stand with them.
We stand with them.
You go to Trump's cabinet.
You go to Biden's cabinet.
It's for Jews.
I have a black friend in school.
I have nothing against blacks.
She has nothing against me.
She understands where I'm coming from.
Excuse me, I'm a Jew, and I'd just like to say that, you know, in our Bible it says that you're like animals.
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