At this week's Missouri House meeting on veteran suicides, Dr. Rahul Kapur testified to lawmakers that psychodelic drugs, like so-called magic mushrooms, might be helpful.
Dr. Kapur said that studies show the drugs bypass problematic brain paths that lead to depression.
"If you take the substance psilocybin, the active component in it is psilocin, which is an exact copy of the serotonin molecule, and is found in nature," Dr. Kapur said. "It doesn't cause any tissue damage or any toxicity as known by the current safety data, and these psychedelics break this default neural network and make new neurons and new connections."
He said a treatment can prevent a bout of depression for months. Missouri has the highest veteran suicide rate in the nation, and state lawmakers are trying to find answers.
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