A bill intended to speed up federal approval of drugs and therapies that show promise in treating diseases and conditions resistant to available treatments has received a rare show of lawmaker unity.
A chief component of the bill is allowing the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to reclassify substances from Schedule I to Schedule II.
Schedule I substances, as defined by the DEA, are “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
Schedule II drugs are used medically, and also have a “high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.”
Psychedelics could benefit military combat veterans whose emotional experiences and physical wounds contribute to serious and debilitating mental health conditions that are resistant to, and not relieved by, available treatments.
For some of these veterans, their anguish and hopelessness result in suicide.
In 2020, as detailed in the report, there were 6,146 veteran suicides, or almost 17 a day, which is a rate 57.3 percent higher for the same period than it was for non-veteran adults.
Tom Satterly, a highly decorated retired Army Command sergeant major, could benefit from a psychedelic drug that passage of the Breakthrough Therapies Act could make medically available.
After 25 years of service, he retired in 2010 and was hit with PTSD and emotional pain that brought him to the cusp of suicide.
The long path to healing commenced in 2013 when he met Jen, the woman he would marry two years later.
Over the past nine years, in partnership with Jen, who knows her own trauma—she was abused at home as a child, bullied at school, and raped when she was a teenager— the two have studied, researched, and sought physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.
Jen has also received psychedelic treatment.
In a phone conversation with The Epoch Times, Tom and Jen Satterly provided their thoughts on the Breakthrough Therapies Act, and on their experience with psychedelic drug treatment.
“We are fully behind and back the Breakthrough Therapies Act,” said Tom Satterly. “For it will make it far easier for veterans who urgently need the help and healing that psychedelics, in combination with cognitive and other forms of therapy, can deliver.
“Presently, though, these substances are classified by the government as Schedule I, so they are not legally available in the United States, and people need to travel to other countries to receive the treatment. Or, if they undergo the treatment in the United States—and some do—it is in secret.”
Jen Satterly spoke about the saving benefits that treatment with a psychedelic provided her husband.
“Over nine years, Tom underwent many modalities of treatment, including cognitive behavior therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, SGB [stellate ganglion block) therapy coupled with ketamine and testosterone, hormone replacement therapy, transcendental meditation, and pharmaceutical-grade supplementation,” said Jen.
“But it wasn’t until he tried the treatment with 5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic made from venom taken from the glands of the Colorado River toad, that he was on the road to a place where he found peace and happiness.”
Tom Satterly emphasized that psychedelics aren’t “party drugs” and must be administered under medical supervision. He received his treatment attended in person by a physician from Peru who specializes in psychedelics and a therapist.
Tom Satterly also described that the treatment, which he underwent in February 2021, and contributed to a level and quality of happiness he had never known, did not start all happy and was supplemented afterward with regular cognitive therapy.
“There were seven iterations of inhaling the 5-MeO-DMT, and over the first few of those iterations, I was scared and experienced something like a light show. During the first break, I thought about not continuing.
“But with the encouragement and support of the doctor and therapist, I did. And as the treatment progressed, I experienced a growing peace and clarity.”
Immediately after the treatment, Tom felt better than he had in a long time—but, as Jen noted, it was about a week-and-a-half later that “things clicked, and you saw how he had changed. I asked him what happened. After all these years, the pain and unhappiness were gone, finally, and Tom was remarkably happy and calm.”
Tom Satterly has still only had one treatment of a psychedelic.
Tom and Jen Satterly say that the post-treatment road has not been totally smooth and all sunshine. Recovery and staying healthy takes work, they say.
