Politics
North Carolina Could ‘Lead The Nation’ In Expanding Psychedelic Access For Veterans, GOP Senator Says
North Carolina has the opportunity to “lead the nation” in expanding access to psychedelic medicine for military veterans suffering from major mental health conditions, a Republican state senator says.
At an event organized by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) and the North Carolina Psychedelic Policy Coalition, Sen. Bob Brinson (R) and Rep. Eric Ager (D) discussed psychedelics reform following a screening of a documentary, In Waves and War, that followed three Navy SEALs who had life-changing experiences with plant medicine after serving missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In North Carolina, with its significant veteran population, “we have the people that are here and the retirees that are here that—if we can figure out how to establish it—we can lead the nation in this concept,” Brinson said. “It’s a matter of figuring out how.”
The senator said that he was educated on the issue after hearing directly from veterans who visited him and shared their own experiences with psychedelic therapy.
“You can delete an email, you can delete a voicemail—but if you’re in in front of my face, telling me your story, I can’t deny that,” he said. “And so you didn’t have to convince me as a veteran, you didn’t have to convince me of the problem. I knew what the problem was.”
“I’m tired of treating symptoms and taking all of these drugs, and that’s another story. Then we’re kind of hinting around here, but for them to come to my office and say, ‘This helped me. This cured me’—and I understand it’s a light cure, but this is something we need to explore and do,” the senator said. “That was what hooked me.”
Ager, for his part, said that he first learned about the issue about six months after joining the legislature in 2023.
“It was clear that people were coming and talking about it, and it was working,” he said. “And there was a huge amount of research going on… You spend a long time in the military, and you know lots of people from all sorts of parts of the military, and have lots of friends from even childhood and beyond that are struggling with a lot of these things. And it’s like, you know, why?”
“Why are we making it so hard to do here—something that clearly works, and it clearly ought to be studied and understood?” he said. “And it dawns on you frequently that it’s really just the fact that we have all these very old biases from growing up in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s—and I think we have a big task to do to just really provide information to legislators, many of whom haven’t gotten out and served or been around the world and who have lived in their small communities for most of their lives.”
“To me, it’s one of those things that we just have to do a lot of education with our with our peers. This is what this is all about,” he said. “It’s the stories. It’s folks like you all, and those in the movie, and any way you can find to tell that story.”
“Certainly, I think we can help get people in the door as legislators and certainly willing to do that,” Ager added. “But in the end, the stories that you all tell are the ones that are really going to turn the tide.”
SSDP said in a press release that, at the screening, the “emotion and energy in the room was undeniable.”
“Attendees walked away both moved and motivated reminded of the urgency of expanding access to safe, effective psychedelic treatments for veterans and others in need,” the organization said. “This event highlighted not only the dedication of our community but also the bipartisan support this effort has garnered from both chambers of the North Carolina legislature.”
Gina Giorgio, director of strategy and development at SSDP, told Marijuana Moment that the screening of In Waves and War “was a powerful reflection of how far North Carolina has come—and how much potential we have to lead.”
“The response from veterans, community members, and policymakers was incredibly moving. There’s widespread interest in our Republican-led legislature and across state agencies to move a Psychedelic Medicine Task Force forward, along with a strong grassroots presence that’s been building for years,” she said.
“In North Carolina, there’s real momentum building—not just in the legislature, but among people who’ve lived this trauma. The emotion in that room made it clear we can’t afford to wait. Veterans are dying by suicide every day,” Giorgio said. “Families are holding on, hoping for something that works when nothing else has. We have the research, we have bipartisan will, and we have a community ready to do the work. The question now is whether our legislature will move fast enough to meet the demand.”
SSDP said it hoped the conversation builds on momentum for legislative reform, including a bipartisan bill filed in March that would authorize the creation of a new state psychedelics task force to study and issue recommendations on providing access to the alternative therapies to address serious mental health conditions.
The legislation from Sens. Sophia Chitlik (D) and Bobby Hanig (R) would enable the state Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create the body. Among its responsibilities, the North Carolina Mental Health and Psychedelic Medicine Task Force would need to evaluate that “potential use of psychedelic medicine in addressing the State’s ongoing mental health crisis” and “barriers to implementation and equitable access.”
The bill filing came about two years after a North Carolina House committee approved a separate bill to create a $5 million grant program to support research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and MDMA and to create a Breakthrough Therapies Research Advisory Board to oversee the effort. The measure was not ultimately enacted, however.
—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—
Meanwhile in North Carolina, the governor in June reiterated his support for legalizing marijuana, stressing the need to create a regulated cannabis program to mitigate the risks associated with products in the intoxicating hemp market.
“Our state’s unregulated cannabis market is the Wild West, and it is crying out for order,” the governor said, adding that’s the reason he signed an executive order this summer creating a bipartisan commission to study cannabis legalization in hopes of moving the GOP-controlled legislature to act on reform.
In recent sessions, multiple limited medical marijuana legalization bills advanced through the Senate, only to stall out in the House.
Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.
