US States Expand Marijuana And Psychedelic Therapy Options For First Responders With PTSD

By Amanda Watford, Stateline

A growing number of states are turning to options beyond standard counseling and medication to address post-traumatic stress among first responders.

Firefighters, police officers and paramedics regularly encounter fatal accidents, violent incidents and other traumatic scenes that can leave lasting mental health effects.

“When you are in the fire service, or any first responder industry, or especially in the military, stuff builds up over time, and what happens is you see so many things that the crazy stuff starts to at least seem normal,” said Jason Cerrano, a retired Missouri firefighter and paramedic with more than two decades of experience who now serves as director of commercial research and development at IDEX Fire & Safety.

In Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation last month establishing a Post-Traumatic Stress Injury Commission tasked with reviewing applications from qualifying first responders seeking help covering treatment expenses.

Maryland enacted a different kind of protection this year, shielding firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics and other rescue personnel from workplace discrimination tied to legal off-duty medical marijuana use. The law takes effect in October and covers registered medical cannabis patients who test positive for cannabis metabolites but show no impairment while working.

Other states are looking at newer treatment approaches. Connecticut passed a law broadening a Yale University pilot program studying psilocybin-assisted therapy, opening it to any state resident 18 or older who meets clinical eligibility standards set by Yale's institutional review board. The program had previously been restricted to veterans, retired first responders and frontline health care workers.

In Missouri, lawmakers moved forward a bill that would let veterans and first responders enrolled in approved research studies receive the psychedelics psilocybin and ibogaine under medical supervision for PTSD and related mental health conditions. However, the legislative session ended in May before the bill could reach the governor's desk.

This story was first published by Stateline.

Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.