Army Vet Runs Psilocybin Retreats as States Outpace FDA
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- Jesse Gould, an army ranger with three combat deployments in Afghanistan, launched Heroic Hearts Project in 2017 after an ayahuasca retreat in Peru relieved his own PTSD; the non-profit has since hosted 1,500+ veterans and spouses with no reported psychotic episodes, thanks to a screening process that excludes people with schizophrenia and certain bipolar or personality disorders.
- Heroic Hearts Project currently has a wait list of more than 2,000 veterans seeking access to its psilocybin and ayahuasca retreats.
- Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon have legalized psilocybin for therapeutic use, and at least eight other states — including Minnesota, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York — are weighing similar legislation, some with bipartisan sponsorship.
- A 2025 study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology following 22 adults with PTSD found psilocybin "administered with psychological support may be safe, well-tolerated and associated with symptomatic improvement in adults with PTSD."
- Minnesota state Rep. Andy Smith (Democrat) co-sponsored a bill with a Republican colleague to let residents 21 and older with PTSD or depression use psilocybin with a licensed facilitator.
- Albert Garcia-Romeu, associate director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins, called psilocybin "a pretty safe substance" but warned that small subsets of users can become "psychotic or manic or even violent" and argued states should follow the FDA-approval route for "authoritative guidelines."
- UCSF clinical psychologist Joseph Zamaria explained that psilocybin disrupts the brain's default mode network, potentially loosening the grip of self-referential trauma narratives so patients can work through them more easily.
- Gould pointed to a 2023 veteran suicide rate of 35 per 100,000 people in the US — more than double the general population's rate, per the CDC — as justification for states acting before federal approval.
Why it matters: Gould's organization has screened 1,500+ participants with zero psychotic episodes, giving state lawmakers a working model to cite as at least eight states draft psilocybin legislation; researchers like Albert Garcia-Romeu at Johns Hopkins still prefer FDA approval, but the 2023 veteran suicide rate of 35 per 100,000 is the human cost Gould is betting the urgency argument on.
