A southeast Missouri first responder and military veteran says magic mushrooms has given him “a will to live.” Charles Andrew Juden IV, of Sikeston, said he has lived through post-traumatic stress disorder.

On Monday, Juden told the Missouri House Veterans and Armed Forces Committee that he supports House Bill 829 , which would let military veterans use the psilocybin for post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, substance use disorder, or end-of-life care.

Juden told lawmakers said as a first responder and military member, he has witnessed his share of trauma that people shouldn’t see. It was in 2013 that he says his life came crashing down.

The domino that fell during his fire station shift on Christmas Eve was an emergency call for help to respond to a shooting. A six-year-old boy was kidnapped in Jefferson City and taken to Cape Girardeau. He was shot to death.

Juden said he spent the next seven years drinking, doing drugs, ruining relationships and being angry.

“It almost cost me everything,” he said.

After he ended work one day, he drove out to his family’s farm with a loaded 9mm in his hand. Then he got a phone call that changed his life. On the other end was a buddy who was worried about Juden. The friend called to check in on him.

“The man saved my life,” said Juden. “All the sudden I found the will to live.”

His buddy shared his experience with psilocybin – leading Juden to go through an aggressive treatment plan. Juden said he continues to use psilocybin today. His company pays for ten employees a year to seek such treatment.

“I’m living proof, literally living proof, that it works, that it can save lives. Imagine, I’ve been here since three o’clock today. It’s what seven? Imagine how many veterans and first responders have killed themselves because they don’t have the means to get the medicine they need. Not everybody’s got $10,000 or $15,000 to take off and go to Mexico,” he said.

Rep. Richard West, R-Wentzville, is proposing to limit veterans to 150 milligrams over one year and the magic mushrooms would be given in a controlled environment, such as a medical clinic.

“We need to take care of them (veterans),” said West. “And I think this is just one more way of allowing our military veterans to have access to ongoing care that we as a nation deserve to give them.”

John Hernandez, of Table Rock Lake, is a former Marine and licensed therapist.

“The current treatment model is not working.” I was a counselor at Camp Pendleton, California, for the U.S. Marine Corps as a therapist as well. In my own drug treatment centers, 75% of my clients have PTSD diagnoses. Anti-depressants, years of counseling, it could be helpful, but it’s not turning the tide,” said Hernandez.

Rep. Bill Irwin, R-Lee’s Summit, served 33 years in the U.S. Navy, starting as an enlisted hull maintenance technician and retiring as a Navy SEAL Captain.

“We’re losing 22 veterans a day to suicide and nobody is keeping track of the first responders we might be losing also for the same thing,” he said. “More than 400,000 U.S. troops have been diagnosed in the past two decades with PTSD or TBI from microscopic brain injuries related to blast exposure. The question is, how do we get ahead of the 22 a day? We’ve got to step out and take advantage of things like this and find ways to combat that.”

Carl Shepard, a U.S. Army veteran from Columbia, has suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury. He said research shows that psilocybin does not cause addiction or overdose problems.

“For macrodosing, you wake up the next day and you absolutely do not feel like doing it again. It’s very taxing,” Shepard said.

A macrodose is a large dose that he described as an hours-long “cry fest” that sparks an epiphany and leads the person to the behavioral changes that they were avoiding.

“That’s another thing that the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t like about this thing – it (psilocybin) heals you. I’m on no prescriptions right now,” he said. “Years ago, I was on everything, let me tell you.”

Shepard said the number of doses and length of the treatment depends on the level of trauma and pain.

“Macrodosing is what I believe in,” he said. “That’s what we’re talking about for persistent PTSD because the experience leads you to the epiphany.”

“That’s who we’re trying to reach right now,” said Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, the chair of the committee and a U.S. Army Green Beret veteran. “We’re trying to get to the worst of the worst.”

“That’s what’s going to save lives,” said Shepard.

Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, is a U.S. Army and National Guard veteran.

“I think if somebody went through what we went through, and there’s something that could help them get back on track, they should be able to try it. If it’s low oxygen or psilocybin, all these treatments out there,” said Hardwick. “Because for decades, the folks who came back from Iraq and Afghanistan have just suffered – suffered kind of in silence and went to a VA that wasn’t really accommo…you know, wasn’t really meeting their needs.”

Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, said against his “better Reaganite nature,” he is in “total support” of the legislation.

“When I was on the (Missouri House) Health and Mental Health Committee, I first heard something like this. I came in with the attitude of Nancy Reagan, ‘Just Say No,’ dealing with drugs and so forth. But after hearing some of the testimony that I’ve heard, both in Health and Mental Health and on the (House) Veterans Committee, it’s really swayed me to be in favor of something like this because there needs to be something that breaks the cycle and allow people to move on with their lives,” said Seitz.

Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist for Midwest Psychedelic Training in Kansas City, said the organization is working to launch an accredited medical training program for psilocybin treatment. He said about 33 bills in 16 states have been filed this year to study the use or create access to the drug.

“As far as I can tell you, psilocybin and other psychedelic therapies are addiction interrupters and addiction exit drugs,” said Thampy. “They help reformat the brain and help point the individual to a new pathway.”

He urged lawmakers to adopt a patented pharmaceutical drug.

Griffith said he’s not in favor of using synthetic psilocybin.

“I’ve taken that stance mainly because once we get Big Pharma involved, then the price of this is just going to go through the roof. Organic psilocybin, which can be cultured, in my opinion if we are going to go down this route, that’s the best way to go. But getting Big Pharma involved is a mistake,” said Griffith.

During the committee hearing, no one testified in opposition to the bill. The committee has not yet voted on the legislation.