Gaetz, Crenshaw, and AOC Champion Therapies for Veterans in National Defense Act

Gaetz, Crenshaw, and AOC Champion Therapies for Veterans in National Defense Act

The collaboration comes with an unlikely addition.

Jackson Bakich
Jackson Bakich
|
July 16, 2022

WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives,  Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) have partnered with prominent congressional Democrat on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). No, it wasn’t Reps. Charlie Crist (D-FL) or Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), but none other than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

The part of the bill in which the three lawmakers came together involves funding for research concerning the medicinal and therapeutic treatments that veterans receive after coming home from war-torn areas, possibly causing symptoms such as PTSD.

The Floridian’s Javier Manjarres spole to Reps. Crenshaw and Gaetz shortly after votes on Friday where Gaetz expanded more on the technicalities of the amendment and what currently is being prescribed to some veterans upon returning home.

“It’s the authority to do research on this MDMA, psilocybin therapy regimen," said Gaetz. “What we’re working on are your different ways that you can research the use of that with these specific populations that are the most susceptible to addiction, suicide, opioids."

Gaetz added, "You know, a lot of the treatment that these guys (veterans) get, it’s heavy barbiturates, and they call it the ‘combat cocktail.’ When they get home and get a lot of this really disruptive drug regimen.”

Rep. Crenshaw also  stated, “there’s a lot who have gone through this stuff and are the real advocates for it and the research is kind of recent.”

When asked about whether or not the Gaetz and Crenshaw part of the bill will be included, Gaetz followed up with “we had advocates with me and AOC but it actually took a warrior in Dan to debate for it on the floor and pushed into the rules, and I think it’s going to be in the final bill.”

Crenshaw said he was looking for a senator to sponsor the amendment in the Senate, adding that he would like to see Sen. Joni Ernst get involved, adding that he was successful in getting the amendment to pass because there were so many other veterans who have been advocating for it.

For more updates concerning the National Defense Authorization Act, The Floridian has you covered.

Related Posts

Jackson Bakich

Jackson Bakich

Born in Orlando but raised in Lake County, Florida, Jackson Bakich is currently a senior at Florida State University. Growing up in the sunshine state, Bakich co-hosted the political talk radio show "Lake County Roundtable" (WLBE) and was a frequent guest for "Lake County Sports Show" (WQBQ). Currently, he is the Sports Editor of the FSView and the co-host of "Tomahawk Talk" (WVFS), a sports talk radio program covering Florida State athletics in Tallahassee.

Subscribe to the newsletter everyone in Florida is reading.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Sign up for BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

Thank you for your interest in receiving the The Floridian newsletter. To subscribe, please submit your email address below.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.