Jon Dalton retired in 2018 from 23 years as a Navy SEAL. He chose to settle in Fallon, Nevada.
“I started going through some mental health struggles that are pretty typical with the SEALs. I started suffering from anxiety and depression,” he says.
Dalton had served 11 combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sustained seven brain injuries throughout his career, he tells the Weekly.
He sought treatment for mental health through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After seeing a doctor, he walked out with a prescription for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). According to a 2019 study from the National Institutes of Health, SSRIs are only effective in 30% of patients and require weeks before improvement may be seen.
“I found them horrible to be on. I was SSRI-resistant. I was really struggling. And they were not working,” Dalton says. “I had another SEAL brother recommend psychedelic therapy. I was immediately put off by that idea.
“I’m a pretty deep conservative. I fought the war on drugs in South America before 9/11, narcotic missions down there. … And I lumped psychedelics into every other illegal drug.”
After some research, Dalton discovered substances like psilocybin, mescaline and Iboga could be effective mental health treatments. Being a “rule follower”—possession of psychedelic substances is a felony crime in Nevada—he traveled to Mexico to undergo psychedelic-assisted therapy. He says the experience targeted his post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety in a way he’d never experienced before.
“And yet, it was illegal,” he says.
Psychedelics are categorized as Schedule I under the federal Controlled Substances Act, along with heroin. The Drug Enforcement Agency defines the category as having no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.
“These things were being studied for mental health in the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, and then, of course, they were put on Schedule I,” Dalton says. “There were no further studies really for decades, almost 50 years. And then around 2007 to 2010, they started doing studies again, this time with modern technology.”
Anecdotal and scientific evidence is mounting against the stigma of psychedelics, making the case that the drugs can be used for effective treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. The Food and Drug Administration designated MDMA (ecstasy) and psilocybin (magic mushrooms) as “breakthrough” therapies in 2017 and 2018. In December 2024, the VA announced it will fund its first study on psychedelic assisted therapy since the 1960s, allowing for research on MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder among veterans.
States like Oregon and Colorado have implemented regulated access models for supervised psilocybin therapy. Colorado has legalized cultivation and sharing of psychedelic substances. And Utah is developing a pilot program allowing doctors at select hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA for mental health treatments.
In Nevada, lawmakers have made moves to approve a study on the therapeutic use of psychedelics. In 2023, the Legislature passed SB242, creating the Psychedelic Medicines Working Group to steer the study. And as lawmakers convene in Carson City for the 2025 legislative session, Sen. Rochelle Nguyen, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Max Carter, D-Las Vegas, plan to bring forward a bill that would establish a “psilocybin pilot program” for veterans and first responders. The bill would allow for the use of psilocybin under medical supervision.
Nguyen tells the Weekly the program would be “loosely based on Utah’s program” and would be used for research. The idea is to then analyze research from the pilot program and pave the way for a statewide program for psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Nguyen clarifies that the bill would not decriminalize possession of psilocybin, except “to protect those in the medical and research community that are utilizing some of these substances as part of the pilot program.”
Nguyen and Carter also plan to introduce a resolution urging Congress to reschedule psychedelics, to loosen strict controls and allow the substances to be more widely researched.
Although full decriminalization of psychedelics in Nevada isn’t currently on Nguyen’s or Carter’s agenda, that doesn’t mean it won’t be revisited in the future.
“Whether it came by way of ballot initiative, or if someone passed a law, we would have to address the full felony criminal penalties that currently exist for possession of these substances,” Nguyen says.
The Nevada Psychedelic Medicines Working Group released a December report that outlined policy recommendations for a “regulated access program for psychedelic-assisted therapy.” Those recommendations included reducing penalties for psychedelic substances. Currently in Nevada, possession of one ounce of psilocybin is classified as a Category B felony, carrying one to 10 years of jail time and a fine up to $50,000, Nguyen noted.
The report also assessed the mental health of veterans, first responders and civilians in Nevada.
“I didn’t actually know until we did that working group how bad off our veterans are here in this state, particularly when it comes to suicide,” Dalton says.
According to the report, the national average suicide rate for veterans is 33.9 per 100,000. In Nevada, that rate is 50.7 per 100,000. Seven percent of Nevada’s population is veterans, compared to the national average of 6.4% of state populations.
The report added that first responders also have above-average mental health challenges.
“The prevalence of PTSD is notably high, with studies indicating that 18 to 24% of dispatchers and 35% of police officers suffer from the condition,” the report reads.
Dalton says he keeps pushing for psychedelic medicines to be more widely available, because they can help address mental health problems in the state, and also help address the opioid crisis.
“These are our men and women who have served on the front lines, whether overseas or in our own cities and towns. And they rank worse than every other group when it comes to mental health,” Dalton says. “So it makes sense to try to just help them in the form of a pilot program.”
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