So, I made it to Frankfurt, and then to Salzburg. Nice flight. A little jet-lagged, but not too bad. I’m headed to Munich to visit a mint, where a very special coin is about to be designed and produced from scratch. It’ll be a 5oz, solid silver chunk of legal tender commemorating the skilled trades. My friends at US Money Reserve wanted to do something to help raise money for our next round of work ethic scholarships, and agreed to help me create a unique coin to honor America’s skilled workforce. I think it’s gonna be a pretty great fundraiser, and I’ll share more details as soon as I can. In the meantime, I’ve been derelict about calling your attention to several other matters of potential interest. For instance, my recent interview with Governor Rick Perry is stirring up a LOT of conversation, and I’m glad.
Rick, (he insists that I call him that), is currently up to his neck in two projects that redefine “ambitious.” The first is Fermi America, a partnership with Texas Tech that’s now poised to become the world’s largest energy-driven AI complex, integrating nuclear, natural gas, utility, solar, and battery power in one massive location. It’s fascinating on every level. The second is a potential cure for PTSD and virtually all forms of addiction.
Ok, maybe not a cure. Maybe “treatment” would be a better word? But for those wrestling with myriad varieties of depression and addiction, it’s a distinction without a difference. The approach in question revolves around a very old plant-based substance called “Ibogaine,” that has for years, been a classified as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, and therefore illegal in this country. But not in Mexico, where thousands of troubled Americans have journeyed to find a measure of peace.
Rick Perry, along with a growing number of others – many in the medical profession – is on a mission to make Ibogaine available in this country and they make a VERY compelling case as to why. In short, hundreds of individuals, many of whom are veterans, have been restored to their former selves after just one treatment. Rick believes the time is long past due to bring those clinics north of the border and get Ibogaine off Schedule 1.
I know this topic is controversial. When I first announced, I’d be talking to the former governor about a hallucinogen, I heard from people who expressed their “disappointment.” They felt it would be irresponsible for me to publicly discuss any controlled substance without medical experts on hand to offer a cautionary perspective. Others wanted me to know that the science was not yet complete, and that there may be unknown dangers not yet factored in.
Noted.
But here’s the thing – the house is on fire. It’s not in danger of catching on fire, it’s fully involved, and raging out of control. That’s what the veteran suicide problem is, and has been, for decades – a house afire. The number of veterans killed in Afghanistan and Iraq is dwarfed by the number of those who have taken their own lives. And the number of Americans hopelessly addicted to alcohol and drugs is currently off the charts.
Personally, I don’t think this is the time to wait for the medical establishment, or our elected officials, or all the various agencies to “weigh in” on the potential risks of a plant-based substance that seems to get some extraordinarily positive results. Dozens of veterans are dying every week, hundreds every month, thousands every year. These men and women, in my opinion, should have the right to try to save themselves with any substance that can offer them a reasonable shot at peace. And the evidence that Ibogaine can do so is impossible to ignore.
It’s worth your time.
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