PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island: President Donald Trump’s new pick for surgeon general wrote in a recent book that people should consider using unproven psychedelic drugs as therapy and in a newsletter suggested her use of mushrooms helped her find a romantic partner.
Dr. Casey Means’ recommendation to consider guided psilocybin-assisted therapy is notable because psilocybin is illegal under federal law. It’s listed as a Schedule 1 drug, defined as a substance “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Oregon and Colorado have legalized psychedelic therapy, though several cities in Oregon have since banned it.
The surgeon general’s job is to provide Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury. Past surgeons general have used their position to educate Americans about health problems like AIDS and suicide prevention. The surgeon general’s warning in 1964 about the dangers of smoking helped change the course of America’s health.
Some, like Dr. C. Everett Koop, surgeon general under President Ronald Reagan, became widely known with substantial impact on policy, and others slipped easily from memory.
Means’ nomination follows a pattern from Trump to select people known for their public personas more than their policy positions. In the case of Means, the Republican president said he chose her solely on the recommendation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Bobby thought she was fantastic,” Trump said, adding that he did not know her.
Means, who received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University, began a medical residency in Oregon but did not complete it. Her medical license is listed as inactive. Contacted by phone, Means declined to comment on the record.
She made the recommendation about psychedelics in her 2024 book, “Good Energy,” which she wrote with her brother, Calley Means, an entrepreneur who now works in the Trump administration as a health adviser and who has said he invested in biopharmaceutical companies that specialize in psychedelics.
Much of the book focuses on metabolic health, what Casey Means calls “good energy.” She suggests a number of strategies to help people “manage and heal the stressors, traumas, and thought patterns that limit us and contribute to our poor metabolic health and thriving.”
One such strategy is to “consider psilocybin-assisted therapy,” referring to the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. She details her thinking on the subject in a 750-word passage.
“If you feel called, I also encourage you to explore intentional, guided psilocybin therapy,” she wrote. “Strong scientific evidence suggests that this psychedelic therapy can be one of the most meaningful experiences of life for some people, as they have been for me.”
Though there have been some studies suggesting benefits from psychedelics, it has not been shown that benefits outweigh the risks. Psilocybin can cause hours of hallucinations that can be pleasant or terrifying. When paired with talk therapy, it has been studied as a treatment for psychiatric conditions and alcoholism, but very little research has been done in healthy people. Side effects can include increased heart rate, nausea and headaches. Taking it unsupervised can be dangerous. Hallucinations could cause a user to walk into traffic or take other risks.
Means wrote that psilocybin and other psychedelics have been stigmatized. She touted the benefits of MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, for helping people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The Food and Drug Administration last year declined to approve the use of MDMA as a therapy for PTSD after a panel of advisers found the research was flawed and there were significant risks in using it.
Means refers to psychedelics in her book as “plant medicine.” She describes how she took mushrooms for the first time around Jan. 1, 2021, after she was inspired by “an internal voice that whispered: it’s time to prepare.”
“I felt myself as part of an infinite and unbroken series of cosmic nesting dolls of millions of mothers and babies before me from the beginning of life,” she wrote, adding that in her experience “psilocybin can be a doorway to a different reality that is free from the limiting beliefs of my ego, feelings, and personal history.”
In a newsletter she published in October, Means said she had also used psychedelics to help her make “space to find love at 35.” She wrote that she “did plant medicine experiences with trusted guides” to become ready for partnership, punctuating the line with a mushroom emoji. She noted she was not necessarily making recommendations that others do the same.
In a post this month about her White House health policy wish list, Means said she wanted more nutritious food served in schools, suggested putting warning labels on ultra-processed foods, called for investigations into vaccine safety and said she wanted to remove conflicts of interest. She did not specifically mention psychedelics but said that researchers have little incentive to study “generic, natural, and non-patentable drugs and therapies” and that a portion of research budgets should be devoted to alternative approaches to health.
Calley Means has also advocated for the use of psychedelic drugs, writing in a 2021 blog post that he first tried psilocybin during a challenging time in his life and “it was the single most meaningful experience of my life — personally, professionally, and spiritually.” He said in 2022 that he had “sold all of my 401k” and bought stocks in two companies that are developing and researching psychedelics. He did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Casey Means’ confirmation hearing has not been scheduled. Trump chose Means after questions were raised about the resume of his first pick for surgeon general, former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, and he withdrew her nomination.
Trump surgeon general pick praised unproven psychedelic therapy, said mushrooms helped her find love
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Trump surgeon general pick praised unproven psychedelic therapy, said mushrooms helped her find love
- In a book she co-authored, titled “Good Energy,” Casey Means refers to psychedelics in her book as “plant medicine”
- She described how she took mushrooms after she was inspired by “an internal voice that whispered: it’s time to prepare”
Minnesota man sentenced to 59 years for crash that killed 5 young women
- Derrick Thompson admitted his guilt for the first time and begged for forgiveness at an emotional sentencing hearing
- Relatives and friends of the victims offered no forgiveness at the hearing
MINNEAPOLIS, USA: A Minnesota man was sentenced to nearly 59 years Thursday for causing a crash that killed five young women who were out making preparations for a friend’s wedding.
Derrick Thompson admitted his guilt for the first time and begged for forgiveness at an emotional sentencing hearing. He said he was sorry for what he did and “there is not a day I don’t ask God why he didn’t take me instead and let your beautiful angels still be here,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
But relatives and friends of the victims offered no forgiveness at the hearing. Instead, they attacked Thompson for waiting until his sentencing to admit his crimes and putting their families through two criminal trials.
A state court jury convicted the 29-year-old from the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park of third-degree murder and vehicular homicide for the June 2023 crash that killed Salma Abdikadir, Siham Adam, Sabiriin Ali, Sahra Gesaade and Sagal Hersi. His defense claimed during the trial that Thompson was not the driver of an SUV that ran a red light and plowed into a Honda Civic.
The victims, between 17 and 20 years old, were on their way home from preparations for a friend’s wedding. Their deaths sparked sorrow and outrage in Minnesota’s sizable Somali American community.
“I hope reality suffocates you for the rest of your life,” said Sundus Odhowa, Siham Adam’s older sister. ”You should never know freedom again. You should never know peace.”
Authorities say Thompson was driving a rented Cadillac Escalade SUV at more than 100 mph (160 kph) down a freeway in Minneapolis before exiting, blowing through the red light and smashing into the sedan in which the young women were riding.
Minnesota inmates typically serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and one-third on supervised release. With credit for 767 days of time already served, Thompson could go free in about 37 years. Thompson, who already had a felony record, was convicted separately in November on federal drug and firearms charges. He’s still awaiting sentencing on those counts.
Thompson is the son of a former Democratic state representative from St. Paul who was sharply critical of police during his one term in office.
British medics say Gaza is ‘televised genocide’ and ‘unlike anything’ seen in war zones
- Medical volunteers have been working tirelessly despite limited supplies, and have witnessed “very obvious ... malnourishment in the community”
- Dr. Tom Potokar says he lost 11 kg during his recent trip to Gaza, despite bringing food with him, while his Palestinian medical colleagues appeared increasingly fatalistic
LONDON: British healthcare workers volunteering to treat patients in the Gaza Strip report witnessing harrowing injuries, including severe burns and shrapnel wounds as well as cases of extreme starvation due to Israeli attacks and restrictions on aid.
Sam Sears, a 44-year-old paramedic, told the British tabloid Metro that the range of injuries he has seen at a humanitarian medical tent facility in Al-Mawasi, on the southern coast of Gaza, includes blast injuries, shrapnel wounds, gunshot wounds and polytrauma.
He is volunteering with the UK-Med charity as part of a team responding to starvation in Gaza, following the emergence of distressing images of malnourished Palestinians, including some infants, which have prompted widespread condemnation, including from the UK government.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before,” Sears said.
“Especially like nothing I’ve seen in the UK, and I have worked in other areas like Sierra Leone for Ebola and Ukraine in the war, but this here is completely different. It’s like times ten here.
“We are struggling for food here at the moment, let alone (Palestinian) staff that are working with us who have had to manage this for the last 20 months.”
He said that medical volunteers have been working tirelessly despite limited supplies, including fuel, and it was “very obvious (that) we have got malnourishment in the community.”
“We can buy certain things from the market but it’s very scarce, it’s also costing quadruple or more than what it normally would. A kilogram of sugar at the minute is costing $130, so it’s just extortionate,” he said.
The UK-Med charity operates two field hospitals in Gaza, treating 500 people daily, and includes an operating theater for lifesaving surgical procedures.
“The ceasefire is needed, not just a pause but a permanent end to the hostilities,” Sears said. “The people in Gaza have suffered immensely, they have got nowhere to call home ... They are hungry, malnourished, the conflict needs to stop really.”
“The healthcare and aid needs to come in for the 2.1 million people who it’s needed for here,” he added.
Dr. Tom Potokar, a veteran British plastic surgeon who has volunteered in various Palestinian hospitals and has visited Gaza 16 times since 2018, said that the healthcare system is overwhelmed with severe burn victims from Israel’s military actions.
Dr. Potokar told the Telegraph newspaper that he had been operating on 10 to 12 patients suffering burns from blasts each day, with three-quarters of those cases being women or children. “That’s taking the top-10 priority, but there’s still plenty more behind that that needed operating,” he said.
He volunteered nearly two years ago during the initial six weeks after Israel began its attacks on the Gaza Strip in late 2023. He is the founder of the medical charity Interburns, established in 2006, which addresses the lack of burns expertise in poorer nations and war zones. When he arrived for the first time in Gaza in 2018, he discovered that there were only two fully qualified plastic surgeons, one of whom was partially retired.
His most recent visit, with the Ideals international aid charity, was in May and June, during which he witnessed terrible injuries from explosions.
“I saw many cases of bilateral or triple limb amputations, huge open wounds on the back, on the chest, with the lung exposed. Really horrendous blast injuries from shrapnel, and as I say, a lot of them combined with burns as well,” he said.
The most devastating cases involved children, with some cases sustaining about 90 percent burns.
“There’s nothing you can do. Even if there was not a conflict there, in that country, in that scenario, a 90 percent burn (case) when it’s almost all full thickness is not going to survive,” he said.
“But then you are talking about a nine-year-old and some end-of-life dignity, and unfortunately they don’t die in a couple of hours, it takes four or five days, so you see this patient every four or five days, knowing full well that there’s absolutely nothing you can do.”
Dr. Potokar described treating patients who are “skin and bone” due to Israeli aid restrictions leading to mass starvation in Gaza.
“Wounds are just stagnating because they are just not getting food.”
He said that he lost 11 kg during his recent trip, despite bringing food with him. His Palestinian medical colleagues appeared increasingly fatalistic, he said, as more than 100 human rights organizations warned this week that some staff members have become too weak to continue their work due to food shortages.
Dr. Potokar described Gaza as the “world’s first televised genocide” and said that there was a lack of response to end the war in the coastal enclave.
“We are putting plasters on a haemorrhaging aneurysm. The problem is the political initiative, the total lack of global, moral, ethical insight into this and desire to stop it,” he said.
Man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump can represent himself at trial, judge says
- Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Ryan Routh’s request but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel
- Routh said during the hearing that his attorneys were diligent, but they didn’t listen to him and were afraid of him
FLORIDA: A man charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last year in South Florida can represent himself during his trial, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Ryan Routh’s request but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel. Earlier in the week, the federal public defenders had asked to be taken off the case, saying Routh had refused repeated attempts to meet with them.
Routh said during the hearing that his attorneys were diligent, but they didn’t listen to him and were afraid of him.
“How are they supposed to represent me and say I’m not a dangerous person when they don’t believe that?” Routh said.
Routh, 59, is scheduled to stand trial in September, a year after prosecutors say a US Secret Service agent thwarted his attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf. Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.
Reiterating her message from a July 10 hearing, Cannon told Routh that she doesn’t intend to delay the Sept. 8 start date of his trial, even if she lets him represent himself. She also once again told Routh that she believes it’s a bad idea for Routh to represent himself.
Routh, who said he completed two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understands the potential challenges and would be ready for trial.
Cannon said Thursday that she decided to hold the second hearing after receiving a June 29 letter from Routh that did not arrive at the courthouse until after that hearing. In that letter, Routh said he and his attorneys were “a million miles apart” and that they were refusing to answer his questions. He also wrote that he could be used in a prisoner exchange with Iran, China, North Korea or Russia.
“I could die being of some use and save all this court mess, but no one acts; perhaps you have the power to trade me away,” Routh wrote.
Cannon told Routh that she believed the federal public defenders assigned to Routh’s case were excellent attorneys.
“I find no basis to believe that there has been ineffective assistance of counsel,” Cannon said.
The judge also reminded Routh that she will not be able to assist Routh or provide legal advice during the trial.
Cannon also briefly addressed Routh’s suggestion of a prisoner exchange, saying, “I have no power or any opinion of anything you’ve written there.”
On Wednesday, the federal public defender’s office filed a motion for termination of appointment of counsel, saying “the attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken.” Attorneys said Routh has refused six attempts to meet with their team, including a scheduled in-person meeting Tuesday morning at the federal detention center in Miami.
“It is clear that Mr. Routh wishes to represent himself, and he is within his Constitutional rights to make such a demand,” the motion said.
Cannon denied their motion on Thursday, explaining that their office was in the best position to prevent delays to the trial.
The US Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney.
Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15 at his West Palm Beach country club. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said.
Routh will have his first chance to represent himself on Friday during a scheduled hearing on whether certain evidence and testimony can be used at trial. His former attorneys are expected to be present as standby counsel.
In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
Hulk Hogan, icon in professional wrestling, dies at age 71
- Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, passed away at Florida hospital after suffering cardiac arrest
- His public persona transcended the ring, making him a household name and WWE Hall of Famer 2005
CLEARWATER: Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in the world of professional wrestling, has died at the age of 71, Florida police and WWE said Thursday.
In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a call Thursday morning about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said in a statement on Facebook.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon.
He won at least six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
Hogan was also a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including a reality show about his life on VH1, “Hogan Knows Best.”
Hogan’s public persona has transcended the ring, making him a household name. He appeared in numerous movies — including the third “Rocky” film, where he took on the title character, played by Sylvester Stallone. Hogan also had a reality show about his life on VH1, called “Hogan Knows Best” in the early 2000s.
The attention on the intimate details of Hogan’s personal life has not always been welcomed by the superstar. A Florida jury sided with Hogan in 2016, awarding him $115 million in a lawsuit against Gawker Media for posting a video of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife.
Hogan contended the 2012 post violated his privacy. The lawsuit forced Gawker to shutter and was closely watched by First Amendment experts and media lawyers alike.
WWE posted a note on X saying it was saddened to learn the WWE Hall of Famer had passed away.
“One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans,” it said.
Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launches new UK political party
- In announcement, Corbyn and Sultana called for a “mass redistribution of wealth and power,” said they would “keep demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel”
LONDON: Former leftist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced Thursday he was forming a new political party alongside another ex-member of Britain’s ruling party, as the UK’s political landscape continues to splinter.
Corbyn, who lost two elections as Labour leader in 2017 and 2019, and fellow independent MP Zarah Sultana referred to the new left-wing outfit as “Your Party,” but later said its name still had to be decided.
“It’s time for a new kind of political party. One that is rooted in our communities, trade unions and social movements,” they said in a joint statement.
In their announcement, they called for a “mass redistribution of wealth and power” and said they would “keep demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel.”
They also committed to a “free and independent Palestine.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has pulled Labour to the center since succeeding Corbyn as leader, faces growing calls within his party to recognize a Palestinian state.
Corbyn, 76, stepped down as Labour leader after overseeing its worst result in decades, when it was trounced in the 2019 general election by the Conservatives, then led by Boris Johnson.
Labour under Starmer suspended him in 2020 after he refused to fully accept the findings of a rights watchdog’s probe into claims that anti-Semitism had become rampant within Labour’s ranks under his leadership.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission ruled the party had broken equality law when Corbyn was in charge.
Corbyn said anti-Semitism had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons.”
Last year Corbyn announced he would stand as an independent in the July 2024 general election after Labour failed to put him forward as a candidate.
He was expelled from the party but still went on to win comfortably his Islington North seat in London, which he has represented for more than 40 years.
Sultana, an MP since 2019, was suspended by Labour last year after she and several other members of parliament voted to scrap a controversial cap on child benefits.
While it remains to be seen whether the new movement will take off, its formation appears to confirm a trend in British politics toward a multi-party system.
British politics has long been dominated by Labour and the Conservatives, but three other parties are challenging that order.
The center-left Liberal Democrats won 72 seats in the 650-seat parliament in July 2024, while Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK party won about 14 percent of the vote.
It picked up five seats, an unprecedented breakthrough for a hard-right party in Britain.
Farage’s Euroskeptics swept dozens of council and mayoral seats in local elections in May and are leading national opinion polls, although the next general election is not expected until 2029.
While Reform are picking up support on the right, Labour is also losing votes to the Greens on the left.
Starmer, a former chief state prosecutor who is seen as too right-wing for some left-wingers in his party, recently suspended four lawmakers who rebelled over his attempts at reforming welfare.
They currently sit as independents and Westminster watchers will be keeping a close eye on whether they are tempted to join Corbyn’s new party.
“I do think there is space for a left-wing populist party in the UK with a charismatic leader that could pose an enormous threat to Labour and the other parties, but it’s going to take a lot to convince me that Jeremy Corbyn can be it,” Chris Hopkins, political research director at polling firm Savanta, told AFP.
