Navy SEAL Who Killed Bin Laden Says Psychedelic Therapy “Works” For PTSD, In Interview With Tucker Carlson

A Navy SEAL veteran credited with killing Osama Bin Laden says psychedelic
therapy has helped him process the trauma he experienced during his time in
the military, stressing that “it works” and should be an available
treatment option.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who now hosts
his own podcast series, Rob O’Neill of the SEAL Team 6 team discussed
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how his supervised use of the
psychedelic ibogaine in Mexico has helped him stabilize himself
psychologically after enduring various traumas during and after his service.

“I do ibogaine now. I do psychedelics,” he said, adding that he takes the
treatment outside of the U.S.—where the substance remains a Schedule I drug
under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)—once a year to prevent symptoms
of PTSD.

“What the psychedelics do is they get me structured,” O’Neill, who founded
the New York-based cannabis company Operator Canna, said. “It works.”

“I’ve seen guys try to drink their way out of [PTSD], which is horrible,”
he said. “The alcohol doesn’t help but the psychedelics do. And that’s why
they’re not legal here: because it works. I don’t know why they won’t help
the veterans with that.”

O’Neill noted that there are organizations such as Veterans Exploring
Treatment Solutions (VETS) that are helping to facilitate psychedelic
treatment for veterans, but he said the government should be doing more to
provide access to the treatment domestically, particularly for the veteran
community.

“We get veterans and first responders to Mexico,” he said of another
company, Ambio. “But we should have this in New York at the VA. We should
have it in Virginia and California. Veterans should be able to get ibogaine
administered medically, and that’s how they do it in Mexico.”

“It gets in your brain. It shows you stuff. And it kind of cleans out the
closet,” O’Neill said.

“It’s terrifying,” he said, while caveating that it’s ibogaine that
produces the intense trips that force people to reconcile with their
traumas and see black-gummed and yellow-teethed demons, whereas DMT is
“awesome.”

Fourteen years after he killed Osama bin Laden, former SEAL Rob O’Neill can
say with authority that the warmongers pushing for regime change in Iran
are disgusting.

(0:00) How O’Neill Accidentally Joined the Navy
(8:29) The Most Challenging Part of Becoming a SEAL
(15:04)… pic.twitter.com/6HvZClPWF0

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 2, 2025

The narrative is familiar. In recent years, veterans have been at the
forefront of the push to expand psychedelics research and provide
therapeutic access to substances such as MDMA, ibogaine and psilocybin,
arguing that it’s a potential alternative that could mitigate the veteran
suicide epidemic and treat symptoms of PTSD, TBI and other mental health
conditions.

O’Neill’s conversation with Carlson came days after the U.S. House of
Representatives included an amendment to a spending bill from Reps. Lou
Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) that would encourage VA to support
research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating medical conditions
commonly affecting military veterans.

Last week, meanwhile, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his agency is “absolutely committed”
to expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy and, alongside
of the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is aiming to provide
legal access to such substances for military veterans “within 12 months.”

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins also
disclosed in April that he had an “eye-opening” talk with Kennedy about the
therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And he said he’s open to the
idea of having the government provide vouchers to cover the costs of
psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive services outside of VA as
Congress considers pathways for access.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

Collins also recently visited a facility conducting research on psychedelics,
and he reiterated that it’s his “promise” to advance research into the
therapeutic potential of the substances—even if that might take certain
policy changes within the department and with congressional support.

The secretary’s visit to the psychedelics research center came about a
month after the VA secretary met with a military veteran who’s become an
advocate for psilocybin access to discuss the therapeutic potential of
psychedelic medicine for the veteran community.

Collins also briefly raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with President
Donald Trump in April.

Meanwhile last month, bipartisan congressional lawmakers asked the VA head
to meet with them to discuss ways to provide access to psychedelic medicine
for military veterans.

In a letter sent to Collins, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman
(R-MI)—co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies
(PATH) Caucus—said they were “encouraged by your recent remarks about the
importance of pursuing research into psychedelic treatments and other
alternative treatments to improve Veterans’ care.”

Correa and Bergman separately introduced a bill in April to provide $30
million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for
excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment
involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.

Bergman has also expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing
psychedelics reform under Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts
to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to
tackle such complex issues.

Kennedy, for his part, also said in April that he had a “wonderful
experience” with LSD at 15 years old, which he took because he thought he’d
be able to see dinosaurs, as portrayed in a comic book he was a fan of.

Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized FDA under the prior
administration over the agency’s “suppression of psychedelics” and a
laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a “war on public
health” that would end under the Trump administration.

In December, VA separately announced that it’s providing $1.5 million in
funding to study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with
PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Last year, VA’s Yehuda also touted an initial study the agency funded that
produced “stunning and robust results” from its first-ever clinical trial
into MDMA therapy.

In January, former VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said that
it was “very encouraging” that Trump’s pick to have Kennedy lead HHS has
supported psychedelics reform. And he hoped to work with him on the issue
if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.

*Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.*

The post Navy SEAL Who Killed Bin Laden Says Psychedelic Therapy “Works”
For PTSD, In Interview With Tucker Carlson appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.