Pittsburg, PA

Veterans in Pittsburgh say they are finding relief in psychedelics

Published

11 months ago

November 6, 2023

Veterans in Pittsburgh say they are finding relief in psychedelics

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Adam Zaffuto came home to Pittsburgh after tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the wars and their emotional scars came back with him.

They came back even as he pursued a new life and a degree at Duquesne University.

“Walking out of classes at Duquesne and starting to do scans for snipers like we would in Iraq. Sounds reverberate in a city like a car backfiring or a garbage truck dropping a dumpster sounds in the city exactly like a mortar round landing, and that would cause these startle responses in me and those are the key highlights of combat PTSD,” he said.

Post-traumatic stress, reliving the horrors of combat, losing friends to exploding IEDs and firefights, walking through hidden dangers at every step. Newly married himself and soon to be the father of a baby girl, Zaffuto continued living in that world and in need of help, the kind the Veterans Administration could not or would not provide.

“I didn’t have six years of counseling to solve this. I needed to be there for my wife. I need to be here for my daughter. I need to be here now,” Zaffuto said.

Zaffuto says he found the breakthrough he was looking for from an unlikely source. Traveling to California, where psychedelic drugs have been decriminalized, he enrolled in a program involving the drug MDMA — which he says allowed him face and accept his trauma.

“I was as able to forgive myself, fully and totally forgive myself, for actions over there, things that I did, things that I saw,” he said. “It was like 10 years of therapy in four hours. I was able to feel all of this trauma, all this all of this anxiety, all of this depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms just wash away.”

Psychedelics — LSD, MDMA, magic mushrooms containing the agent psilocybin — conjure images of San Francisco hippies in the 1960s tripping in Golden Gate Park or horror stories about people losing their minds and doing crazy things. But in recent studies and controlled clinical trials, psychedelics have been shown to help people with severe depression and give peace and perspective to people with terminal illnesses.

Now, a growing number of veterans say the drugs have helped them resolve their PTSD. But because they’re designated as illegal Schedule 1 drugs, research has been limited and the Veterans Administration is prohibited from administering them.

Local Congressman and Naval veteran Chris Deluzio says that could change.

“If there are new therapies, psychedelics, whatever it is that can help folks and are safe, I think we ought to be aggressively exploring how we can test those therapies and make them available to my fellow veterans,” Deluzio said.

As a member of the House Veterans Affairs and Armed Services committees, Deluzio is in support of bipartisan bills to loosen the prohibitions on research and potentially pave the way for the VA to begin administering the drugs. But for now, veterans are on their own.

“Just because a government agency says it’s illegal, that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, doesn’t mean it is not the answer for you,” Zaffuto said. “For me, whether it was legal, illegal, I didn’t care. I wanted the treatment that was going to heal me.”

Today, he is a doting father to his little girl, Stella, and happily married to his wife and jiu-jitsu partner, Alex Pursglove, who also attributes his dramatic recovery to the psychedelic therapy.

“He’s so much more at peace,” Pursglove said. “And so then he brings that into our marriage and home. And he’s connected with our daughter. He’s fun and loving and just the best dad ever,” she said.

And Zaffuto is now on another mission — trying to make that available to his brother and sister vets.

“For me, I’ve lost countless,” Zaffuto said. “You stop counting when you run out of fingers and toes, how many guys you’ve lost to overdoses to suicides and to me I ask myself how many of my brother would still be here if they had access to these treatments.”

Andy Sheehan

KDKA-TV Investigator Andy Sheehan began his broadcast journalism career in September 1992, when he joined KDKA after reporting for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for nine years. Andy’s forte is the in-depth investigative story, exposing corruption and government waste.

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E. Faye Williams: Is misleading different from lying? | New Pittsburgh Courier

Published

21 mins ago

September 29, 2024

Press Room

E. Faye Williams: Is misleading different from lying? | New Pittsburgh Courier

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—I’ve always thought there might be a difference in misleading and lying, but JD Vance has acknowledged that he was lying about Haitian Immigrants when he admitted the story about Haitian Immigrants was intentional knowing it was not true! Even when one of his constituents came apologized to her neighbors about their taking her cat and presumably had a meal with it. Even though she found her cat in her basement, apologized and admitted she was mistaken, that was not good enough for JD or his boss,

Such despicable behavior from two men who want people to vote for them! They want those children whose school they interrupted and put fear in not only the children, but also their parents, the city and state officials! I thought about my 6-year-old nephew who just spent his first few days in first grade. He has been so excited about leaving pre-K and K and moving up to first grade! To have his school so interrupted so quickly would have been devastating.

It’s very challenging for some of the little ones to leave home, spend the day away from their Mom, and as soon as they find out school is not so bad while making new friends, they are told that school is a scary place! Their parents have to admit to them there may be bad people on the way or around the school who want to hurt them!

Do grown men who do that to children deserve to be on a ballot with the possibility of becoming what may be called leaders?

We must admit a lot of candidates running for office that we really do have despicable people masquerading as leaders but are only a disgrace to the America they claim to love more than the rest of us who work so hard to be mentors and examples of good behavior. I am talking about their parents, grandparents, their teachers and others.

I can understand why so many young people are confused about what is good and what is bad!

Do you remember when we were taught the 10 commandments? The Golden Rule? To say Yes Mam and No Mam; Yes, Sir and No, Sir? Please and thank you? You remember when truth mattered and it was less likely to be punished if we did or said something we shouldn’t have, to tell the truth?

Everything about the good old days was not good for everybody, but we had the hope of making things better—not only for ourselves, but for everybody. We were even admonished about throwing away good food by being asked if we knew about all the starving children in China who didn’t have food? We didn’t know the number—and our parents didn’t either, but the question taught us to be thoughtful before we threw away something others might need!

At one time, adults were expected to be good examples for children—but so many are failing miserably now. As we approach November 5th, Voting Day, have you noticed how many Republicans are bad examples? Thankfully, there are a few of them who are truth-tellers, and are not afraid to break the pattern and do the right thing.

JD Vance, Donald Trump, Mark Robinson, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz aren’t ready to break the chain!

Those who are doing better are the Cheneys, lots of former Trump staffers, Adam Kinzinger, Michael Steele, Nicole Wallace, Military Generals, 200 former President George W. Bush’s staff, Black Republicans for Harris and a growing number of others who want to make things better for all of us.

One way to do that is to VOTE as if you really mean to make things better on November 5th!

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the Dick Gregory Society.)

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N.J. woman, Pittsburgh man charged after chaotic car meetups in Philly

Published

10 hours ago

September 29, 2024

Press Room

N.J. woman, Pittsburgh man charged after chaotic car meetups in Philly

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

A woman from New Jersey and a man from Pittsburgh are the latest people to be charged after the chaotic car meetups in Philadelphia last weekend.

Alexis Boyce, 20, from Englishtown, New Jersey, surrendered to Philly police Friday morning.

Police say her vehicle, a Dodge Challenger, was recovered.

Boyce is charged with causing/risking a catastrophe, riot, fleeing a police officer and related offenses.

Albert Woynar, 18, was arrested in his hometown of Pittsburgh by the Pennsylvania State Police on Friday.

He has been transported to Philadelphia.

Woynar is also charged with causing/risking a catastrophe, riot and fleeing a police officer. He’s also charged with aggravated assault.

The chaos unfolded between 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 and lasted until just after 4:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 22.

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Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts odds, expert picks, how to watch: Steelers narrowly favored on the road

Published

18 hours ago

September 29, 2024

Press Room

Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts odds, expert picks, how to watch: Steelers narrowly favored on the road

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has not yet made Justin Fields the team’s official starting quarterback, but he is still in line to start a fourth consecutive game to open the season when they play the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon. The Steelers, with a 3-0 start, are a small road favorite against the 1-2 Colts, who are coming off their first win of the season.

The Steelers’ Week 3 win against the Los Angeles Chargers seemed like a big development for Fields as he had by far his best passing day of the season, leading four scoring drives (including two touchdown drives) in another win. If he is able to guide Pittsburgh to a win on Sunday with another strong performance it would be difficult to imagine Russell Wilson getting the starting job back anytime soon.

It could be a promising offensive matchup for the Steelers, given their desire to run the ball and the Colts’ struggles in stopping the run at times early this season. But Pittsburgh is dealing with some injuries in the ground game, as starting left guard Isaac Seumalo is still working his way back from injury while running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren are both dealing with injuries. Harris is expected to play but was seen with a sling on his arm earlier in the week.

This is also going to be a massive test for Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson, going up against a Steelers defense with a relentless pass rush that is allowing just 8.6 points per game through the first three weeks. Richardson has been a very boom-or-bust player early in his career. While he’s struggling with turnovers, he’s also making some of the most jaw-dropping throws you can imagine from a quarterback. There will be big-play opportunities in both directions here.

Mike Tomlin is only 32-40-3 against the spread as a road favorite in his head coaching career (going back to the start of the 2007 season), but he is 4-1 in such games since the start of the 2022 season.

All odds from BetMGM. Looking for NFL tickets? Find them here.

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