The prospective Surgeon General, nominated by President Trump, recently espoused the therapeutic potential of untested psychedelic compounds in a published monograph, further suggesting in a newsletter that mycological experimentation facilitated her romantic liaison.

Dr. Casey Means' advocacy for the exploration of guided psilocybin-assisted therapy warrants judicious consideration, particularly given the ongoing federal proscription of psilocybin as a Schedule 1 controlled substance – a classification reserved for compounds deemed to possess no currently accepted therapeutic application and a demonstrably elevated propensity for misuse, notwithstanding the nascent legalisation of psychedelic-assisted therapies in Oregon and Colorado, tempered by subsequent municipal-level prohibitions within the former.

Entrusted with disseminating cutting-edge scientific findings to the American populace, the Surgeon General’s remit encompasses empowering individuals to optimize their well-being and mitigate morbidity and injury risks; historically, occupants of this office have leveraged their platform to enlighten the nation on exigent public health crises, ranging from the AIDS epidemic to suicide prevention initiatives, whilst the seminal 1964 Surgeon General's advisory on the deleterious effects of tobacco presaged a transformative epoch in American health consciousness.

While luminaries such as Dr. C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General during the Reagan administration, achieved enduring notoriety and wielded considerable influence on policy formation, others faded into the mists of collective amnesia.

Means's selection adheres to a discernible Trumpian modus operandi: privileging candidates distinguished by their public éclat over substantive policy acumen; in this instance, the Republican president explicitly stated his rationale for appointing Means rested solely upon the imprimatur of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – "Bobby thought she was fantastic," Trump declared, disavowing any prior acquaintance.

Means, a Stanford alumna with degrees both at undergraduate and doctoral levels, embarked upon a medical residency in Oregon, a tenure ultimately truncated; her license currently reflects an inactive status, and when reached for comment, she demurred from providing any on-the-record statement.

In her 2024 magnum opus, "Good Energy," co-authored with her brother, Calley Means, a former entrepreneur currently ensconced within the Trump administration as a health advisor—whose prior pecuniary interests, notably investments in biopharmaceutical entities specializing in the burgeoning field of psychedelics, are a matter of public record—she proffered a commendation regarding the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances.

The book dedicates considerable attention to metabolic optimisation, what Casey Means terms "eugenic energetics," advocating strategies to address the panoply of stressors, psychic traumas, and ingrained cognitive schemas that constrain human potential and engender metabolic dysfunction.

One potentially efficacious therapeutic avenue, she posits, involves "considering psilocybin-assisted therapy," a direct allusion to the active compound inherent within the mycological genus *Psilocybe*, the epistemological rationale for which is elaborated upon in a subsequent, septcentennial-word exposition.

"Should you discern within yourself a vocation towards deeper exploration, I would further commend to your consideration the undertaking of intentional, clinically-supervised psilocybin-assisted therapy," she elucidated. "Robust empirical data intimate that this specific psychedelic intervention may represent, for certain individuals, an experience of profound existential significance, mirroring my own subjective encounters."

Despite preliminary research hinting at potential therapeutic applications of psychedelics, a comprehensive risk-benefit analysis remains inconclusive, particularly given the propensity of psilocybin to induce protracted hallucinatory states ranging from the euphoric to the profoundly disturbing; while its adjunctive role in psychotherapeutic interventions targeting recalcitrant psychiatric disorders and alcohol use disorder is under investigation, the paucity of research involving healthy cohorts necessitates circumspection, especially considering potential adverse effects encompassing tachycardia, emesis, and cephalalgia, further exacerbated by the inherent perils of unsupervised consumption, wherein drug-induced perceptual distortions could precipitate hazardous behaviours such as accidental exposure to vehicular traffic or other imprudent actions.

Means posited that the opprobrium surrounding psilocybin and other psychedelics was unwarranted, valorising MDMA, colloquially known as ecstasy or molly, for its potential in mitigating the sequelae of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), notwithstanding the Food and Drug Administration's recent demurral on approving MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, precipitated by an advisory panel's concerns regarding methodological lacunae and significant attendant risks.

Means, employing a discourse redolent of indigenous epistemologies, designates psychedelics within her oeuvre as "plant medicine," recounting her inaugural psilocybin experience circa the commencement of 2021, catalyzed, as she avers, by an intrinsic imperative, a sibylline prompting that intoned: "it's time to prepare."

"She articulated a sensation of being subsumed within an inexorable continuum of maternal lineages, a veritable fractal of gestation stretching back to the genesis of life itself; furthermore, she posited that, experientially, psilocybin may serve as a liminal portal, affording ingress to an alternative ontological framework liberated from the circumscribing doxastic structures, affective biases, and idiosyncratic historical contingencies of the ego."

In her October missive, Means avowed that psychedelic interventions had been instrumental in cultivating the requisite psychic latitude for amorous pursuits at the age of thirty-five, elaborating that "plant medicine experiences with trusted guides" had facilitated her readiness for a committed partnership, a sentiment underscored by a mushroom emoji, while explicitly disclaiming any intention to prescribe a similar course of action to others.

In her recent exegesis on desiderata for White House health policy, Means advocated inter alia for enhanced nutritional standards in scholastic catering, proposed the implementation of cautionary labelling on heavily processed comestibles, demanded rigorous scrutiny of vaccine integrity, and expressed a desire to mitigate conflicts of interest, stopping short of explicitly referencing psychedelics, yet lamenting the dearth of incentives for researchers to investigate "generic, natural, and non-patentable drugs and therapies," and stipulating that a proportion of research funding be earmarked for unorthodox approaches to healthcare.

Means, an exponent of psychedelic therapeutics, has avowed the transformative potential of psilocybin, recounting in a 2021 disquisition that its inaugural use during a period of personal exigency catalyzed a profound existential shift across his personal, professional, and spiritual domains; furthermore, he disclosed in 2022 the liquidation of his entire 401k portfolio in favour of speculative investments in two emergent biopharmaceutical entities pioneering psychedelic drug development and research, while remaining unresponsive to inquiries regarding these ventures.

The scheduling of Casey Means' confirmation hearing remains outstanding, her nomination having arisen from the retracted candidacy of Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News medical commentator whose curriculum vitae prompted scrutiny, ultimately leading to the withdrawal of her name by the previous administration.