The person Donald Trump chose to be the next top doctor wrote in a book that people might try using some drugs that are not proven to work as medicine. She also said in a letter that using mushrooms helped her find someone to love.

Dr. Casey Means suggests thinking about therapy with psilocybin, which is interesting because it's against the law in the US. It's called a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it's seen as having no medical use and could be easily misused. However, Oregon and Colorado have made this kind of therapy legal, but some cities in Oregon have stopped it again.

The main job of the surgeon general is to give Americans good information about how to be healthier and avoid getting sick or hurt. In the past, surgeons general have taught people about health issues like AIDS and stopping suicide. In 1964, the surgeon general warned people about the dangers of smoking, and this helped to make America healthier.

Some people became famous and changed rules, like Dr. C. Everett Koop, who worked for President Ronald Reagan. But other people were easily forgotten.

Means was chosen like others Trump picked before: they are famous, but not experts in the job. Trump said he picked Means because Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told him she was very good. Trump said he didn't know her, but trusted Kennedy's advice.

Means studied at Stanford University and got her degrees there. She started working as a doctor in Oregon, but she didn't finish. Her medical license is not active now. When we called her, Means didn't want to talk about it.

In her 2024 book, "Good Energy," she suggested looking at psychedelics. She wrote the book with her brother, Calley Means, who is a businessman. He now works for the government as a health advisor and has said he put money into companies that make medicines using psychedelics.

This book talks a lot about how our bodies use energy, which Casey Means calls "good energy". She gives some ideas to help people deal with problems and bad thoughts that stop us from being healthy and full of energy.

One idea is to think about using therapy with psilocybin, a substance in magic mushrooms. She writes about her ideas on this in a long piece of writing.

She said, "If you want to, I suggest you try psilocybin therapy with a guide. Studies show this therapy can be a very important experience for some, like it was for me."

Some studies say that psychedelics might be helpful, but we don't know if the good things are more than the bad things. Psilocybin can make you hallucinate for hours, and this can be nice or scary. It has been tested with talking therapy to help people with mental health problems and drinking too much, but not much research has been done on healthy people. You might get a faster heart rate, feel sick, or get headaches. It can be dangerous to take it without someone watching you. If you hallucinate, you might walk into the road or do other risky things.

Means said that psilocybin and other similar drugs have been seen in a bad way. She said that MDMA, also called ecstasy, can help people who have PTSD. But last year, the FDA did not agree to use MDMA as a treatment for PTSD because some experts thought the research was not good and it could be dangerous.

In her book, Means calls psychedelics "plant medicine." She says she first tried mushrooms around January 1, 2021, because she felt like she needed to get ready for something.

She wrote that she felt like she belonged to a very long line of mothers and babies from the start of life. She also said that, for her, psilocybin could open a path to another world where she didn't feel trapped by her own thoughts, feelings, and past.

In a newsletter from October, Means said she used special drugs to help her find love at 35. She said she did these drug experiences with people she trusted, to get ready for a relationship. She added a mushroom picture. She also said she wasn't telling others to do the same thing.

This month, Means wrote about what she wants for health policy in the White House. She wants schools to serve healthier food and thinks ultra-processed foods should have warning labels. She also wants people to check if vaccines are safe and to stop conflicts of interest. She didn't talk about psychedelics, but she said that researchers don't want to study "normal, natural, and drugs you can't get a patent for." She thinks some research money should go to different ways to improve health.

Calley Means has also said he supports using psychedelic drugs. In a blog post from 2021, he wrote that he tried psilocybin when he was having a hard time. He said it was the most important thing he ever experienced, for his personal life, work, and beliefs. In 2022, he said he used all the money from his retirement savings to buy shares in two companies that are working on psychedelic drugs. He didn't reply to messages asking for his opinion.

Casey Means' hearing to become a doctor in an important job has not been planned yet. Trump chose Means after people had questions about the work experience of Janette Nesheiwat, who used to talk about health on Fox News. She was Trump's first choice, but he took back his offer.