Ocasio-Cortez Campaign Pays $18,725 to Ketamine Psychiatrist

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, used nearly $19,000 in campaign funds last year to pay a Boston-based psychiatrist known for his work in ketamine therapy, according to Federal Election Commission records. The payments, totaling $18,725, were made in three installments in 2025 and listed as expenses for leadership training and consulting.

The transactions involved Dr. Brian Boyle, a Harvard-trained interventional psychiatrist and chief psychiatric officer at Stella, a chain of mental health clinics that provides innovative treatments for conditions such as treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Boyle is recognized as an authority on ketamine, an anesthetic with dissociative properties sometimes used off-label in mental health care despite lacking full FDA approval for those purposes. The drug, originally developed as a horse tranquilizer, has drawn attention for its potential benefits but also for risks including dissociation and, in some cases, psychosis, particularly for individuals with certain histories.

Ocasio-Cortez's campaign paid Boyle $11,550 in March, $2,800 in May and $4,375 in October. Details about the...