JD Vance Adviser Posted on Reddit for Years About Use of Cocaine, ‘Gas Station Heroin,’ Other Drugs

Later on in the thread, a different user accused PsychoticMammal of being Vance because the linked video was unlisted. “Unlisted? 21 views? Senator Vance, is that you?”

“Lol I wish! Would love to be rolling in the dough like him and his VC buddies,” PsychoticMammal replied. “Honestly when I first watched this the thought kinda crossed my mind that maybe he’s familiar because he is a fan himself, but I feel like that’s doubtful given his politics. I’m sure there are a few congressmen who indulge, but I doubt they’re using zenes or other RCs [research chemicals]. Seems like a coke kinda job.”

In the comments of a now deleted post on r/ObscureDrugs, PsychoticMammal, responding to a user claiming that nitazenes are not obscure drugs, called Vance a “Trump boot licker.”

“I just can’t believe that this Trump boot licker Vance is ahead of the curve here,” the comments reads.

PsychoticMammal described numerous instances of drug use in posts dating from the time Kofsky worked for then senator Pat Toomey and Vance. “I love coke on its own, mixed with benzos, mixed with opiates (my fav tbh), and even love a line or two after smoking a few bowls. I’d even say that coke is my second favorite drug behind opiates,” they wrote earlier this year. In May of last year, they wrote about “my latest tianeptine binge which has skyrocketed my tolerance” and “hoping to finally kick Tia”—references to an unscheduled antidepressant that produces an effect similar to opioids and which is banned in 12 states and commonly sold at convenience stores. In May 2022, they wrote: “Coke then opiates is always my go-to. I only speedball if I have enough opiates to redose when I’m out of blow.”

PsychoticMammal has repeatedly posted about suffering from an addiction to tianeptine. In a post from last year titled “ODSMT for Tianeptine Withdrawals,” they wrote, “I’m trying to figure out what the tianeptine to ODSMT equivalent dose conversion is. I have a few grams of ODSMT coming in the mail and hoping to finally kick Tia using it.”

PsychoticMammal has also repeatedly referenced using kratom, a substance sourced from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree that mimics the effects of opioids and is often sold at corner stores and smoke shops. Two years ago, in response to a Reddit user who was seeking pain relief, they wrote: “I’ve dabbled in every drug you can think of—kratom is the one drug that really tripped me up and I found myself addicted to. Not sure what it was about it as it’s like a much milder opiate, but man that shit was hell for me to quit.”

WIRED’s investigation shows that Kofsky appears to be closely tied to the PsychoticMammal username across the internet. In 2013, for example, PsychoticMammal wrote that they were a ski instructor at the same resort, Boston Mills Brandywine Ski Resorts, that Kofsky lists as a past employer on his LinkedIn profile, and which he spoke about to Cleveland Magazine in a 2014 profile of notable area students. In another post from earlier this year, PsychoticMammal referred to the resort as their “home hill.”

In a separate post from November 2013, PsychoticMammal replied to a post about a St. Vincent–St. Mary High School football game, suggesting that they went to that school and correctly listing the final score of the game. Kofsky’s LinkedIn account lists the Akron, Ohio–based school as his former high school, and he is listed as a 2015 graduate in the school magazine.