Veterans Affairs Department (VA) of the United States is conducting a clinical trial that will investigate whether Psilocybin could help veterans with depression resistant to treatment.
VA recently announced a trial using MDMA to treat veterans with serious mental illnesses, such as PTSD and alcoholism disorder.
PIVOT (Psilocybin intervention for veterans overcoming treatment-resistant depression) will include veterans with concurrent PTSD.
The randomized, controlled trial—which comes on the heels of an executive order President Donald Trump signed in April with the aim of expediting psychedelic therapy access—will be conducted at five separate VA medical centers across Alabama, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington State.
In a recent press release, VA Secretary Doug Collins stated that “far too many veterans live with mental illnesses which do not respond to treatments.” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a press release that, under President Trump’s leadership, the VA was pursuing every avenue to assess new treatments and give meaningful relief to those veterans who have worn uniforms. This clinical study represents another step towards this goal.
The psilocybin study will compare outcomes between two different dosage levels and will assess levels of depression before and after the psychedelic treatment, as well as tolerability of side effects.
According to the VA, “the research reflects VA’s commitment to pursue innovative solutions for Veterans who haven’t responded to existing treatment,” according to a department press release.
Collins, VA Secretary, touted the development of psychedelic therapies at an event held in Florida. He said that, “we are making huge progress not only in diagnosing things but in new treatment methods, where in the past we were more of a waiting-and-seeing approach and we now have a more cutting edge.”
VA and Department of Health and Human Services launched a partnership last month to work together on the research and development of psychoedelic drugs to help treat serious mental illnesses.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said recently that the Trump administration is “very anxious” to create a pathway for access to psychedelics therapy and that top officials across federal agencies want to “get it out to the public as quickly as possible.”
Kennedy stated in an interview with Joe Rogan Experience, in February that he is confident of “getting it done” and plans to finalize and develop rules to allow patients suffering from conditions like post-traumatic disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety to have access to psychedelics such as psilocybin or MDMA under “very controlled circumstances.”
“Everybody in my agency…is very anxious to get a rule out there that will allow these kind of studies and will allow access under therapeutic settings, particularly [for] “The Secretary of HHS said that the products should be available to soldiers who suffered injuries and have been unable to access them. Now, we’re going through the process. “We’re working together to try and make this happen.”
“I’m sure we can do it,” he stated.
Last June, Kennedy said his agency is “absolutely committed” to expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy and, alongside of the head of FDA, is aiming to provide legal access to such substances for military veterans “within 12 months.”
Collins disclosed last year that he had an “eye-opening” talk with Kennedy about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. Collins said that he is open to having vouchers provided by the government to veterans receiving services outside the VA to pay for psychedelic therapies.
Mark Groeneveld is the photographer.
Sponsored Content
This informative article is brought to you by Gen-Europa →