The GOP-controlled House Committee has passed an amendment to the defense bill, which must be approved. This would mandate a report on an ongoing pilot program of psychedelic therapies for veterans and active-duty military personnel.
Morgan Luttrell, a Republican from Texas who led the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of the House Armed Services Committee passed it as part a group of proposals for changes in the NDAA on Tuesday.
In the 2024 NDAA, “the Department of Defense was directed to use MDMA in a pilot program to help veterans who still suffer from PTSD,” according to the amended bill report. The members also supported the DOD funding of two ongoing psychedelics trial.
It says: “More oversight and increased communication are necessary with the Department to ensure that the best innovative methods available for those suffering from PTSD can be delivered.”
In the amended report, the Defense Secretary is required to submit a “no earlier than 1 February 2026” report to the committees that have jurisdiction. The report should include “the findings, shortcomings, and recommendations for continuing and improving the current MDMA programs to treat Post Traumatic Stress disorder patients.”
In the 2024 NDAA, DOD was required to create a procedure by which military personnel with post-traumatic disorder (PTSD), or traumatic head injury, could take part in clinical trials involving psilocybin MDMA, ibogaine, and 5-MeO DMT.
The DOD can partner with federal and state agencies as well as universities to conduct clinical trials with funding of $10 million.
In accordance with the NDAA 2024, the secretary of defense was to report on trial results and participant information within one-year after its enactment. This would be repeated every three years.
Although Congress was notably receptive to research on psychedelics in recent sessions the House Rules Committee blocked separately a bipartisan amendement to a spending measure led by Luttrell which would have granted DOD an additional $10 million to help support clinical trials of therapeutic substances such as Ibogaine and Psilocybin.
The head of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs met recently with bipartisan lawmakers to discuss the best ways to offer psychedelics as a new treatment option to treat conditions such as PTSD.
After requesting the meeting with VA Secretary Doug Collins in May, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—founding co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—said the three had a productive conversations about advancing psychedelics therapy for the veteran community.
Collins has stood out as a VA secretary who’s especially passionate about exploring the potential of substances such as ibogaine and MDMA to provide relief from serious mental health conditions, coordinating with other officials including U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said recently that his aim is to free up plant-based medicine options within 12 months.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) separately said the psychedelic ibogaine represents an “astonishing breakthrough” in the nation’s current “sick care system” that’s left people with serious mental health conditions without access to promising alternative treatment options—and he intends to use his influence to advance the issue.
Meanwhile, a Navy SEAL veteran credited with killing Osama Bin Laden said during a Fox News interview last week that psychedelic therapy has helped him process the trauma he experienced during his time in the military, stressing that “it works” and should be an available treatment option.
That interview came days after the U.S. House of Representatives included an amendment to a spending bill from Correa and Bergman that would encourage VA to support research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating medical conditions commonly affecting military veterans.
Collins, for his part, also disclosed in April that he had an “eye-opening” talk with Kennedy about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. Collins said he was open to the notion of the government providing vouchers for the cost of psychedelic treatment for veterans that receive VA services.
Collins also recently visited a facility conducting research on psychedelics, and he reiterated that it’s his “promise” to advance research into the therapeutic potential of the substances—even if that might take certain policy changes within the department and with congressional support.
The secretary’s visit to the psychedelics research center came about a month after the VA secretary met with a military veteran who’s become an advocate for psilocybin access to discuss the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine for the veteran community.
Collins also briefly raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump in April.
Correa and Bergman separately introduced a bill in April to provide $30 million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.
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Bergman has also expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing psychedelics reform under Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to tackle such complex issues.
Kennedy, for his part, also said in April that he had a “wonderful experience” with LSD at 15 years old, which he took because he thought he’d be able to see dinosaurs, as portrayed in a comic book he was a fan of.
Kennedy criticized the FDA’s prior administration for “suppressing psychedelics”, and other matters that, he claimed, amounted to “a war on public health”. He said that this would be ended under Trump.
In December, VA separately announced that it’s providing $1.5 million in funding to study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Last year, VA’s Yehuda also touted an initial study the agency funded that produced “stunning and robust results” from its first-ever clinical trial into MDMA therapy.
Shereef Enahal, the former VA under secretary for health who was appointed by Trump to lead HHS in January said it was “very encouraging”, that Trump had chosen Kennedy as his HHS leader and that Kennedy supported reform of psychedelics. And he hoped to work with him on the issue if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.
Dick Culbert provided the photo.
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