The Department of Defense has announced that it will be allocating nearly $10 million to research on the potential therapeutic benefits of MDMA in active duty military personnel.
Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-TX, secured language that would mandate psychedelic research at DOD in 2023. The department confirmed today that they are distributing $4.9M each to two clinical trials that will explore the use of MDMA for treating conditions such as PTSD and traumatic head injury.
Luttrell said to MEDCAN24 that he was proud of the Department of Defense’s decision to invest real funds in research to help combat PTSD, TBI and other injuries related to war.
“This funding—driven by our work in Congress—moves us closer to giving our warfighters better treatment options beyond the same risky opioid prescriptions,” he said. “Our soldiers deserve to have every possible tool at their disposal in order to stay healthy and fight.” It’s just the start.
Military Times was the first to report that Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (Walter Reed NMMMC) and Emory University would be conducting these studies.
91 members of the active duty who will not be redeployed in the near future, are to be recruited for this study and given MDMA during three sessions. There will be integration and preparatory sessions.
The lead researcher Maj. Aaron Wolfgang told the publication that this study would be the first to include a long-term, double-blind follow-up. This will give us more confidence in the data.
In December 2023 the then-President Joe Biden passed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 (NDAA), which included provisions promoted by Luttrell that mandated the psychedelics at DOD research.
It was the department’s responsibility to establish a procedure by which military personnel with PTSD and TBI can participate in clinical studies involving psilocybin MDMA, ibogaine, or 5-MeO DMT.
In the bicameral talks, the list of psychedelics covered was expanded to include “qualified alternative plant therapies.”
Luttrell was a former Navy Seal who spoke last year to MEDCAN24. He discussed his own personal experience with the topic. In 2018, the veteran experienced firsthand the transformative effects of ibogaine and 5‐MeO‐DMT, which he equated to offloading a “500-pound rucksack” that had weighed him down since suffering a traumatic brain injury from a helicopter crash.
“I’m a pretty conservative, I know,” said he. But this is saving lives. “This is changing the landscape in the medical field, and it is both safe and effective.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI)—co-chair of the Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—told MEDCAN24 earlier this month that he’s optimistic about the prospects of further advancing psychedelics reform under President Donald Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to tackle such complex issues.
He pointed out that, under the prior administration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected an application to authorize MDMA-assisted therapy based on an advisory panel’s recommendation. The denial was branded a “spineless” way to go.
Although Bergman is hopeful about putting money into psychedelics studies, it’s worth noting that the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) created by the Trump administration, recently touted the cancellation of a grant to support marijuana research.
Bergman made a comparison between flying an airplane and the lack of action on cannabis policies under the new Congress. He did this as a war veteran.
“The laws aerodynamics apply to all platforms only up to a specific limit.” In this instance, let’s stay on the side of psychedelics,” said he.
Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), the other co-chair of the PATH Caucus, also spoke with MEDCAN24 and similarly drew a distinction between marijuana and psychedelics policy considerations under the 119th Congress.
“If I can presuppose it, I’m sure we are on the right track” in terms of psychedelics,” said he. “The momentum exists.”
While the federal and state governments have not been particularly interested in marijuana or other modest reforms such as bank reform, this Congress has seen a lot of attention on psychedelics. For example, veterans service organizations recently called attention to the need for alternative therapies such as psilocybin at congressional appropriations hearings.
Meanwhile, in December, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) urged FDA to finalize guidance on conducting clinical trials into psychedelics to facilitate research, including investigations focusing on the potential benefits of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin for military veterans.
FDA released first-ever draft guidance on studying psychedelics last year.
Separately, in December bipartisan congressional lawmakers celebrated news that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will be funding a study to explore the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
After VA announced that it would be providing $1.5 million in funding for the research initiative, Bergman and Correa put out statements cheering the effort and claiming some credit for the development after advocating for expanded federal studies into psychedelics therapy.
Congressional lawmakers also staged an event at the U.S. Capitol calling for the MDMA approval by FDA last July, and they additionally launched an art installation memorializing military veterans who died by suicide.
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Carlosemmaskype, Apollo and other photographers provided the images.