U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his agency is “absolutely committed” to expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy and, alongside of the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is aiming to provide legal access to such substances for military veterans “within 12 months.”
He also said that he speaks with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins about psychedelics policy issues “all the time.”
At a hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Committee on Tuesday, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) asked Kennedy about plans at HHS to advance psychedelics studies, stressing the need to make the novel therapies available to people with serious mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
“We are launching clinical trials now on that at FDA,” Kennedy said, adding that there are currently “11 clinical trials at the VA going on at this point—particularly for our service members and retired service members.”
“It’s critically important that we make sure that the science on this is solid, and the preliminary results are very, very encouraging and it’s something that we want to pursue,” he said, adding that he’s spoke with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who told him “we don’t want to wait two years to get this done.”
“These are people who badly need some kind of therapy. Nothing else is working for them,” Kennedy said. “This line of therapeutics has tremendous advantage, if given in a clinical setting, and we are working very hard to make sure that that happens within 12 months.”
After Crenshaw brought up the fact that Congress has passed legislation mandating that the Department of Defense (DOD) conduct clinical trials into psychedelics for active duty military veterans, the health secretary also noted that he’s “brought on personnel to liaison directly with VA,” and that he speaks with Collins about it “all the time.”
“It’s something that both of us are deeply interested in,” he said.
To that end, Collins also disclosed in April that he had an “eye-opening” talk with Kennedy about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And he said he’s open to the idea of having the government provide vouchers to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive services outside of VA as Congress considers pathways for access.
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.
Meanwhile last month, bipartisan congressional lawmakers asked the VA head to meet with them to discuss ways to provide access to psychedelic medicine for military veterans.
In a letter sent to Collins, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—said they were “encouraged by your recent remarks about the importance of pursuing research into psychedelic treatments and other alternative treatments to improve Veterans’ care.”
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.
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.
Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized FDA under the prior administration over the agency’s “suppression of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.
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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.
In January, former VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said that it was “very encouraging” that Trump’s pick to have Kennedy lead HHS has supported psychedelics reform. And he hoped to work with him on the issue if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.
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