Bipartisan Lawmakers Talk Psychedelics With Trump’s VA Head, Reaffirming Commitment To Supporting Veterans’ Access To Therapy

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers met with the head of the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Monday to discuss pathways to provide access to
psychedelic medicine as an alternative treatment option for conditions such
as post-traumatic stress disorder (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.

“Our veterans put their lives on the line to defend our county and far too
many come home with invisible wounds. Today’s rate of up to 20 veteran
suicides a day is unacceptable, one veteran suicide is unacceptable,”
Correa said in a press release.

“Veterans deserve treatment that works, and the science shows that
psychedelics have game-changing results,” he said. “It was an honor to meet
with Secretary Collins today to reaffirm our joint commitment to ensuring
our nation’s heroes have access to the care they need and deserve.”

Met with VA Secretary Doug Collins to discuss ways we can better serve our
vets. Too many of these heroes return home with invisible wounds. From
psychedelic-assisted therapies to housing, they deserve access to the care
they need. Let's keep fighting to support our vets.
pic.twitter.com/RZqBOmaFEf

— Rep. Lou Correa (@RepLouCorrea) July 14, 2025

To that point, 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.

“VA is challenging the status quo to find new ways of helping Veterans. To
that end, VA is conducting 11 clinical studies of potential
psychedelic-assisted therapies,” Collins said following the meeting with
the lawmakers. “I appreciate the leadership of Reps. Correa and Bergman on
this issue, and I look forward to working with Congress as VA explores new
avenues to safely and responsibly help those who have served.”

Bergman said veterans “didn’t hesitate to fight for us—and now it’s up to
us to fight for them.”

“Psychedelic-assisted therapies are bringing real hope to those battling
PTSD and other challenges, and thanks to Secretary Collins’ leadership, the
VA is shifting from talk to action,” he said. “Together, we’re advancing
innovative solutions to ensure every Veteran gets the care they’ve earned.”

While Congress has been notably amenable to psychedelics research proposals
in recent sessions, a powerful House committee on Monday blocked a
bipartisan amendment to a spending bill that would have given the
Department of Defense (DOD) another $10 million to support clinical trials
into the therapeutic potential of substances such as ibogaine and psilocybin
.

Under appropriations legislation that was enacted last session, DOD is
already mandated to conduct the trials, with $10 million in previously
provided funding, to investigate the medical value of psychedelics for
active duty military members.

The action blocking the amendment to the spending bill from advancing comes
as bipartisan lawmakers and stakeholders continue to see other advances in
the debate over psychedelic medicine.

For example, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) recently 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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

*Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.*

The post Bipartisan Lawmakers Talk Psychedelics With Trump’s VA Head,
Reaffirming Commitment To Supporting Veterans’ Access To Therapy appeared
first on Marijuana Moment.