Trump Admin Could Be ‘Revolutionary’ In Advancing Marijuana And Psychedelics Reform, Democratic Congressman Says

A Democratic congressman says the Trump administration presents a
“revolutionary” opportunity to advance drug policy reform around marijuana
and psychedelics.

In an interview with Marijuana Moment on Thursday, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA)
discussed the prospect of cannabis rescheduling under President Donald
Trump, who said recently that a decision on the issue would be announced
within weeks.

“I guarantee you that the administration has been weighing in on these
issues” as GOP lawmakers consider their stances on marijuana reforms,
Correa said, adding that while former President Joe Biden initiated the
rescheduling review that led to a Schedule III reclassification
recommendation, “it never happened.”

“With this administration, you have a lot of the high-level ranking members
and secretaries saying cannabis, mushrooms and psychedelics are good,” he
said. “This is revolutionary—the first time…since we declared the war on
drugs in the 70s that we’re actually having common sense come back to drug
policy.”

Correa, a founding co-chair of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing
Therapies (PATH) Caucus, said that while his preference would be for the
federal government to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA) altogether rather than see it merely rescheduled, “I’ll let that be
answered by the experts who’ll be doing research on the medications and the
medical properties of these chemicals. But I’ll take either one of them.”

“Obviously, my hope would be, as you begin to reschedule some of these
drugs, the bigger question you’re asking is really drug policy. And in my
opinion, we haven’t put enough attention to having people not consume,” the
congressman said. “You get rid of the consumption and the markets probably
disappear—which comes back to the issue of mental health, which comes back
to alcoholism, which comes back to drug addiction, which comes back to
cues, which comes back to psychedelics as possible cure.”

To Correa’s point about the drug policy positions of officials in the Trump
administration, it has been built out in a way that involves multiple
pro-reform members.

The congressman also weighed in on a recent policy change at the Department
of Defense, which notified military branches that service members will start
to be drug tested for the psychedelic compound psilocin, one of the two
main components of psilocybin mushrooms.

“Why now?” Correa asked. “Because they know it works.”

“Everybody’s taking this stuff, man. I may start taking it, too. We’ll
see,” he said.


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For example, the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Doug
Collins, recently reiterated that he’s “very open” to expanding access to
psychedelics therapy for veterans—emphasizing that he’s intent on finding
ways to “cure” people with serious mental health conditions and not just
treat their surface-level symptoms.

After requesting the meeting with Collins in May, Correa and Rep. Jack
Bergman (R-MI), another founding co-chair of the psychedelics 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 HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said recently
that his aim is to free up plant-based medicine options within 12 months.

The VA secretary 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 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.

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).

*The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C. *

*Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.*

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