Science & Health
Using Marijuana Helps Military Veterans Experience Lower PTSD Symptoms On Days They Use It, Federally Funded Study Shows
New federally funded research on the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and cannabis use in military veterans finds that marijuana is associated with milder PTSD symptoms and reduced negative affect—the tendency to experience frequent or intense negative emotions.
The study, published in the September issue of the journal Psychiatry Research, looked at survey responses from 74 recently discharged veterans with heightened PSTD symptoms and self-reported past-month marijuana use. The report highlights as a key finding that “cannabis use links to lower PTSD symptoms and negative affect same-day.”
Data was collected through both wearable technology and subjective questionnaires.
The 10-author team behind the new paper represents institutions in the U.S. and U.K., including the RAND Corporation, New York University, Kings College London, the University of Southern California and the University of Washington.
Findings are expected to help inform the use of marijuana as a mode of symptom management in veterans, authors wrote, noting that past research has indicated that cannabis use “has been noted as a means to cope with both symptoms of PTSD and negative affect” and is “increasingly common among U.S. veterans, ranking as the most used psychoactive substance.”
The researchers wrote that their paper “aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of how fluctuations in negative affect influence cannabis use when PTSD symptoms change at the daily level, and vice versa.”
“Results may offer valuable insights into the dynamic interplay between PTSD and cannabis use, informing future interventions targeting affect regulation,” they said.
The new study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, follows a separate report published earlier this year that found medical marijuana—especially non-flower formulations—“represent a cost-effective adjunctive therapy for moderate PTSD under various reimbursement scenarios.”
That research concluded that given certain assumptions about the efficacy and cost of medical cannabis for PTSD, it would be worthwhile for health insurance providers and other healthcare payors to include coverage of marijuana alongside other standard forms of treatment.
Late last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a landmark clinical trial meant to evaluate the efficacy of smoked medical marijuana to treat PTSD in military veterans.
Organizers at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, described Phase 2 of that research as “a randomized, placebo-controlled study of 320 Veterans suffering from moderate to severe PTSD who have previously used cannabis.”
Another recent study of military veterans who attended psychedelics retreats found that psilocybin and ayahuasca both yielded significant improvements in participants’ mental health, including reductions in symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety as well as improved sleep, quality of life and post-deployment reintegration.
That report, published in the journal Brain and Behavior, describes the research as “the first study to investigate psychedelic retreats as a holistic therapy for veterans’ mental health alongside community reintegration.”
“Psilocybin and ayahuasca retreats significantly improved veterans’ mental well-being, quality of life, PTSD, anxiety, depression, sleep, concussion, and post-deployment reintegration,” it said, adding that the retreats “could provide a treatment framework to aid veterans’ recovery by addressing psychological well-being, communal factors, and reintegration into civilian life.”
Pressure has been building at the state and federal levels to ease access to psychedelics, especially among veterans with PTSD.
The head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said recently that he’s “particularly proud” of the administration’s work to promote research into psychedelics therapy, citing studies into substances like MDMA that show promising early results in the treatment of mental health conditions.
VA Secretary Doug Collins said the department does “some of the best research work and very specific research work,” noting that he recently visited a VA facility in New York City “discussing MDMA therapies, which have been phenomenal in working with those with [post-traumatic stress disorder] and traumatic brain injuries—these other issues that we have.”
Collins’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.
The secretary also disclosed in April that he had an “eye-opening” talk with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And Collins 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.
Kennedy said last month that 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.”
During a recent Senate committee hearing, Collins separately reiterated his commitment to exploring the efficacy of psychedelic therapy to address serious mental health conditions that commonly afflict military veterans.
Meanwhile in May, 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.
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).
