Science & Health
VA Launches New Study On MDMA To Treat Veterans With PTSD And Alcohol Use Disorder
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching a new trial on whether MDMA-assisted therapy can help military veterans who are struggling with severe mental health disorders, including PTSD and alcohol use disorder.
The study will involve approximately 80 veterans and will compare outcomes between those who take MDMA and undergo psychotherapy and those in a control group who receive identical psychotherapy without the drug.
“We need an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to improving mental health treatments, and under President Trump, that’s exactly what VA is working to deliver,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a press release on Tuesday. “This trial represents an important step in safely evaluating new approaches and innovations to treat Veterans with severe mental health conditions.”
The research, which comes on the heels of an executive order President Donald Trump signed last month with the aim of expediting psychedelic therapy access, will take place at VA Providence Healthcare System in Rhode Island.
VA’s press release says the health and safety of veterans who participate is the department’s “top priority.”
“Investigational treatments will be delivered in a safe, controlled, clinical setting using pharmaceutical grade drugs under careful quality controls, stringent safety protocols that were developed with [the Food and Drug Administration], and in a setting that includes structured psychotherapy,” it says.
“VA strongly discourages self-medicating or attempting to replace other mental health treatment options with psychedelics or any other unprescribed substances,” the release says. “Proven, evidence-based treatments, are currently available at VA facilities to treat Veterans with mental health conditions. Veterans should always consult their health care providers before making any treatment decisions.”
The department is currently involved in 19 active clinical trials focused on psychedelic therapies for mental health conditions, supported by more than $23 million in external funding, the release says.
The announcement of the new MDMA trial comes days after Collins, the VA secretary, told a Senate committee during a hearing that the Trump administration’s broader push to accelerate research on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics may be slowed by difficulty in sourcing ibogaine to be used in studies on that substance.
“That’s got to come through [the Food and Drug Administration] first. We’ll be prepared for that,” he said. “We also have to have a federal source of sourcing the ibogaine, which we don’t have a costing on at this point.”
The secretary also noted that psychedelic therapies are “clinically intensive treatments” that can prove costly to carry out.
“MDMA requires almost 120 hours per patient with two psychiatrists going through this,” he said. “So we’re working to work up to speed on that.”
The House of Representatives, meanwhile, passed an amendment to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) funding bill this month that seeks to raise awareness about the benefits of psychedelic and other therapies for military veterans.
FDA and the HHS last month announced steps that they say will help with “accelerating” therapeutic access to psychedelics for patients dealing with serious mental health conditions.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said recently that the Trump administration is “very anxious” to create a pathway for access to psychedelics therapy and that top officials across federal agencies want to “get it out to the public as quickly as possible.”
In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience in February, Kennedy said he’s confident “we’re going to get it done,” with plans to develop and finalize rules that would enable patients with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression to access psychedelic substances like psilocybin and MDMA in a “very controlled setting.”
“Everybody in my agency…is very anxious to get a rule out there that will allow these kind of studies and will allow access under therapeutic settings, particularly [for] the military soldiers who have suffered these injuries to get access to these products,” the HHS secretary said. “We’re working through that process now. We’re all working on it and trying to make it happen.”
“I think that we’re going to get it done,” he said.
Last June, Kennedy said his agency is “absolutely committed” to expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy and, alongside of the head of FDA, is aiming to provide legal access to such substances for military veterans “within 12 months.”
Collins disclosed last year 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.
Photo courtesy of Pretty Drugthings on Unsplash.
