Trump’s VA Head Visits Psychedelics Research Center, Reiterating ‘Promise’ To Explore Benefits For Military Veterans
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The head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) visited a facility conducting research on psychedelics this week, reiterating 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.
In a video shared on X on Tuesday, VA Secretary Doug Collins talked about his commitment to pursuing clinical trials into substances such as MDMA—standing alongside Rachel Yehuda, the director of mental health at VA’s James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center who has overseen and advocated for psychedelics research.
“I told you all along that we are looking at psychedelics. We’re looking at anything to help our veterans,” Collins said, while stressing that he acknowledges “there’s no silver bullet for the things we have for trauma and our stress and the incidences of childhood.”
“These are all things that come out in our veterans as they come back from war zones, but also just in everyday life. But you know, sitting here with Rachel and the doctors here, I have found that there’s some things that are working,” the secretary said. “I promised you that we’re going to look into this, and we’re making changes to make it even better so we can make it more available.”
“It’s going to take some change in the VA. It’s going to take some changes in Congress. But it’s a thing that I have said we want to do because we want to take care of veterans,” Collins said, noting that the room they filmed the video in is one of the facilities where MDMA clinical trials are currently underway.
“These are things we’re going to continue. I promise you, we’re going to do it,” he said, telling Yehuda to “keep doing what you’re doing because it is meaningful to our veterans, and I want to thank you.”
Yehuda shared the secretary’s post and said she was pleased to meet Collins and “show what we’ve built at [VA] for our veterans.”
“We’re excited about the expansion of our [Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing] at the VA and the two new studies that have just begun here with MDMA and psilocybin,” she said.
Collins’s visit to the psychedelics research center comes 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.
During a recent Senate committee hearing, he separately reiterated his commitment to exploring the efficacy of psychedelic therapy to address serious mental health conditions that commonly afflict military veterans.
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.
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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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Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.
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