Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers File Bill Directing VA To Study Psychedelics As Alternative Therapies For Veterans

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have introduced a bill to promote research into the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics in the treatment of serious mental health conditions experienced by military veterans.

Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lou Correa (D-CA), co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, filed the “Expanding Veterans’ Access to Emerging Treatments Act” earlier this month.

The proposal directs the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out clinical trials investigating the therapeutic efficacy of “innovative treatments and emerging therapies”—including psychedelics such as ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT, ketamine and psilocybin.

The VA secretary would be able to develop participation criteria for those with a covered condition, which includes anxiety, chronic pain, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorder, traumatic brain injury and any other condition designated by the secretary.

“Many conditions, such as chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders, continue to challenge the veteran community amid a lack of new innovative treatments and emerging therapies,” the legislation states.

“These and other conditions represent an urgent unmet medical need among veterans,” it says, adding that VA “should continue to advance research and facilitate timely access to innovative treatments and emerging therapies, including psychedelic- and entactogenic-assisted therapies, for veterans with such unmet treatment needs.”

With 90 days of enactment, the VA secretary would be required to create an “investigational research program for the treatment of veterans diagnosed with a covered condition using innovative treatments and emerging therapies.”

Under the program, VA would be authorized to conduct one or more clinical trials using innovative treatments like psychedelics or emerging therapies such as investigational pharmaceutical drugs, deep brain neurostimulation or hyperbaric oxygen therapy that would be selected “following a review of their efficacy, safety, and ease of administration.”

The department could further “develop a compassionate or extended access protocol that facilitates consideration of, and as appropriate access to, innovative treatments and emerging therapies.”

Within a year of the law’s enactment, VA would need to submit a report to relevant House and Senate committees detailing which clinics are participating in clinical trials, information about research findings and a “review of all innovative treatments and emerging therapies utilized for the treatment of covered conditions.”

After two years post-enactment, the secretary would have discretion to either sunset the program or extend it.

“For the first time, Congress is not just asking whether these therapies might help—it is also beginning to build the structure required for VA to evaluate and deliver them responsibly,” Melissa Lavasani, founder and CEO of the Psychedelic Medicine Coalition, said in a press release.

“H.R. 7091 creates a legitimate federal on-ramp for veterans who have exhausted existing options,” she said. “We are so grateful for Reps. Bergman and Correa for the introduction of this transformational bill and for their unwavering, bipartisan approach in bringing these life-saving therapies to America’s heroes.”

The bill’s introduction is the latest signal that Congress continues to show bipartisan interest in advancing psychedelics research to determine whether the novel therapies may hold promise as an alternative to traditional medications.

Bergman and Correa recently discussed the importance of strategically advancing psychedelics reform in a way that mitigates bureaucratic conflict and the influence of outside interests. Even just one misstep could threaten to upend the movement, they said.

A former U.S. senator said recently that she’s personally spoken to the heads of both VA and HHS about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like ibogaine—and both members of Trump’s cabinet were receptive to reform on the issue.

While former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) mentioned that VA Secretary Doug Collins wasn’t especially familiar with psychedelics therapy before joining the Trump administration, the secretary has since become one of the most vocal proponents of advancing reform to facilitate access for veterans.

In July, for example, the VA secretary touted his role in promoting psychedelics access for veterans with serious mental health conditions, saying he “opened that door probably wider than most ever thought” was possible.

Late last year, VA faced criticism after rejecting a grant application from an organization that helps connect veterans to programs abroad where they can receive psychedelic therapy to treat serious mental health conditions.

National Institution on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow separately talked about that promising potential in a blog post this month, writing that psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA could present patients with a viable answer to serious mental health conditions.

NIDA, as well as other agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have been particularly interested in tapping into the therapeutic potential of ketamine, psilocybin and MDMA—each of which are undergoing trials that could pave the path to their broader accessibility to patients with serious mental health conditions.

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Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi recently missed a congressionally mandated deadline to issue guidelines for easing barriers to research on Schedule I substances such as marijuana and psychedelics.

Under legislation passed by lawmakers and signed into law by President Donald Trump last year, Bondi was supposed to publish interim rules setting out new processes for Schedule I research registration by January 16—but that has not occurred.

Earlier this month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) separately finalized quotas for legal production of controlled substances in 2026—further raising the amount of certain psychedelics that can be made for research purposes this year.

Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert.