Marijuana Moment: Problems Finding Ibogaine To Be Used In Research Could Slow Trump Administration’s Psychedelic Therapy Push For Veterans, VA Secretary Says

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The Trump administration is seeking to accelerate efforts to provide access to psychedelics for military veterans and others who may benefit from their therapeutic impact, but that push may be slowed when it comes to sourcing a particular substance to be used in studies, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says.

VA Secretary Doug Collins spoke about ongoing studies his department is conducting on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics at a hearing before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Thursday, saying that “if it helps a veteran, we’re going to look into it.”

He said that he appreciates President Donald Trump “stepping forward” on the issue by signing a psychedelics-focused executive order last month, noting that the administration’s work is a “combined effort” between VA and components of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

After referencing VA’s recent expansion of trials on MDMA, which he said are proceeding “ahead of the schedule,” Collins noted that “our next probably big one” is going to be focused on ibogaine.

The secretary cautioned, however, that “it’s going to take a little time to get that, because we don’t have that.”

“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.”

Collins was responding to a question from Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who noted the secretary’s previous positive comments about psychedelic therapies, but also decried general funding cuts to support research under the Trump administration.

“Veterans facing PTSD, TBI and treatment-resistant depression are looking to VA to move faster in evaluating and supporting therapies that are showing promising results, especially for veterans who have exhausted more traditional treatment options,” the senator said.

He pointed to a bill he is cosponsoring with Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) on psychedelics as “an important step toward ensuring VA is fully equipped to evaluate and responsibly deliver emerging therapies offering real hope to veterans.”

The Veterans’ Affairs Committee held a hearing last month on the bipartisan legislation to promote research into the therapeutic potential psychedelics by creating a new office at VA that would advance the development innovative treatments for serious mental health conditions and assist in reviewing the scheduling status of drugs like psilocybin, ibogaine and MDMA.

Collins, for his part, responded to Gallego’s concern about funding for research by saying he believes “the president’s budget also supports anything we need to do to support” the psychedelics executive order.

“We’re developing the standards right now on how we’re going to be implementing this,” he said. Our budget…is going to facilitate that, it’s getting us forward. The big issues that we have right now is making sure that we have the proper protocols, the proper rims in place to use these different psychedelic treatments.”

Gallego pushed Collins for a “commitment” to “work with Congress on closing the gap between that research on these promising innovative therapies and veterans’ access to these treatments, because that’s usually kind of the gap that does exist.”

The secretary pointed out in response that psychedelic therapies are “clinically intensive treatments.”

“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 Flickr/Scamperdale.

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