US Lawmakers Push Bill Requiring Pentagon Report On Psilocybin's Potential For Troops With PTSD

A bipartisan cohort of lawmakers has introduced legislation requiring the Defense Department to examine how ongoing psilocybin research might benefit military personnel. The Veterans and Servicemembers PTSD Emerging Treatment Review Act, filed this week by Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) and cosponsored by Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Seth Moulton (D-MA), would direct the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs to coordinate with other federal officials on a report examining whether findings from an ongoing Arizona psilocybin study apply to service members, including those transitioning to civilian life. Due within 180 days of enactment, the report must summarize safety, dosing and adverse-event data; assess implications for force health protection, medical readiness and suicide prevention; outline legal requirements for expanded access to an investigational Schedule I substance; and evaluate how the federal Right to Try law and President Trump's psychedelics executive order apply during post-deployment and transition periods. The bill's findings section states current PTSD treatments "are not effective for all patients" and calls for research consistent with federal law and force protection standards. Hamadeh said, "our servicemembers and veterans deserve every opportunity to access the most effective treatments backed by rigorous scientific research," adding that treatment-resistant PTSD fuels suicide and substance abuse. Sue Sisley, who oversees the Arizona whole-mushroom psilocybin trial for veterans and first responders, said Hamadeh's staff "saw firsthand" what the FDA-authorized study means for participants and future transitioning troops. A related bill, the IBOGAINE Act, was introduced Tuesday by Reps. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), Lou Correa (D-CA), Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Michael McCaul (R-TX). It would direct the attorney general to decide within 60 days whether to move ibogaine from Schedule I to Schedule II, require rescheduling proceedings for other Schedule I substances that finish Phase 3 trials, define ibogaine under federal law, codify a national priority voucher program for psychedelic therapies, clarify Right to Try exemptions, mandate DEA production-quota updates for rescheduled or FDA-approved substances, and create frameworks for state and VA partnerships on psychedelic research. Luttrell also backs an NDAA amendment extending a DOD psychedelics research program six years, cleared this week by the House Rules Committee. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said the administration is "very anxious" to open psychedelic therapy access, particularly for soldiers. VA Secretary Doug Collins called a related conversation with Kennedy "eye-opening." Separate bills would fund $30 million annually for VA psychedelic research centers, and a Senate committee held an April hearing on legislation creating a VA office to study psilocybin, ibogaine and MDMA.