The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should continue to explore psychedelics and medical marijuana therapy and expedite access to such alternative treatments if they’re proven to be efficacious, representatives of leading veterans service organizations (VSOs) told members of Congress this week.
One key group testified that the scheduling of substances like cannabis, psilocybin and MDMA as Schedule I drugs is a “major barrier” to therapeutic access.
At joint hearings before the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees on Tuesday and Wednesday, lawmakers took testimony from the VSOs—and one theme that emerged was the need to support research and access for marijuana and psychedelics, particularly as it concerns VA.
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI), co-chair of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, asked Disabled American Veterans (DAV) National Commander Daniel Contreras what role he felt VA should play in “advancing the promising field in that area of [psychedelic] medicine through research.”
Contreras said it’s DAV’s position that “we should look at alternatives.” He added that he’s personally familiar with the issue in part because psilocybin has been incorporated into his own wife’s therapy, which underscores for him that “there needs to be some alternative choices.”
Joy Ilem,
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
