The Trump administration is pushing to dramatically expand veterans' access to psychedelic drugs as potential treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. As many as 2.1 million veterans could potentially benefit from psychedelic treatments like psilocybin, the psychoactive compound associated with so-called magic mushrooms, or MDMA, according to Andrew Gradison, a senior adviser at the Veterans Health Administration. About 6.4 million veterans regularly rely on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for healthcare, Gradison said at a conference reported on by Politico.
It can affect their sleep, their relationships, their ability to feel safe and even how they see themselves,” Christopher DiViaio, the clinical director at Eleve Behavioral Health, told Newsweek. That's why there's so much interest in exploring other options, including psychedelic-assisted therapy.” Currently, federal regulators have not approved psychedelic drugs as safe and effective treatments for these mental health conditions, so the VA would face substantial practical and safety hurdles even if a treatment receives approval. Veterans have become a focus for potential psychedelic treatments, particularly as researchers look into new approaches to PTSD and other mental-health conditions.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April to speed research, clinical trials and patient access to psychedelic therapies. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to approve the psychedelic therapies discussed by officials for these conditions. Under the Biden administration in 2024, the regulator rejected a proposal for MDMA combined with therapy as a PTSD treatment.
Gradison discussed the potential scale of psychedelic treatment during the Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference in New York City this month. According to Politico, he said he wants to increase the VA's capacity eventually to offer psychedelic therapies to some of the roughly one-third of regular VA patients who have mental health conditions like PTSD or depression. That works out to as many as 2.1 million veterans out of the 6.4 million who regularly receive VA care.
And so they've already putting resources into this effort.” Gradison has also cautioned that providing treatment at anything approaching that scale would take time. "It'll be a challenge" for the Veterans Health Administration "in the first year to treat four digits' worth of patients" with an FDA-approved psychedelic drug, Gradison said, pointing to practical and safety considerations. "Our demand will exceed our ability to supply these therapies, no doubt." Experts caution that the administration's goal is not for the VA to begin broadly dispensing illicit psychedelics under existing law.
But officials are trying to accelerate the regulatory and research process that could ultimately allow particular pharmaceutical treatments to become legally available to VA patients. And we know that the existing treatment that we have is not getting the job done.” The VA is already involved in 20 psychedelic clinical trials, according to Politico. Trump's April executive order also directed federal attention to ibogaine, another psychedelic being studied for potential treatment of conditions affecting veterans.
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