Veterans

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to review a new drug application for MDMA — commonly known as ecstasy — to be developed for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in a supervised clinical setting.

Lykos Therapeutics, a biotechnology research company in San Jose, Calif., announced the FDA granted priority review status for its new drug application for midomafetamine, or MDMA, capsules as a medical treatment for PTSD.

As a former Navy SEAL and Republican congressman from Texas, Rep. Morgan Luttrell might not necessarily seem like someone you’d expect to become a leader on federal psychedelics policy reform. And he might not have, either—if it weren’t for his own experience with plant-based medicine.

WASHINGTON — Sixty percent of veterans who die from suicide each year had no recent engagement with health care services at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

More so, many of the veterans who did reach out for help waited until they were at imminent risk of suicide, according to testimony at a hearing Tuesday held by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs health oversight subpanel. 

Lawmakers frustrated with federal officials’ lack of progress in preventing veterans suicides suggested on Tuesday that more of the $16 billion allotted for those outreach efforts be given to outside community groups, saying that increased urgency is needed in addressing the problem

Congress is on track to approve legislation that would mark a significant advance in U.S. policy toward psychedelics. 

Tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 is a provision to fund clinical trials using psychedelic substances to treat active duty members of the military.

Bipartisan and bicameral congressional lawmakers have reached an agreement on a large-scale defense bill that contains a House GOP-led section to fund studies into the therapeutic use of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA for military service members.