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By Suzanne Blake
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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.
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“For some veterans, PTSD isn't something they can just leave behind when they come home from deployment. 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.
“We've made progress with traditional treatments like therapy and medication, but they don't work for everyone. 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.
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Why It Matters
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.
However, the U.S. 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.
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What to Know
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.
“The VA is really, fully behind this initiative,” Toby Marton, chief medical officer at Radial Health and a former staff psychiatrist at the VA, told Newsweek.
“They've already identified in numbers of sites across the VA network for their initial pilot and are really trying to get ahead of the rollout and have all of the space and clinician and other logistical pieces in place to be able to launch this rapidly. 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.
“This is really driven directly from the veteran lobby,” Marton said. “We have a large veteran population with PTSD and other psychiatric conditions that are exacerbated by or caused by their military and combat service. 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. To date, though, ibogaine remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law.
When Trump signed his April executive order, he described veteran suicide as a "national tragedy" and said psychedelic treatments could have "a tremendous impact.”
“If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it’s going to have a tremendous impact on this country, and other countries, too,” Trump said. “It’s for a lot of people, but it’s for our military in particular. The suicide epidemic among veterans is a national tragedy.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. similarly said that the government owes it to veterans and service members to explore potential treatments.
“It’s disturbing to me and to the president that hundreds, in fact thousands, of veterans are having to travel to Mexico, or other countries, to experiment with interventions that hold great promise,” Kennedy said.
Psychedelic Drugs Face FDA Hurdles
The biggest unanswered question is whether the treatments will ultimately secure FDA approval.
There has already been one major setback. In 2024, the FDA rejected an application seeking approval of MDMA alongside psychotherapy for PTSD.
The Trump administration, however, has taken regulatory steps intended to accelerate development of other psychedelic therapies. A week after Trump's April executive order, the FDA allowed fast-track application reviews for three companies developing psychedelic treatments.
Among the treatments moving forward is a synthetic formulation of psilocybin developed by Compass Pathways for treatment-resistant depression. The company is expected to complete submission of its application to the FDA this quarter, with approval anticipated by the company in the first half of 2027.
Even an FDA approval, however, would leave the VA with the much larger challenge Gradison identified: developing enough capacity to safely provide an intensive new form of treatment to veterans who want it.
"It's understandable why people are excited about psychedelic therapy, especially when we're talking about veterans who've been suffering for years,” DiViaio said, adding that the treatments don’t work for everyone.
“But I think we have to be careful about presenting it as a miracle treatment. These substances can bring up intense emotions and psychological experiences, and they're not appropriate for everyone. We need to understand who benefits, who might be at risk, and what kind of support people need before, during and after treatment.”
What Happens Next
If the FDA ultimately approves one or more therapies, the Trump administration would face the challenge of translating that approval into treatment within the VA.
"I do think there's a real possibility that psychedelic-assisted treatments could become another option in mental healthcare, but I wouldn't want to promise people something before we have the evidence and safeguards in place,” DiViaio said.
“If these treatments are approved, we also have to think about affordability, access to trained professionals, and how to make sure patients receive proper follow-up care. A treatment can show promise in a clinical trial and still be difficult to make accessible in everyday life.”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Dave Siminoff.
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