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Bipartisan congressional lawmakers are asking leadership to instruct federal health agencies to include active duty military service members in psychedelic studies.<\/p>\n
In a letter led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) to House Appropriations subcommittee leaders, the lawmakers said that language should be added to upcoming spending legislation for the 2024 Fiscal Year directing the National Institutes on Health (NIH) to be inclusive of military members in ongoing research into the therapeutic benefits of substances like MDMA.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, this directive for the NIH would expand government wide efforts to understand the potential risks and benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy to this critical population,\u201d the eleven lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need new approaches to adequately address the threat of trauma-related disorders and chronic pain to both active-duty and veteran servicemembers,\u201d it says, noting the high prevalence of conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the military population.<\/p>\n
The letter<\/a>, sent to the subcommittee leaders late last month and released on Thursday, cites the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Phase 3 clinical trials into MDMA in the treatment of PTSD, which promising preliminary results.<\/p>\n \u201cThis landmark data underscores the need for more scientific inquiry, but it also shows there is a gap in our understanding for how these therapies could function in the active-duty demographic. The NIH active projects that involve participation by the Department of Veteran Affairs medical center system, but strengthening this existing interest and expanding it to the currently serving population will broaden our cross-agency study of potential benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy instructing the NIH to pursue these efforts in collaboration with Department of Defense (DOD) policy, we can ensure that our research enterprise is including all potential beneficiaries, especially our military, in this vital research,\u201d it continues.<\/p>\n The other signatories on the letter are Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Donald Davis (D-NC), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Max Miller (R-OH), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cEvery day, we see firsthand the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy,\u201d Henry Berkowitz, CFO of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) and a retired Navy SEAL, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cWhat we have also witnessed is the demand for these therapies growing exponentially.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can only support a small percentage of all the applications we receive. Legislation that provides domestic access to these life-saving therapies is an immediate and critical need,\u201d he said. \u201cWe believe that further research into psychedelic therapy is the best way to facilitate this change. Furthermore, we believe that support for this issue must be bipartisan. We are proud to support this letter and applaud the support from both sides of the aisle.\u201d<\/p>\n Crenshaw, a military veteran himself who lost an eye due to an IED explosion in Afghanistan in 2012, has taken a leadership role in the congressional psychedelics reform movement in recent years.<\/p>\n The congressman successfully inserted an amendment into the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)<\/a>\u00a0last year that would have allowed the secretary of defense to approve grants for research into the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics such as MDMA, psilocybin, ibogaine and 5\u2013MeO\u2013DMT for active duty military members with PTSD.<\/p>\n But that measure ultimately did not make it into the final package following bicameral conference. Getting approved on the House side did represent progress, however, as a similar amendment Crenshaw sponsored was blocked from receiving a floor vote by the House Rules Committee<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n While the most recent amendment\u2014along with another one from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that was also passed by the House\u2014was omitted from last year\u2019s final bicameral NDAA deal with the Senate, a joint explanatory statement attached to the bill did include a directive for the military to examine the potential of \u201cplant-based therapies\u201d<\/a> like cannabis and certain psychedelics for service members.<\/p>\n Last month, bipartisan and bicameral congressional lawmakers filed an updated version of a bill<\/a> to streamline the federal rescheduling of \u201cbreakthrough therapies\u201d like psilocybin and MDMA in order to promote research and drug development.<\/p>\n And last week, bipartisan House members introduced legislation to clarify that federal \u201cRight to Try\u201d laws give seriously ill patients access to Schedule I drugs<\/a>\u2014including marijuana and psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA\u2014despite Drug Enforcement Administration resistance.<\/p>\n The introduction of the psychedelics bills comes amid the re-launch of a congressional caucus<\/a>\u00a0focused on promoting research into the therapeutic potential of entheogenic substances.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, an unprecedented wave of state-level psychedelics reform efforts<\/a> is underway in legislatures across the country. Legislators in more than a dozen states are pursuing the issue this session are interest rapidly spreads into the medical potential of these substances.<\/p>\n Read the letter<\/a> on psychedelic studies for active duty military members below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Bipartisan Congressional Bill Would Force DEA To Let Patients Use Psychedelics And Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype<\/a> and Apollo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers Push For Psychedelic Studies For Active Duty Military Members<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Bipartisan congressional lawmakers are asking leadership to instruct federal health agencies to include active duty military service members in psychedelic studies. In a letter led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) to House Appropriations subcommittee leaders, the lawmakers said that language should be added to upcoming spending legislation for the 2024Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":63556,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63557,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63555\/revisions\/63557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers Push For Psychedelic Studies For Active Duty Military Members<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"