Bipartisan congressional lawmakers are asking President Donald Trump’s head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to meet with them to discuss ways to provide access to psychedelic medicine for military veterans.

In a letter sent to VA Secretary Doug Collins on Wednesday, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—said they were “encouraged by your recent remarks about the importance of pursuing research into psychedelic treatments and other alternative treatments to improve Veterans’ care.”

Collins, a former GOP congressman, has been vocal about his interest in exploring psychedelics therapy—including in a recent Cabinet meeting with Trump.

During a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, he separately reiterated his commitment to exploring the efficacy of psychedelic therapy to address serious mental health conditions that commonly afflict military veterans.

That includes clinical trials that VA is either conducting or supporting, such as $1.5 million in funding for “MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD and alcohol use disorder in Veterans last December was a critical step in advancing this research,” as the congressmen wrote in their letter.

“Given the promising results of clinical studies on these substances and their therapeutic usage, it is our hope that we can work together to bring these therapies to Veterans in a safe and effective manner,” Correa and Bergman said.

“Every day approximately eighteen Veterans commit suicide. We owe it to these warriors to explore all possible medical treatments to cure the invisible wounds caused by their dedicated service—because even one death is too many,” they said. “We invite you to meet with us at your earliest convenience to further discuss areas of potential collaboration regarding these promising therapies.”

Correa and Bergman separately introduced a bill last month to provide $30 million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.

Bergman has also expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing psychedelics reform under Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to tackle such complex issues.

Collins, for his part, has previously said he had an “eye-opening” talk with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about psychedelics issues and intended to press Congress to act.

The VA secretary also recently said that he’s open to the idea of having the government provide vouchers to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive services outside of VA as Congress considers pathways for access.

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Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

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In December, VA separately announced that it’s providing $1.5 million in funding to study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Last year, Rachel Yehuda, who has overseen some psychedelic research as director of mental health at VA’s James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also touted an initial study the agency funded that produced “stunning and robust results” from its first-ever clinical trial into MDMA therapy.

In January, former VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said that it was “very encouraging” that Trump’s pick to have Kennedy lead HHS has supported psychedelics reform. And he hoped to work with him on the issue if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.

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Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

President Donald Trump has announced he will be withdrawing his nomination for a U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. who recently warned a licensed medical marijuana dispensary in the District about violating federal law and suggested the possibility of prosecutorial action despite compliance with local policy.

While the president’s decision doesn’t appear to be connected to Ed Martin’s hostility toward cannabis policy in D.C.—and Trump gave ample praise to the now-rescinded nominee despite the prospective withdrawal—the shift could give advocates and stakeholders in the District a sense of relief about the prospects of further federal intervention in its local marijuana policies.

Trump said during an event in the Oval Office on Thursday that he still hopes to see Martin placed in another position with the Justice Department, “or whatever, in some capacity.”

“He was really outstanding. It was, to me, it was disappointing. I’ll be honest,” the president said. “I have to be straight. I was disappointed. A lot of people were disappointed, but that’s the way it works sometimes.”

Martin was embroiled in controversy for reasons unrelated to his actions against the D.C. cannabis dispensary, including his limited prosecutorial experience and defense of those who participated in the January 6 riots at the Capitol after Trump lost the 2020 election.

“We have somebody else that we’ll be announcing over the next two days [to serve as the U.S. prosecutor in D.C.] who’s going to be great,” Trump said.

Martin, for his part, recently gave mixed signals about his approach to prosecuting alleged violations of federal laws by licensed marijuana businesses—saying on the one hand that prohibition must be “abided by,” but also specifying that cannabis operators who are not in compliance with local laws are most at risk of enforcement action.

“Anybody who is selling marijuana better have a license and everything in order, otherwise we will pursue action against them,” he said at the time.

Green Theory, the dispensary that the prosecutor targeted in his letter, is compliant with D.C. laws, though Martin has also made the case that it is in violation of a separate federal statute that prohibits cannabis shops within 1,000 feet of schools, as is the case with the business in question.

In an interview late last month, Martin said shutting down licensed marijuana dispensaries doesn’t “rise to the top” of his priorities, but his “instinct is that it shouldn’t be in the community.”

“You apply the facts to the law, but you do it in the context of what the community is going through at that moment,” he said.

In March, meanwhile, the White House called the District’s move to decriminalize marijuana an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the door to disorder.”

In a fact sheet about an executive order that Trump signed—which is broadly aimed at beautifying the District and making it more safe—the White House listed several local policies in the nation’s capital that it takes issue with, including cannabis reform. That’s despite the president’s previously stated support for a states’ rights approach to marijuana laws.

“D.C.’s failed policies opened the door to disorder—and criminals noticed,” it says, citing “marijuana decriminalization,” as well as the District’s decision to end pre-trial detentions and enforcement practices around rioters, as examples of such policies.

The executive order itself doesn’t mention marijuana specifically. But it says the directive will involve “deploying a more robust Federal law enforcement presence and coordinating with local law enforcement to facilitate the deployment of a more robust local law enforcement presence as appropriate in areas in or about” D.C., and that includes addressing “drug possession, sale, and use.”

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Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
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Recreational cannabis possession and personal cultivation is legal in D.C. under a voter-approved ballot initiative, though commercial sales of non-medical marijuana remain illegal.

During Trump’s first term in the White House, he maintained that D.C. rider to keep blocking cannabis sales in his budget requests, as did Biden.

Last week, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she intends to “continue to fight” against efforts by her GOP colleagues to interfere with the District’s marijuana laws, vowing to again push for the removal of a spending bill rider that’s long prevented a commercial cannabis market.

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The Texas House of Representatives gave final passage on Thursday to a pair of bills designed to ensure speedy access to psychedelic-assisted therapy in the event of federal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

One bill—HB 4014, from Rep. John Bucy III (D)—would establish a state-backed study into the use of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine to treat conditions such as PTSD and depression. House lawmakers passed it on a 115–31 vote on third reading.

“House Bill 4014 directs the Texas Health and Human Service Commission to conduct a prompt, comprehensive study on the use of psychedelic therapies for treatment of certain conditions,” Bucy said before the floor vote.

The bill would take effect September 1 of this year and expire September 1, 2027.

The body later unanimously approved another measure—HB 4813, from Rep. Tom Oliverson (R)—that aims to minimize delay at the state level if and when FDA approves a new drug, such as psilocybin or MDMA. It would dictate that substances reclassified under federal law be similarly controlled under state law “as soon as practicable.”

On the floor before the vote, Oliverson said the bill “will expedite the ability of our Texas veterans to access new, innovative therapies for treating PTSD.”

“I hope you’ll stand with me and other Texas veterans,” he added.

The proposal passed unanimously, 146–0.

As for the study bill, House lawmakers a day earlier amended the proposal on second reading to restore text that says the state would work on the project in consultation with researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy. That language had been removed last month through a committee amendment.

Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R), who introduced the amendment, said the schools “are leading institutions in the field of psychedelic medicine and research and are well equipped to complete this study.”

The amendment came at the request of the Health and Human Services Commission, he noted, “and will reduce the cost or fiscal note of this bill by more than 50 percent.”

Oliverson in previous comments at a committee hearing, meanwhile, noted that psilocybin and MDMA are both in Phase 3 clinical trials “and are likely to be approved by the FDA, you know, any day now.”

“All we’re seeking to do is to amend statute to accelerate that process for these very promising compounds that have been shown to be very effective in these conditions,” he said.

An anesthesiologist, Oliverson said at the time that the goal is to “avoid an unnecessary, lengthy delay” to access to psychedelic therapies in Texas in the event the federal government approves them.

“As a doctor, I’m just telling you my own personal feeling is I want people to have access to drugs that work,” he said, “and I want them to have access to it as soon as possible.”

Also testifying in support of the measure at the earlier hearing was Lynnette Averill, a Baylor College of Medicine professor and director of research at the school’s Menninger Clinic.

Averill said the proposal would build on a measure passed in Texas in 2021 to study psychedelics as a possible treatment for veterans with PTSD, which she said helped make the state “a pioneer in this space.”

Meanwhile last week, a Texas House committee approved a Senate-passed bill that would prohibit cities from putting any citizen initiative on local ballots that would decriminalize marijuana or other controlled substances—as several localities have already done despite lawsuits from the state attorney general.

Under the proposal, state law would be amended to say that local entities “may not place an item on a ballot, including a municipal charter or charter amendment, that would provide that the local entity will not fully enforce” state drug laws.

While several courts have previously upheld local cannabis decriminalization laws, an appellate court comprised of three conservative justices appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has recently pushed back against two of those rulings, siding with the state in its legal challenge to the marijuana policy in Austin and San Marcos.

Meanwhile, despite the ongoing litigation and advancement of the House and Senate bills, Texas activists have their targets set on yet another city, Kyle, where they hope put an initiative before voters to enact local marijuana reform at the ballot this coming November.

Also last month, a House panel approved legislation that would to tighten regulations on intoxicating hemp products—a plan at odds with proposals from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and the Senate, who favor a total ban on THC products.

Advocates and stakeholders have said a ban would effectively eradicate the state’s hemp industry by prohibiting consumable products derived from the plant that contain any amount of THC.

That and another measure from Rep. Joe Moody (D) to decriminalize cannabis statewide are among nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed in Texas for the current legislative session. Various other measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession and adjust the state’s existing medical marijuana laws, among others.

Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.

The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from the lieutenant governor.

Trump Plans To Pull U.S. Attorney Nominee Who Threatened Medical Marijuana Dispensary With Possible Federal Prosecution