Representatives of a number of federal agencies convened last week to discuss new treatments for PTSD, including therapies involving psychedelics, MDMA, ketamine and other drugs. While the officials acknowledged the substances’ potential to help treat PTSD and underlying symptoms, they also emphasized the need for further research to ensure efficacy and patient safety.
The discussion, hosted by the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration, a nonprofit formed by Congress to support FDA, didn’t focus specifically on psychedelic-assisted therapies, but the topic nevertheless featured prominently—especially during a stakeholder comment session where most spoke in favor of wider access to MDMA and other emerging treatments.
Betty Aldworth, director of communications and post-prohibition strategy for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)—which has helped lead the push to qualify MDMA as a federally approved treatment for PTSD—said the meeting “illustrated the growing public interest in psychedelic-assisted therapies, with nearly every speaker discussing their potential in a meeting that wasn’t specifically about psychedelics.”
“Eighty members of Congress, the Veterans Affairs Administration, trauma experts, patient advocates, and 14 of 23 stakeholder who gave oral testimony agree the existing evidence base for psychedelic-assisted therapies merit widespread, and growing, support,” Aldworth said in a statement after the event. “It’s time to close the 25-year gap on new pharmacotherapies for the treatment of PTSD by approving this most promising treatment for PTSD and bringing psychedelic-assisted therapies into the healthcare system.”
Speakers at the Reagan-Udall event on Friday included representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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