Tag: ptsd

Iowa Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Bill To Create Psilocybin Program That Would Treat Up To 5,000 Patients With PTSD

An Iowa House committee has unanimously approved a Republican-led proposal to create a state-regulated therapeutic psilocybin program for adults with PTSD.

The bill, HF 620, from Rep. John Wills (R), passed the House Ways and Means Committee on a 23–0 vote at a hearing Thursday.

If enacted into law, it would allow up to 5,000 patients in the state to legally access psilocybin produced in-state by licensed entities. Administration sessions would need to be supervised by registered facilitators—mostly medical professionals—who would need to complete state-specified psilocybin education.

Psilocybin providers would need to be doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, advanced practice nurses, psychologists or social workers who complete psilocybin continuing education requirements, register with the state and pay a registration fee.

Administration sessions themselves would need to be at registered clinical locations and would need to be video recorded. Those records would need to be available for inspection by state officials upon request.

The psilocybin itself would be produced by state-licensed establishments. Local governments could not outright ban those facilities, nor could they deny them appropriate licenses based merely on the fact that psilocybin violates federal law.

Notably, a licensed psilocybin production facility could be co-located with one of the state’s few licensed medical cannabis producers—known in Iowa as medical cannabidiol producers—and the bill says regulators may grant psilocybin licensing preferences to those existing cannabis producers. Facilities couldn’t be located within 1,000 feet of a community location or 500 feet of a residential area.

Only people 21 and older and without “a misdemeanor for drug distribution or any felony” could work at psilocybin producers, and licensees themselves would face background checks.

Up to four independent testing labs could be licensed under the bill, and the state could also establish its own lab.

License applications would be accepted beginning July 1, 2026.

To oversee the system, the legislation would create a state Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board under the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Appointed by the director of that department, the board would include a member of the public with knowledge of psilocybin, a member with knowledge and experience in the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical manufacturing industry, a law enforcement member, a university chemist or researcher with experience in manufacturing, a member who has a background in fungus or mushroom cultivation and processing.

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Texas Senator Files Bill To Support Research On Psychedelic Therapy For PTSD And Depression

A Texas senator has introduced a bill to require studies on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics in the treatment of serious mental health conditions.

Sen. César Blanco (D) filed the legislation on Friday. It aims to facilitate the studies—which would be conducted by medical schools at two Texas universities—to better understand the possible benefits of psychedelics for those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

Researchers at Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin would be tasked with researching the existing scientific literature around psychedelics, actions made by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and potential strategies to provide access to the novel medicines.

The study would involve an evaluation of “patient access to current treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other co-occurring conditions and recommend legislative or other actions necessary to ensure patient access to psychedelic therapies following approval” by FDA, “including considerations of provider availability, affordability, accessibility, training and licensure, and other regulatory requirements.”

Substances within the scope of the review include psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine, according to the bill’s text.

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Medical Marijuana Is ‘A Cost-Effective Adjunctive Therapy’ For PTSD, New Study Shows

A newly published study on cannabis as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) finds that medical marijuana—especially non-flower formulations—”represent a cost-effective adjunctive therapy for moderate PTSD under various reimbursement scenarios.”

The findings indicate that given certain assumptions about the efficacy and cost of medical cannabis for PTSD, it would be worthwhile for health insurance providers and other healthcare payors to include coverage of marijuana alongside other standard forms of treatment.

“This article suggests that, for the vast majority of types of products, there is pretty solid evidence that medical cannabis is cost-effective,” lead author Mitchell Doucette told Marijuana Moment, “meaning that…adding these items to [patients’] drug formulary would be advantageous for not only the patient—because of the lowering of the cost—but also advantageous for health insurance.”

The study, published in the journal Clinical Drug Investigation, says that products such as edibles, oral solutions and tablets “consistently demonstrated cost-effectiveness” under a standard model of insurers’ willingness to pay.

The five-person research team from Leafwell, a company that helps patients obtain medical cannabis cards, drew on efficacy findings from a 2022 study on the efficacy of marijuana for PTSD as well as prices from Curaleaf, one of the largest multi-state cannabis operators in the country.

“Our findings suggest that medical cannabis may be a cost-effective adjunct to standard care for patients with moderate PTSD,” authors wrote, “particularly when payor reimbursement partially or fully offsets treatment costs.”

As nearly all patients in the U.S. have discovered, health plans don’t always cover full medical costs. Medical marijuana patients currently pay for cannabis themselves, without reimbursement or cost-sharing from medical plans. The study says that given the apparent utility of the substance as a PTSD treatment, medical marijuana is a worthwhile investment for health insurers even if they cover costs in full.

Notably, that finding applies only to non-flower medical cannabis formulations. Because cured flower was more expensive than edibles, tinctures or tablets, the analysis only found it to be a cost-effective treatment when payors covered it at lower amounts—50 percent to 75 percent, depending on the type of flower.

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Missouri Lawmakers Consider Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy To Aid Military Veterans With PTSD

In hopes of helping veterans facing mental health issues, Missouri lawmakers are once again pushing legislation that would require the state to conduct a study on using psilocybin—also known as “magic mushrooms”—to treat depression, substance use or as part end-of-life care.

Similar legislation has been filed for the last three years, and in 2023 the House voted overwhelmingly in support of the idea. But it’s never made its way to the Senate.

On Monday, several members of the House Veterans Committee said they were staunchly against the proposal when they first heard about it. However, research the committee has explored over the years has changed their minds.

That includes studies done by psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who were the first in Missouri to give a legal dose of psilocybin in 2019.

They have been using a brain-imaging technique to learn how psilocybin affects certain networks in the brain.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Richard West of Wentzville, said he was skeptical at first, as a former police officer.

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Soldier who exploded Cybertruck in Las Vegas did not show any ‘concerning behavior’ before leave request: Army

The driver who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day did not display any “concerning behavior” at the time he was granted personal leave from his station in Germany, a U.S. Army spokesperson said.

“Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger had access to and used the POTFF [Preservation of the Force and Family] program; he did not display any concerning behaviors at the time, and was granted personal leave,” Brig. Gen. Amanda Azubuike, Chief of Public Affairs, said in a statement to Fox News. “All relevant records were provided to the FBI as the lead investigative agency.”

The newest information that the 37-year-old Army Green Beret did not display “concerning behavior” came after the FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) revealed that Livelsberger likely suffered from PTSD.

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FDA Approves Long-Awaited Clinical Trial Of Smoked Marijuana To Treat PTSD In Veterans

After years of delays, researchers are set to move forward on a landmark clinical trial meant to evaluate the efficacy of smoked medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military veterans. The study is being funded with tax revenue from legal cannabis sales in Michigan.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, announced this week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for Phase 2 of the research, what MAPS described in a press release as “a randomized, placebo-controlled study of 320 Veterans suffering from moderate to severe PTSD who have previously used cannabis.”

The group said the study “is designed to investigate the inhalation of high THC dried cannabis flower, versus placebo cannabis, with the daily dose being self-titrated by participants.” It’s meant to reflect consumption patterns already happening across the country and study “the ‘real-world’ use of inhaled cannabis to understand its potential benefits and risks in treating PTSD.”

The project is years in the making, MAPS said, noting that it encountered numerous issues in clearing the research with FDA that only recently were resolved.

“After 3 years of negotiations with the FDA, this decision opens the door to future research into cannabis as a medical treatment, offering hope to millions,” the organization said.

“These data are critical to inform patients, medical providers, and adult-use consumers when considering cannabis in treatment plans for the management of PTSD, pain, and other serious health conditions,” the group’s press release said, “yet regulatory obstacles have historically made it difficult or impossible to conduct meaningful research on the safety and effectiveness of cannabis products typically consumed in regulated markets.”

MAPS said that over the years, it responded to five partial clinical hold letters from FDA that halted the study’s progress.

“On August 23, 2024, MAPS responded to the FDA’s fifth clinical hold letter by submitting a Formal Dispute Resolution Request (FDRR) to resolve the continued scientific and regulatory disagreement with the Division on four key issues,” according to the organization: “1) the proposed THC dose of the cannabis flower product, 2) smoking as a delivery method, 3) vaping as a delivery method, and 4) the enrollment of cannabis naïve participants.”

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Federal Officials Say Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Shows Promise For PTSD, But More Research Is Needed

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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Why Psychedelic Drugs May Become a Key Treatment for PTSD and Depression

While it has been referenced throughout history, notably in World War I, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as we know it today was first described as a distinct diagnosis after World War II among individuals who had survived Nazi concentration camps. The patients came home experiencing anxiety, depression and nightmares. They were frequently startled. In a paper synthesizing some of these early observations in 1963, psychiatrist Paul Chodoff wrote, “Perhaps the most nearly universal and most characteristic symptom was an obsessive rumination state in which the patient was more or less constantly preoccupied with recollections of, and ruminations about, his experiences during persecution, and about family who had died or been killed.” Psychiatrists tested a variety of treatments from drugs to exposure therapy for what Chodoff referred to as “concentration camp syndrome.”

More than 70 years after the initial observations, patients diagnosed with PTSD today still have few treatment options; most likely they will be prescribed a combination of therapy and antidepressant drugs. For some patients, these treatments make a positive difference in their quality of life, but many others continue for years without relief from nightmares, flashbacks, severe guilt and anxiety that can come with the condition. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 6 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with PTSD at some point in their lives, whether they served in the military or not. While PTSD is often associated with traumas from war, it can also refer to symptoms after other traumatic experiences such as being involved in a serious accident, witnessing death or injury or being a victim of sexual assault.

Patients and scientists have longed for more options. “How many drugs are registered [in the U.S. and Europe] for PTSD?” asks Eric Vermetten, a psychiatrist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and a military veteran himself. “The answer is two. And when were they registered? 21 years ago. That’s 21 years, we haven’t had any new drugs registered for PTSD.”

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2008 Video Shows Tim Walz Implying He Suffered PTSD from Afghanistan Deployment

Newly resurfaced video from a hearing in 2008 shows Minnesota Governor Tim Walz implying heavily that he suffered PTSD from deployment to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Walz was speaking to the family of a Gold Star veteran at the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Veterans and Mental Health when he made remarks that suggested he had personal experience of PTSD after serving in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2004 with the National Guard.

“I can tell you this, having been one of those that came back. We were in support of OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom]… when we came back, they showed us the horse whisperer and told us to be nice when we went home. And that was the extent of it. That was in 2004.”

Since Walz became Kamala Harris’s presumptive running-mate, there has been intense scrutiny of his service record. Walz has been accused of “stolen valor” for making misleading statements about his rank and operational deployments. Walz never took part in Operation Enduring Freedom, the name for US operations directly in and above Afghan territory, but was posted to Italy with the National Guard in a support role. He has also been criticized for retiring from the National Guard in order to avoid a deployment to an actual warzone, Iraq.

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Arizona Governor Signs Bill To Allow Workers’ Compensation For MDMA Treatment, Despite Vetoing Psilocybin Proposal

The governor of Arizona has signed a bill into law that would allow firefighters and peace officers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to get workers’ compensation coverage for MDMA therapy if it is federally legalized.

While Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a separate proposal to legalize psilocybin service centers this week, she gave final approval on Tuesday to legislation that would authorize the Industrial Commission of Arizona to provide public safety officials who have PTSD with compensation for a one-course treatment of MDMA if the drug is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The measure is being enacted weeks after an FDA advisory committee recommended against approving a new drug application for MDMA-assisted therapy, drawing criticism from advocates and certain lawmakers, including a GOP congressman who personally benefitted from psychedelic treatment.

The Arizona bill from Sen. David Gowan (R) is fairly limited in its scope, especially compared to the psychedelics services legislation the governor vetoed this week. Not only would it require FDA approval of MDMA, but it also doesn’t create a framework for therapeutic administration. It simply allows officials to approve workers compensation for a course of MDMA-assisted treatment sessions.

“If an independent medical examination reveals a treatment protocol of midomafetamine is deemed a reasonable and necessary treatment and follows the treatment guidelines established by the Industrial Commission of Arizona, workers’ compensation coverage may include on complete course of a treatment protocol of midomafetamine as prescribed by a psychiatrist,” the bill text says.

The commission would also be required to submit a report about the costs of the MDMA treatment to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee each year starting on or before January 1, 2026.

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