VA to explore psychedelic treatments for veterans with PTSD: It could be ‘life-changing,’ retired Navy SEALs say
For the first time since the 1960s, the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin funding studies that may open the door for using plant-based psychedelics to treat military veterans diagnosed with mental illnesses.
The department announced a request for applications in January to study the potential efficacy of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms when used under the guidance of a doctor and in conjunction with counseling to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. While Veterans Affairs researchers have already conducted a limited number of small studies, the request for applications marks the next step in assessing psychedelics as a treatment option.
It also marks the first time in six decades that the VA has cautiously explored psychedelics as a potentially revolutionary tool in the treatment of addiction and other psychiatric conditions. In one notable clinical study in 1963, patients at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Kansas took LSD to treat alcoholism. But The New York Times reported the wave of research came to a sudden halt soon afterward, as soaring recreational use of hallucinogens sparked a political backlash.
Marcus Capone, a retired Navy SEAL, said the VA-funded research could lead to “life-changing” treatment options for veterans in need.
“It was for me,” Capone said. “Psychedelic treatment was a lifeline when nothing else was working.”
Capone medically retired in 2013 from the Navy after 13 years and multiple combat deployments with SEAL teams. He was diagnosed with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, and in 2017, sought psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Capone’s organization, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, offers grants to qualifying military veterans to travel to receive psychedelic-assisted treatments in countries where they are legal, but still unregulated. The nonprofit organization supports treatment and research with science-backed psychedelic therapies, including ibogaine, ketamine, MDMA and mushrooms.
MDMA is a synthetic drug that acts as a stimulant and hallucinogen, and it has also been described as a drug that can increase self-awareness and empathy, according to the National Institutes of Health. Psilocybin is an ingredient found in “magic mushrooms,” the health institutes said, and can produce perceptual changes, altering a person’s awareness of their surroundings and thoughts and feelings.
The Food and Drug Administration granted breakthrough therapy status for MDMA for treating PTSD and mushrooms for managing depression in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Capone said his team worked closely with lawmakers to secure VA funding for the study of psychedelic-assisted therapies. Department-funded studies will expand on research of psychedelics in which military veterans have not been allowed to participate.
“Veterans are largely excluded from the research that is happening here in the U.S. because they oftentimes possess more than one diagnosis or they have a history of suicidal ideation,” said Amber Capone, Marcus’ wife and co-founder and CEO of VETS. “Both of those things are more or less automatic disqualifications from the research that’s happening.”
A 2022 Johns Hopkins Medicine study showed that psychedelic mushrooms, given with supportive therapy, can ease symptoms of depression for up to 12 months. More recently, a peer-reviewed study found that 71% of participants who received three MDMA-assisted therapy sessions no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis. The study was funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
The Department of Defense will dedicate $75 million over the next five years to research the use of psychedelics to treat active-duty service members. The provision was included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act in an effort to combat suicide among service members, said U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas — a former Navy SEAL.
Jason Redman, board member of the Concussion Legacy Foundation and retired SEAL, said he hopes the VA funding will accelerate the legalization of psychedelic-assisted therapies.
“I know guys who have tried everything. They were at rock bottom. They were ready to take their life,” Redman said. “And they went through a treatment program and it was life-changing for them. They finally found peace.”
Redman served as a Navy SEAL for 21 years assigned to East Coast-based teams in Virginia Beach. In 2007, he was shot in the face by machine gunfire while deployed to Iraq. Redman was severely injured and diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. While Redman has not sought psychedelic-assisted therapy, he is an advocate for the study of emerging therapies.
“There is no magic cure,” Redman said. “What works for one person doesn’t always work for another.”
Now that psychedelic-assisted therapy is one step closer to being offered in the U.S., Marcus Capone said the next challenge is reducing the stigma around psychoactive drugs. That stigma, he said, is something he experienced in 2017 when he sought treatment.
“It wasn’t until a year later, when I had a close friend that I served with that took his own life,” he said. “I just said, ‘I don’t want to spend the next however many years coming back to this funeral home for friends I served with that didn’t die overseas fighting a war but died when they came back home because of traumatic brain injury or other mental health issues.”
Educating people about the benefits of psychedelics used in conjunction with counseling, he added, will be critical.
“Many people still stigmatize psychedelics as recreational drugs and counter-culture use,” Capone said. “But what we forgot is that psychedelics were intended for mental health use that were taken and abused as recreational drugs.”
Caitlyn Burchett, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com
