Source: pilotonline.com | Repost Duerson Fund 2/26/2024 –
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.