House Approves Psychedelic Research And Marijuana Labeling Amendments As Part Of Spending Bills
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to approve a series of psychedelics and marijuana amendments as part of spending bills, and a Democratic congressman is again seeking to revise separate measures to end cannabis testing for federal workers.
Psychedelic Research Measures Gain Traction
On the same day that a Senate committee passed a marijuana banking bill, the House took up amendments to appropriations legislation that were recently cleared for floor consideration by the Rules Committee.
Both psychedelics measures were attached to a spending bill covering the Department of Defense (DOD) in voice votes on Wednesday.
One, sponsored by Reps. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), would provide $15 million in funding for DOD to carry out “Psychedelic Medical Clinical Trials.” The second amendment, from Crenshaw alone, lays the parameters for the trials, which would involve active-duty service members with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The Defense Health Agency would need to send a report to Congress with its findings.
Notably, a Democratic congresswoman argued against the proposal, citing DOD concerns about trials involving active-duty service members.
Luttrell's Persuasive Testimonial
Luttrell said ahead of the voice vote on his amendment that he can “personally attest to the benefits in treating post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy through the use of psychedelic substances.” The congressman, who is a military veteran, has previously disclosed his own experience with psychedelic-assisted therapy.
“There’s a stigma that exists within the [House] that I believe stems from a lack of education experience around the clinical use of plant-based or psychedelic medications,” he said. “I understand that when many of my colleagues hear the word ‘psychedelics,’ they think of mushrooms and so on. This isn’t what we are talking about today."
Debate Over Active-Duty Service Members
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) then rose in opposition to the amendment, saying that while she doesn’t “oppose the study of many of these drugs” and has supported research into medical cannabis, she’s against the proposal due to administrative and logistical concerns that she attributed to DOD.
“The department is concerned about a study involving active service members,” she said. “They acknowledge—and I’m glad that they do—that the benefits are being pursued by veterans. The implementation for active-duty service members would be much more challenging at this time because it involves a question around clearances, legal hurdles, and logistics [that] would just appear to hamper the success of a pilot program or study with active duty.”
Crenshaw's Support for Research
Crenshaw also spoke on the floor on Wednesday, stating that the directive to facilitate clinical trials represents a “simple yet important step,” and “there’s no reason that we should not be looking into the benefits of this research for our men and women that are already currently serving our country actively.”
"This is not about legalization. This is not about recreational use,” he said. “It’s about honoring our promise to our military families and confronting the high incidence of suicide in the military and veteran community.”
Potential FDA Approval
The congressman also referenced recent clinical research findings on MDMA that signaled Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval could be on track for as early as next year.
"We should be listening to the stories. They have come up on Capitol Hill multiple times. For the members who say, ‘Well, we need to learn more. We don’t know enough’—well then why would you get in the way of more research?” he asked. “We shouldn’t make them come up here and spill their guts anymore. We should listen to them and we should act on them.”
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