A military veteran who’s become an advocate for psilocybin access met with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) staff, and the secretary himself, on Wednesday to discuss the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine for the veteran community.
As VA Secretary Doug Collins continues to promote psychedelics as a possible alternative treatment option for those suffering from serious mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Matthew “Whiz” Buckley—founder of the No Fallen Heroes Foundation—was invited to VA headquarters to share his perspective.
Buckley told Marijuana Moment on Thursday that it felt symbolic his meeting took place almost exactly four years after he had his own experience with psychedelic medicine, which led him to create the foundation in hopes of giving other veterans a chance to combat their mental wounds with psilocybin therapy.
Collins, a former GOP congressman, wasn’t scheduled to participate in the meeting—but he proactively made time to introduce himself to Buckley, who late last month directed a post on the social media site X to the secretary encouraging him to go “full throttle” on the push for psychedelic access for veterans.
Buckley, a graduate of the Navy’s TOPGUN program, knows something about going full throttle. And shortly after Collins responded to the post, affirming his commitment to supporting psychedelics research and working with Congress to explore the treatment option, the secretary briefly raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump.
Buckley said Collins told him essentially “the VA is on this” and “if anybody’s going to do it, we’re going to do it.”
“He could not have been more bullish,” Buckley said, adding that he conveyed to the secretary at the end of their meeting that his hope is that VA does the work to provide this access so that his foundation becomes redundant. The message was well-received, he said.
With VA staff, Buckley said he recommended that one initial step that could be implemented without significant federal policy changes, given that substances like psilocybin are strictly prohibited, is providing vouchers for veterans who access plant medicine outside of the U.S.
Collins, for this part, disclosed last month that he had an “eye-opening” talk with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And Collins said he’s open to the idea of having the government provide vouchers to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive services outside of VA as Congress considers pathways for access.
During a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, he separately reiterated his commitment to exploring the efficacy of psychedelic therapy to address serious mental health conditions that commonly afflict military veterans.
On Thursday, bipartisan congressional lawmakers also asking the VA head to meet with them to discuss ways to provide access to psychedelic medicine for military veterans.
In a letter sent to Collins on Wednesday, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—said they were “encouraged by your recent remarks about the importance of pursuing research into psychedelic treatments and other alternative treatments to improve Veterans’ care.”
Correa and Bergman separately introduced a bill last month to provide $30 million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.
Bergman has also expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing psychedelics reform under Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to tackle such complex issues.
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In December, VA separately announced that it’s providing $1.5 million in funding to study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Last year, Rachel Yehuda, who has overseen some psychedelic research as director of mental health at VA’s James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also touted an initial study the agency funded that produced “stunning and robust results” from its first-ever clinical trial into MDMA therapy.
In January, former VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said that it was “very encouraging” that Trump’s pick to have Kennedy lead HHS has supported psychedelics reform. And he hoped to work with him on the issue if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.
Image courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.
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