VA, HHS Announce Psychedelic Therapy Trials

Joe Wallace

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed a five-year memorandum of understanding on July 13, 2026, addressing psychedelic-assisted therapies and their potential use by veterans in the federal healthcare system.

VA, HHS Announce Psychedelic Therapy Trials

This agreement allows both agencies to coordinate clinical trials, build training systems, and use standardized treatment guidelines before the Food and Drug Administration decides on formal regulatory approval.

The partnership responds to the need to update mental health strategies for the more than one million veterans who experience treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and substance use disorders.

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Psychedelic Study by Executive Order

This agreement is meant to implement Executive Order 14401, Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness, signed in April 2026, which orders federal departments to study whether psychedelic drug products could safely reduce suicide rates and address severe psychiatric conditions among those who draw VA benefits.

Before this memorandum, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued its first formal request for scientific applications regarding psychedelic compounds in January 2024.

Next Steps

What happens next under this agreement?

• The two departments are building mechanisms to expand veteran enrollment in clinical trials.
• The partnership mandates the creation of standardized clinical protocols defining the physical settings required for treatment and the therapeutic methods used.
• The agencies must establish shared databases to track the financial costs, short-term safety profiles, and long-term efficacy of the treatments. This data goes to accelerate formal drug evaluations.
• Future implementation relies heavily on large-scale workforce retraining across the national healthcare network. Because psychedelic-assisted therapy requires closely supervised clinical sessions, the current medical workforce lacks the specialized training required to deploy these treatments safely.
• Under the new agreement, the agencies will design programs to train nurses, therapists, and physicians in specialized techniques.

Psychedelic Drugs are Still Illegal

The psychedelics used in the trial remain classified as experimental Schedule I controlled substances, and there has not been a legalization of psychedelic drug use. The signing of the memorandum does not alter the legal status of these drugs, nor does it allow doctors to prescribe them outside authorized research environments.

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