Jack Bergman: “Last year, the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa), my close friend and colleague, and I offered an amendment urging…”

“Last year, the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa), my close friend and colleague, and I offered an amendment urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a large-scale study into psychedelic-assisted therapies to treat PTSD. I am happy to say that amendment was approved unanimously. It was 6 months after this show of congressional support that the Veterans Administration announced that it would be funding significant research into psychedelic therapies for the first time in more than four decades. While it is extremely promising that these treatments are coming, with FDA final approval expected sometime in August, one of the largest barriers to the initial implementation and future success is the availability of qualified and well-trained mental health professionals within VA. Psychedelic-assisted therapies generally involve multiple therapists at a time and several multi-hour sessions to complete. My amendment is simple. It expresses support for the recently announced VA-led research and encourages VA to prioritize the proactive training of therapists to successfully administer these new therapies. As we saw last year, demonstrating clear congressional approval for these innovative efforts can motivate real action within the Federal bureaucracy. We owe it to our veterans to do everything we can in support of these breakthrough therapies. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”