Federal Psychedelics Reform Has More Lobbyists, Addiction Research Grant & Upcoming $27M VA Report

As several states advance measures relating to the lawful use of psychedelic medicines and with Congressmembers aiming to do their part at the federal level, a key sign could anticipate further movement in Washington D.C. 

Caitlin Oprysko wrote in POLITICO that in recent years, more so under the Biden administration, some of the top D.C. lobbying law firms have begun to push for easing restrictions on psychedelics such as MDMA and psilocybin.

These include the recent Daschle Group’s registration to lobby on behalf of Reason for Hope and Vogel Group’s for the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, both of which support this session’s bipartisan and bicameral Breakthrough Therapies Act.

Oprysko also found that the Conafay Group was hired by the Psychedelic Medicine Coalition earlier this year, Capitol Counsel registered to lobby for the nonprofit Healing Advocacy Fund, Van Scoyoc Associates began lobbying for psychedelics research on behalf of NYU’s Langone Medical Center and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has done the same for veterans group Coalition to Heal Invisible Wounds.

Veterans For Psychedelics Research

Meanwhile, the VA Department is conducting its own research on psychedelic-assisted therapy, which makes sense considering this population would be one greatly benefiting from it.

Specifically, the US military’s R&D arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has been working for the past couple of years on the research project Focused Pharma around creating non-hallucinogenic yet therapeutic psychedelics, reported Double Blind.

In view of the program’s expiration date in mid-2023, a research team funded by a $27 million DARPA grant will soon publish a paper detailing the latest findings, with those involved in the work saying they are “cautiously optimistic” and “very encouraged” by the results.

The research team led by UNC pharmacologist Dr. Bryan Roth computer-designs drugs to stimulate the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor and synthesizes potential candidates for preclinical in-vitro and in-vivo testing.

With so far “encouraging” results yet the existing possibility that the project hits a dead end, Roth says he is agnostic as to whether the psychedelic experience is essential for the therapeutic effect and ultimately hopes the team can get a clear answer on the matter.

DARPA’s program director Tristan McClure-Begley added that the work is exploratory, not delivering a market-ready drug and that the program’s goal is “to support America’s technological capabilities more broadly.”

With the debate on whether the trip is a necessary part of the therapy ongoing for some time, Johns Hopkins psychedelics researcher David Yaden told DB he is skeptical the new DARPA drugs will show the “full and enduring therapeutic effects” of psychedelic-assisted therapies.

Although having a non-subjective psychedelic would be “scientifically and clinically valuable,” Yaden believes there are ethical issues behind the decision of obstructing these acute subjective effects, “given that they’re so often rated as one of life’s most meaningful moments.”

$1.5 Million Federal Funding For Drug Addictions Research

Earlier in May, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) announced new funding opportunities for studies focusing on the potential of psychedelics for treating Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) for a total of $1.5 million included in FY 2024’s budget, as spotted by Marijuana Moment.

The same overall objective breaks down into three calls, a non-clinical one focusing on further elucidating the mechanisms of psychedelics while the other (1 and 2) involving trials with human subjects.

NIDA said there is a need for more data on the biological mechanisms by which psychedelics affect brain function toward understanding which of their multiple targets are important for therapeutic efficacy -with a particular emphasis on the neurobiological and network changes improving cognitive and emotional regulation as well as sustained behavioral change,- and which are responsible for potential adverse effects. 

Measured through neuroimaging and behavioral analytic tools, these would better prepare researchers “both to identify the key neuroplastic adaptations that signal symptom improvements and to design effective future psychedelic therapies.” They would also potentially lead to novel techniques, agents, methodologies, models or applications “that could have a major impact on SUD research involving psychedelics.”

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Cburnett on Wikimedia Commons and Octavio Hoyos on Shutterstock.