Shaping Federal Policy Around Psychedelic Therapy: APPA Teams Up With Daschle Group

The American Psychedelic Practitioners Association (APPA), a federal organization with the goal of safely integrating psychedelics into the U.S. healthcare system, has retained The Daschle Group as governmental affairs counsel. 

See Also: A New Accreditation Model For Psychedelic Practitioners: Learn About APPA And Its Proposals

Led by former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, the strategic advisory firm is not new to the psychedelics landscape. Some of its prior activity includes lobbying-registration on behalf of the nonprofit Reason For Hope for the Breakthrough Therapies Act. 

This time, the mission is to support APPA’s work by extending the education of stakeholders in D.C. beyond the organization’s meetings with federal policymakers and its recent expert commentary on the FDA’s preliminary guidelines for clinical research with psychedelics.

In August, the APPA and nonprofit BrainFutures published the reportedly first professional practice guidelines for psychedelic-assisted therapy. The document aims to set a benchmark for practitioners in the emerging clinical field based on existing clinical research and expert consensus. 

“Because psychedelic-assisted therapy is fundamentally different from existing practices, we have to take an active role in ensuring that it is regulated in a way that facilitates smooth implementation within the healthcare system,” said APPA’s government affairs director Hadas Alterman.

He added that the organization has established itself as one “that more traditional institutions trust as a resource” as they start considering how to implement psychedelic-assisted therapies and that the new partnership would offer the team “a distinct advantage” while beginning to propose “clear solutions and guidance” to both policymakers and other associations. 

On behalf of The Daschle Group, public policy advisor Charlie Panfil says innovations in healthcare “always pose complex regulatory questions” that “must be answered with the right policy solutions” toward building the best infrastructure for safe and high-quality patient care.

In this sense, he views APPA as “uniquely positioned to harmonize the implementation of psychedelic therapy into the medical model with its vast body of research and expertise that support best practices and patient safety.”

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Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Flametric, aiyoshi597, Gisele Yashar, Bacsica and Freedomz on Shutterstock.