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U.S. Senate Committee To Hold Hearing On Benefits Of Psychedelics For Military Veterans

Published

3 months ago

August 21, 2025

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The U.S. Senate Commission has heard “alternative therapies” for military veterans, many witnesses expected to discuss therapeutic benefits of psychedelic.

Field hearing will be excluded from Capitol, including the Commission of Veteran Senate Affairs in Montevallo, Alabama, Friday, veteran and psychedelic mental health treatment.

Witnesses are an officer for veteran issues (VA), coalition of veteran health care coalition Adam Marr, Compass pathways at Steve Levine, University of Alabama in Brian Schiefer (SCI-DI).

“This is a call for action. Veterans don’t break the system,” The marijuana moments said on Thursday Thursday. “VA makes some good things, but what they don’t do well are these new innovations and have approaches to bring them.”

Writing the testimony to be submitted to the committee “alternative therapies” said “, therefore,” therapies are being created or psychedelic, psilocybin, dmt, 5-meo-dmt, Methylon. “

“In general, these therapies of psychedelic therapies are also fast and solid symptoms offer rapid and strong improvements.

“Despite the promising results, psychedelic therapies face the regulatory research barriers” and the access said in the testimony. It also said that “difficult understanding” is why federal federations only offered “minimum” funding to support research on therapeutic benefits of substances.

Most witnesses selected hearing They have somehow been psychedelic research and defense.

For example, Ixse Wiechers, Director General of Veterans Health Administration (VHA), was among the authors of a 2024 report among the authors of research on research and implementation of psychedelic research research on VA 2024.

Levine serves as a director of patients compass, a biotechnology research company specializing in Psychodelics, who helped protect a nomination of the Psilocybin of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Schiefer also promotes the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic medicine as the role of SCI-DI to spread access to alternative therapies for veterans with severe mental and physical conditions with severe mental and physical conditions.

Notable, in the situation of a member of the Audition Committee, Tommy Tuberville (R-al), who has provided support for the Canavy Industry Bank But it is not particularly proactive in the face of psychedelic reform.

The meeting of the Senate is broader in Congress carefully to the subject. On both sides of Congress, as well as key officials of the administration to deform reform.

For example, Vako’s head recently He assumed his role to promote access to psychedelic access to veterans With serious mental health conditions, it was possible to open “wider than thought that door”.

VA Secretary Doug Collins, who He has raised attention to the President Donald TrumpHe said, “We will do the right way,” Ibogaine, MDMA and PSilocybin to face the clinical trials that are being investigated.

Last month, the Secretary also confirmed “Very open” to spread access to psychedelic therapy for veterans-Massionate that people with serious mental health conditions intend to find “healing” ways and not only treat surface symptoms.

Collins pointed out that VA is actively performed through internal or private cooperation in clinical trials “actually results in different substances that are good results”, including One is investigating a supported MDMA-based therapy based on VA Bronx health care “Actually, good results.”

In that conversation, it was also Collins He showed the last clip of the army stamps in Rob O’Neill, who killed Osama bin Laden, The federal government intentionally avoided his theory, because he has prevented access to psychedelic medicine, because cures are more profitable than long-term treatments. Collins replied in response: “I will tell you right now: this secretary of veterans, myself, I want to heal people.”

In the meantime, the GOP-controlled household board approved a change attached to the defense invoice “Progress Report” is required in a Psychedelic Pilot Therapy program For active duty for military service members and veterans.

However, the Congress has been a research proposal for psychedelic research in recent sessions, last week, has blocked a change of bipartisan bipartisa (R-TX) that would provide another $ 10 million. Clinical essays in therapeutic potential of substances like ibogaine and psilocybin in the therapeutic potential of clinical support.

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One by one, Bipartisan Congress legislators met with VA secretary Discuss paths to access psychedelic medicine As an alternative treatment for conditions like PTSD.

After Meeting by asking for Collins In May, reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-Mi) The chairs of psychedelic psychedelic psychedelic psychedelics (path) Caucus said three.

Collins, in particular, is highlighted as VA Secretariat for Sustnator, which explores the potential of Ubogaine and MDMA, providing relief of serious mental health conditions, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS head, is his goal. Release plant-based medicine options within 12 months.

New Gingrich (R-GA) separated the former speaker of the US Psychedelic Ibogaine is a “amazing breakthrough” The current “patient care system” has left people with serious mental health conditions, unintentionally intended by alternative treatment options, and intends to use its impact on the problem.

One by one, he entered the change of expenditure invoices in Correa and BergmanResearch on the benefits of psychedelic treatment to treat medical conditions It usually affects military veterans.

Legislators separated the bill in April to provide $ 30 million each year Establish psychedelic by the “Centers for Excellence” at VA FacilitiesVeterans to receive an innovative treatment that contains substances such as Psilocybin, MDMA and Ibogaine.

Collins, for his part, also known in April he had “open eye” with Kennedy About the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And he said that the government is open to the idea of giving boots to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive external services from VA. As a congress.

Bergman also has Advanced Psychedelic Reform Opportunity to advance through TrumpThe administration argues that federal expenditure and the efforts will give the “spine” agencies to deal with complex problems.

Kennedy, for his part, also said in April Had “wonderful experience” with LSD in 15 yearsHe thought he could see the dinosaurs, as he portrayed in a comic book.

Last October, Kennedy criticized the FDA “Psychodelics Support” of the Agency and said the laundry of other issues.

In December, VA reported individually to finance $ 1.5 million to finance Learn the effectiveness of therapy assisted by MDMA for veterans PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Last year, VA Yehuda also financed the initial examination agency “Amazing and strong results” from the first clinical test of MDMA therapy.

In January, Shereef Elnahah Bed secretary was VA (it was very gratifying) Trump said Kennedy Lead HHS protected Psychedelics reform. And he He hoped to work with him For the next administration, but that did not come out.

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Cannabis News

Betting on the potential for craft cannabis in a fledgling market

Published

1 hour ago

November 4, 2025

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Drive up the highway. Step into 8 Lindstrom and you’ll find a small group doing something radical on the Minnesota cannabis side.

Concentrate Labs, which operates the Roots & Resin Farm, has chosen flavor, purity and Minnesota craftsmanship over shortcuts. The flower is being grown and harvested, designed not only for smoking, but for conversion into solvent-free rosin, and the form of vapor inhalation is a concentrate that can be drained or heated.

Instead of the flower, the real action of the rosin is in the trichomes – the tiny, glassy glands that frost each bud. Rosin is simply those trichome heads harvested as ice water hash (made by washing the trichomes from flowers in ice water) and then carefully pressed with heat and pressure. No hydrocarbons, no ethanol, no post-processing chemicals. Just plant, water, temperature and time.

This year, Concentrate Labs co-founders Preston Torres and Max Young joined the first wave of non-tribal growers approved to grow and harvest cannabis for adult use. Their Lindstrom site stood out as an early entry, and one that was primarily geared toward rosin, rather than commodity flower. Craftsmanship is a decision and a commitment to quality.

Cannabis News

Oklahoma Activists Withdraw 2026 Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative

Published

1 hour ago

November 4, 2025

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Oklahoma activists have withdrawn a marijuana legalization initiative they had hoped to put on the state’s 2026 ballot.

After a brief but aggressive signature push to secure ballot placement, Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) ultimately failed to submit petitions by the deadline, according to the secretary of state.

It’s a critical setback for advocates, who partnered with retailers across the state — from existing medical cannabis dispensaries to tattoo parlors — to place orders. More than 500 locations provided support by serving as signature locations.

ORCA needed to submit 172,993 valid signatures by Monday, and despite the campaign’s optimism about progress, the Secretary of State confirmed that no cuts have been made.

“RETIRATION PROMOTIONS OF THE AUTHORITY”, website of the office he says. “November 3, 2025; No application brochure filed on behalf of IP449; IP449 is no longer active in the office of the Secretary of State.”

Despite the decentralized, largely volunteer nature of the campaign effort and not actively verifying signatures collected, ORCA founder Jed Green, who could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday, told Marijuana Moment last month that the group had “a pretty big stack” of signed petitions on hand.

The campaign was still discussing hundreds of signed petitions as of Monday evening.

It was a tight turn to deliver the signatures, as the campaign only started collecting them in August, and advocates were given about three months to do the work.

There were particular challenges this election cycle, as Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) gave final approval to the legislation earlier this year, which some advocates worry will block future citizen-led policy changes, including cannabis reform.

It is laid down by law Additional requirements regarding the initiative language that voters see on the ballot and also revised signature-gathering policies to require petitioners to submit signatures of only 11.5 percent of registered voters in a single county for bills and 20.8 percent for constitutional measures. The law is currently being challenged for reasons unrelated to the specific cannabis proposition.

Green said earlier that it’s one of the main differences between the initiative his own the organization A previous one that was pushed this year and failed on the 2023 ballot is that it accounted for concerns about licensing rules. Many have criticized the expansion of the state’s medical marijuana law, which led to a proliferation of dispensaries, and Green said the failed adult-use measure effectively duplicated that licensing scheme.

Here’s what ORCA’s latest marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:

It would allow adults over the age of 21 to purchase and possess up to eight ounces of cannabis for personal use. They can also contain up to 12 plants grown and harvested, and contain up to one ounce of concentrated cannabis.
The proposed Constitutional amendment would also provide that Oklahoma banks will not be penalized for servicing state-licensed cannabis businesses.
The initiative also includes protections for adults not to be penalized for “health care, housing, employment, public assistance, public welfare, parental rights, educational opportunity, extracurricular activities” and “licensing or authorized activities” such as firearm ownership and driving privileges as a result of legal cannabis activity.
Within these safeguards, the presence of THC metabolites in a person’s system could not be used as evidence of impairment.
Local governments would not be able to impose bans on the cultivation of marijuana at home, and any regulations they impose on the activity could not be an “undue burden.” Furthermore, there is no public ordinance on the public smoking of marijuana that could be more restrictive than what is currently in place for tobacco.
Existing medical cannabis licensees, as well as new retail licensees, would be able to start selling to adult consumers 60 days after the measure goes into effect. After 180 days, they could start distributing cannabis products to adults.
The same state departments that oversee the current medical cannabis program would be responsible for regulating the adult-use market.
It would impose a 10 percent excise tax on adult marijuana products, and the initiative provides that the legislature will be empowered to lower but not raise that tax rate.
The revenue from those tax dollars would go to the state general fund (40 percent), as well as the county governments where the retail sales occurred (30 percent) and municipal governments (30 percent). For unincorporated jurisdictions, the revenue would be split equally, 50 percent to the general fund and 50 percent to the counties.
60 days after the measure goes into effect, the tax rate on marijuana for registered cannabis patients would be waived.
It also states that state-licensed marijuana businesses cannot be prevented from engaging in interstate commerce if there is a change in federal law, or a court action, that authorizes such activity. If that happens, the legislature would be allowed to impose a 3 percent wholesale tax on cannabis exported across state lines.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the signature collection process, law enforcement leaders with the Oklahoma Chiefs Association and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. was raising concerns about cannabis.

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Also in Oklahoma, lawmakers advanced a bill that was targeted in March Protecting the gun rights of state-registered medical marijuana patientsalthough federal law still prohibits cannabis users from possessing firearms regardless of patient status.

It would be another state bill introduced by a GOP lawmaker in January criminalizing the use of medical cannabis during pregnancy.

Photo by Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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Report reveals California cannabis cultivation and regulatory process puts Tribal cultural resources at risk

Published

1 day ago

November 3, 2025

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A comprehensive new report by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Northeastern University reveals that California’s cannabis cultivation threatens Tribal cultural resources. As in other fields of development, however, protecting these resources faces systemic challenges.

Based on the findings of a two-year survey of tribal and agency representatives across the state, the survey found that the state’s current consultation policies, while stronger than in many other states, are inadequate and inconsistently applied, leading to significant risks of irreparable damage to tribal cultural heritage.

“Our research shows a significant disconnect between state policy and the experiences of California’s indigenous tribes. The current cannabis permitting system, while well-intentioned, does not adequately protect ancestral lands and cultural resources,” said Jennifer Sowerwine, the project’s principal investigator and a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. “It’s not just about historic preservation; it’s about respecting tribal sovereignty and perpetuating old damage by this new industry. These findings provide a clear roadmap for the state to move beyond performative consultation to a process that is truly meaningful and just.”

Jeremy Sorgen, principal investigator of the project and research faculty at Northeastern University’s Oakland campus, said, “One of the first things we’ve heard from Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and county officials involved in cultural resource protection efforts is that cannabis cultivation occurs on lands that are highly likely to be sensitive to Tribes.”

A good place to grow cannabis can be a Tribal cultural resource
“If it’s relatively flat, near a water source and facing south, it can be not only a good place to grow cannabis, but also a ceremony or a village site or some other place of cultural significance to the tribes,” said Sorgen, who is also a researcher at the UC Berkeley Cannabis Research Center. “What this means is that cannabis producers, historically and today, are actively selecting Tribal cultural resources.”

In 2014, California Assembly Bill 52 amended the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, to include statutory requirements for the protection of tribal cultural resources. This law was enacted shortly before Proposition 64 legalized the use of cannabis in 2016. The study “Examining Tribal Sovereignty over Cannabis Permitting on Native Ancestral Lands” investigated the intersection of these two laws and found that AB 52, while strengthening Tribal consultation at the local level, retains the same problems as previous state and federal cultural resources laws.

The study was designed, conducted and analyzed in collaboration with the seven-member Tribal Advisory Committee, and included comprehensive surveys of 46 Tribal representatives and 56 agency officials, along with 61 in-depth interviews conducted across the state.

The report offers several recommendations for the Department of Cannabis Control and other state agencies to address these systemic problems. Key recommendations include: Working directly with tribal governments to develop fairer consultation processes and accurate maps of ancestral lands. Other recommendations include starting consultations as soon as a permit application is received, providing specific funding and training to Tribes and agency staff involved in consultations, and promoting stronger data sharing agreements between state, local, and Tribal governments.

The new tools support Tribal sovereignty in the consultation
Based on the research findings, the research team and Tribal consultants have developed two sets of tools to support tribal controls in the consultation process.

“California has some of the strongest cultural resource protection laws in the US, but meaningful consultation is undermined by structural problems in the consultation process,” said Shasta Gaughen, environmental director and historic preservation officer for the Pala Band of Mission Indians and a member of the Tribal Advisory Board. “We brought together Tribal historic preservation officials from across the state to develop a toolkit that reflects Tribal consultation experiences, is concise and easy to use, and empowers Tribes, not agencies, to set consultation requirements.”

The By Tribes, For Tribes Consultation Policy Toolkit provides a customizable Consultation Policy template and additional materials for Tribes looking to create their own consultation policies or ordinances. The “by Tribes, for Tribes” approach allows Tribes to proactively guide government agencies in consultative processes based on Tribal preferences, rather than reacting to agency interpretations as required by law.

The UC Berkeley Cannabis Site Mapping Tool provides Tribes with a means to assess the extent of cannabis cultivation on their ancestral or aboriginal land. It can be used to determine possible threats to tribal cultural resources and sensitive sites.

Source: Mavens Notebook