An evangelist for treating mental health disorders with psychedelic drugs whom President Joe Biden appointed to a top job at the VA wants to join forces with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Dr. Shereef Elnahal told POLITICO his own interest in the drugs dovetails with that of Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and that he wants to continue overseeing the health portfolio at the VA.
“I haven’t been asked to stay, but if I am asked, I would stay,” Elnahal told POLITICO. “I’d be honored to continue on and advance the agenda for veterans.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs runs the largest health system in the country, serving more than 9 million veterans.
Elnahal’s popular among veterans and psychedelics advocates, who say they are making calls this week to encourage lawmakers to lobby Trump to keep Elnahal on.
The odds of that are long. Trump has largely tapped loyalists and celebrities to staff his administration.
While Trump hasn’t publicly commented on psychedelics, Elnahal is heartened by what he’s heard from Kennedy, who has openly criticized the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating the mind-altering drugs. The FDA this summer rejected a drugmaker’s application to offer the psychedelic drug MDMA, alongside therapy, as a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment.
“The public statements from Bobby Kennedy on this have been very encouraging,” Elnahal said.
Kennedy said his mind was open “to the idea of psychedelics for treatment,” in a post to X in September, adding that “People ought to have the freedom and the liberty to experiment with these hallucinogens to overcome debilitating disorders.”
Still, some are skeptical that the hype around psychedelic medicine has outpaced the science behind it, and worry that the drugs could be misused or could put patients at risk.
The incoming administration has the chance to push psychedelic therapy forward, Elnahal argued, and he wants to be a part of that. If he remains in his role at VA, he said he’d advance the field by growing the agency’s psychedelics research portfolio and, if there’s White House and veteran support, expand the use of psychedelic therapy for veterans in safe settings, alongside ongoing clinical trials.
“I really appreciate Bobby Kennedy’s approach to trying to instill wellness as a bigger part of American life — I think veterans would benefit from that,” Elnahal said, adding, “When it comes to breakthrough therapies for mental health and tackling veteran suicide, psychedelics fall straight into that agenda.”
Why it matters: A year ago, the VA announced it would fund psychedelic research on post-traumatic stress disorder and depression for the first time since the 1960s.
In addition to being the largest health system in the country, the VA serves a population with disproportionately high PTSD rates. Nearly 17 veterans die each day by suicide, according to the VA.
Thousands of veterans, many of whom have PTSD or depression, travel to other countries to seek psychedelic-assisted therapy each year.
Given that, Elnahal thinks the United States should be offering those therapies in well-controlled settings.
“The only way to do that is to boldly approach this with more research and to give veterans access to this kind of therapy here at home,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to travel to Mexico. You shouldn’t have to travel to Costa Rica. We really need a line of sight into this type of therapy to make sure that it’s effective.”
“The incoming administration has the right mindset on developing that evidence and delivering it safely to veterans,” he added.
What’s next: The VA’s research will continue regardless of whether Elnahal keeps his job. Studies are ongoing and millions of dollars in VA-funded psychedelics research are slated to be awarded next year.
But if Trump replaces Elnahal, those who have worked with the undersecretary say it will take more effort to advance psychedelics without him.
