Weekly Psychedelic Policy Briefing: VA prepares ten treatment sites, DEA reviews five tryptamines, and cannabis hearing stays paused

Federal agencies are preparing for the first approved psychedelic therapies, but access is expected to begin slowly. A Veterans Health Administration adviser said the VA selected ten sites with psychedelic trial experience and may start treatment as soon as January or February if approvals arrive, while acknowledging that serving 1,000 patients in the first year will be difficult because the therapies require substantial staff time and safety infrastructure. FDA officials reported roughly 433 psychedelic investigational new drug applications, and an ARPA-H official cautioned that psychedelics are not panaceas and can harm some people. The DEA closed comments on a proposal to place five tryptamines in Schedule I, including 4-OH-DiPT, linked to an investigational postpartum depression drug. The briefing also explains how scheduling could affect Compass Pathways’ COMP360 psilocybin filing, reviews differing state rescheduling rules, and reports that a DEA judge refused to reopen the cannabis rescheduling hearing while allowing briefs on a GAO report.