Appalachia belongs in the record.

FEDERAL COMMENT PERIOD NOW OPEN

The FDA is deciding how the next generation of mental health and addiction treatments will reach people. Right now, anyone can send that decision a comment. We have submitted ours. Here is how you add yours.

ADD YOUR COMMENT

Comments close October 5th, 2026.

WHAT IS HAPPENING

On September 14, the FDA holds a public hearing on how psychedelic medicines, once approved, should reach the people who need them. These are the emerging treatments now being studied for conditions like depression, PTSD, and addiction, and the agency is working out the practical questions of training, safety, and access. The people most affected by those answers rarely get a seat at that table.

Written comments count the same as spoken testimony, and the docket stays open to the public through October 5. That means a farmer in Wise County, a counselor in Pikeville, and a parent who has lost someone to the overdose crisis can all put their perspective directly into the federal record. We submitted AppCoLab's comment.

This is the moment to add yours.

The access questions the FDA is asking are the questions we live with every day.

Rural access

Many Appalachian counties have few behavioral health providers and long drives to specialty care. How these treatments get delivered will decide whether geography keeps deciding who heals.

Workforce

The FDA is weighing the role of counselors and peer support specialists. In our communities, those are the people who hold care together. Their pathways deserve to be built in from the start.

Being counted

Comments become part of a permanent public record the agency reviews. A short, honest note from Appalachia carries weight precisely because so few of them arrive.

Three steps, about five minutes

How to add your comment

You do not need to be an expert or use any special language. Your own words and your own experience are what make a comment land.

01

Open the template

Copy the draft below and paste it somewhere you can edit, or just read it for the shape of a good comment.

02

Make it yours

Add a sentence or two about why this matters where you live. That personal line is the part the FDA remembers.

03 ‍ ‍

Submit before Oct 5

Paste it into the docket at regulations.gov and press submit.

That is it.

The template

The template keeps your comment on the topics the FDA has said it will actually consider, so your voice counts.

Docket No. FDA-2026-N-7542

To the Food and Drug Administration:

I am writing regarding Docket No. FDA-2026-N-7542 on the potential future therapeutic use of psychedelic medicines. I support building a system where these treatments, once approved, can reach the people who need them, including those in rural and underserved communities across the Appalachian region.

[Optional: one or two sentences on why this matters to you.]

As the FDA considers access, I ask the agency to account for the realities of rural care. Many Appalachian counties have few behavioral health providers, long distances to specialty clinics, and limited clinic capacity. Any framework for delivering these medicines should plan for workforce shortages, telehealth screening and follow-up, and reimbursement that works in rural and safety-net settings, so that geography does not decide who can access care.

On provider training and credentialing, I ask the FDA to recognize the role of non-prescriber personnel such as licensed counselors and peer support specialists. In rural areas these roles are often the backbone of behavioral health care, and clear, accessible training pathways for them will be essential to delivering care where specialists are scarce.

Thank you for considering these comments and for keeping equitable access at the center of this work.

[Your name]
[Your town, State]

Five minutes. A permanent record. Our community counted.