President Donald Trump on Saturday announced new efforts to boost research into psychedelics and make the drugs available in controlled therapeutic environments.
“If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it’s going to have a tremendous impact on this country and other countries, too,” Trump said Saturday morning in the Oval Office, as he prepared to sign an executive order. The president was flanked by federal health officials and Joe Rogan, a popular podcaster who has pushed for access to the drugs.
Trump’s executive order directs new steps from the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates drug safety. The agency would issue new guidance to researchers on how to design clinical trials for drugs such as psilocybin, ibogaine and other serotonin receptors. Those drugs, which also include LSD and MDMA, can cause hallucinogenic effects and are illegal in the United States.
The president also touted the drugs’ potential to help military veterans and other patients dealing with PTSD and cited efforts by the National Institutes of Health, which funds clinical research, to support studies into the drugs. Trump said that the federal government had just committed $50 million in additional funding for ibogaine research.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who joined Trump at the announcement, has championed the idea of using psychedelics to help with depression and mental health conditions. Trump said he had also received a call from Rogan, who encouraged him to make the drugs more available.
The federal government currently categorizes psilocybin, ibogaine and other psychedelics as Schedule I drugs, which means that they have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Ibogaine, for instance, has been linked to heart risks. Federal law prohibits the cultivation and possession of Schedule I drugs, except for approved research studies.
Trump said Saturday that any FDA-approved psychedelics would be rescheduled, making them easier to access.
Some drug policy experts criticized Trump’s plan. Kevin Sabet, who was a White House drug policy adviser across three presidential administrations, said the order will “send the wrong message” by encouraging hasty, potentially dangerous research.
“People need to realize there is little to no evidence for most of these drugs and most of the conditions they claim to alleviate,” Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, wrote in a text message.
CBS News first reported parts of Trump’s plan.
Kennedy raised the idea of making psychedelics more available during his independent presidential campaign. He continued to tout the concept after throwing his support to Trump in August 2024 and announcing his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
“My mind is open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment,” Kennedy wrote in a September 2024 Instagram post. “People ought to have the freedom and the liberty to experiment with these hallucinogens to overcome debilitating disorders.”
Former Texas governor Rick Perry (R) and former U.S. senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) are among the politicians who have cheered ibogaine’s potential to address mental health conditions.
“Few things have moved me like what I’ve witnessed with a psychedelic drug made from a shrub in Africa,” Perry wrote in a Washington Post op-ed last year.
Andrew Kessler, the founder of behavioral health consultancy Slingshot Solutions, said restrictions on psychedelics such as psilocybin — sometimes known as “magic mushrooms” — have hampered research into their clinical applications, despite evidence of their potential.
“The research on psilocybin at the [Department of Veterans Affairs] and elsewhere has been incredibly promising for dealing with PTSD, addiction and other mental health issues,” Kessler said. But he contrasted that work with the need for more federal investments into other ways to support people dealing with those conditions, such as more funding for a federal agency that supports mental health care, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which has faced cuts and pressure under the Trump administration.
“Even if research on psychedelics is successful, we are years away from it having an impact,” Kessler said. “We are still in crisis mode and need immediate help as well.”
Rachel Roubein contributed to this report.
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