On the weekend psychonauts celebrate 'Bicycle Day', commemorating the first LSD trip, Donald Trump signed a landmark executive order in the Oval Office to accelerate research into hallucinogens and increase access. Double-checking his pronunciation of ibogaine, a lesser-known psychedelic, Trump joked, 'Can I have some, please?' and added, 'I'll take whatever it takes,' with podcaster Joe Rogan standing behind him.
FDA Fast-Track and Stock Surge
Thanks to the order, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will fast-track reviews of three psychedelic drug candidate applications that have already received breakthrough therapy designations. These are likely to be psilocybin for two types of depression and MDMA for PTSD, according to industry analyst Josh Hardman, founder of Psychedelic Alpha. The move sent psychedelic company stocks soaring, marking the biggest greenlight the potential multibillion-dollar market has yet received.
'The expected issuance of these three vouchers shows just how much the White House has changed its mind on psychedelics in the last six months,' Hardman said, referring to reported discord within the Trump administration over psychedelic reform.
Right to Try and DEA Clash
The order states that investigational psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, will become available under 'right to try' legislation, reserved for terminally ill patients and those who have exhausted all approved treatments. This sets up a potential clash with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said Logan Davidson, legislative director of Vets (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions). 'At least to date, the DEA has said that schedule I compounds are ineligible for right to try,' he noted.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a new $139 million initiative to spur new therapies for behavioral health, including the safe use of psychedelics. At least $50 million will be earmarked to match state psychedelic research initiatives, paving the way for a US-first human trial on ibogaine. The order also called for increased psychedelic clinical study participation, especially among veterans.
Mixed Reactions and Concerns
'Most people didn't have Trump accelerating psychedelic research on their bingo cards,' said Ismail Ali, co-director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (Maps). 'It's so easy to be reductive about this. We really have to see both sides.' Ali warned that people will continue to be criminalized for psychedelic-related offences at state and federal levels, with pharmaceutical and commercial interests the immediate beneficiaries. 'If you're looking at the US federal government for the full liberation of these plants, you're probably looking in the wrong place,' he said, but added: 'It is a substantial threshold moment.'
Psychedelics have been federally illegal since Richard Nixon passed the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which Rogan said in the Oval Office was designed to 'target the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.' The prohibited mind-altering drugs remain schedule I substances, but the order said rescheduling would accompany any FDA approvals. On Saturday, Trump indicated his administration was already working on rescheduling, which would require DEA approval. 'Would you get the rescheduling done, please?' he said. 'You know they're slow-walking me on rescheduling.'
Indigenous Rights and Biopiracy Accusations
The decades-long prohibition of psychedelics pushed therapeutic use outside the formal medical system, said Jeffrey Singer, a surgeon and senior fellow at the Cato Institute. 'Under the current pathway, the FDA will likely restrict prescribing and administration to licensed clinicians who often lack meaningful training in psychedelic-assisted therapy,' he wrote.
Throughout the war on drugs, traditional and underground practitioners were systematically persecuted, and there are concerns that Indigenous communities who stewarded psychedelics like ibogaine and psilocybin will not be fairly compensated. Sandor Iron Rope, former chair of the Native American Church of North America, described the executive order as 'biopiracy dressed in clinical language.' He added in a social media post: 'The opening for healing is real, but without explicit protections for Indigenous sovereignty, religious freedom, traditional knowledge, and equitable benefit-sharing, this order risks repeating one of the oldest patterns in colonial history.'
Earlier this year, a delegation from Americans for Ibogaine attended the first International Conference on Iboga and Ibogaine in Gabon, where the plant's therapeutic qualities were discovered. 'Despite a recent visit by Americans for Ibogaine to Libreville, no free, prior, and informed consent was obtained from the traditional communities,' reported Africa Coeur News. 'No royalties were discussed, no profit-sharing mechanism was proposed, no terms were negotiated.'
Ibogaine, which carries significant cardiac risks, can be produced synthetically and extracted from other plants, but Gabon's sovereign wealth fund wants a share of the market. Hubbard, a lawyer advocating for ibogaine, said in the Oval Office: 'For our brothers and sisters in Gabon, you have our deepest gratitude for your stewardship of the sacred tree grown for the healing of nations.'
The Future of Psychedelic Renaissance
'Psychedelics can be applied in irresponsible ways that reinforce problematic social dynamics,' said Ali. 'Even if we're healing our individual trauma, if we're not applying what we're learning to our human relationships and our geopolitical reality, then all we're going to do is use psychedelics to enhance the ego of one dominant nation and continue perpetuating violence and oppression.'
Only a minute after signing the order, Trump pivoted to Iran. 'They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no leaders, they have no nothing,' he said. 'You call that enforced regime change.' And with that, the same president who had potentially opened the floodgates to an American psychedelic future reverted back to matters of war.
