Trump signs executive order to accelerate psychedelic research
Ibogaine for PTSD moves from fringe clinics toward FDA pathways, insurance and liability questions remain unanswered
Images
President Donald Trump cracked a joke about wanting to take a psychedelic for symptoms of anxiety and depression during a White House event touting the benefits of the drugs, where Joe Rogan was a special guest (Reuters)
Reuters
Rogan, who endorsed Trump for president in 2024, said the executive order came about after he sent Trump a text message about psychedelic therapies (Reuters)
Reuters
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Saturday directing US agencies to accelerate medical treatments for serious mental illness, with a focus on psychedelic therapies including ibogaine.
According to The Independent, podcaster Joe Rogan attended the signing and said the move followed a message he sent Trump about psychedelic treatments. Trump, standing beside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., cited research he said showed an 80–90% reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms within a month for study participants, then joked that he would like “some” for anxiety.
The order signals a shift in federal posture toward drugs that remain tightly controlled under US law. Ibogaine is classified as a Schedule I substance, a category that places it alongside heroin and LSD and makes clinical research expensive and administratively slow. The White House framing—speeding “medical treatments” rather than rewriting drug law—suggests the administration is trying to move through regulators and procurement channels instead of Congress.
For veteran groups and clinics, the immediate constraint is not publicity but reimbursement. Tom Feegel of Beond Ibogaine, which operates in Cancun, told The Independent that the order does not create insurance coverage and does not make the treatment “approved.” That leaves a familiar US pattern: therapies can be politically celebrated as breakthroughs while remaining out-of-pocket products, available first to those who can travel and pay.
The politics around psychedelics also cuts across Trump’s own coalition. Rogan has criticised the administration’s Iran war policy in recent days, calling the escalation “terrifying,” yet appeared at the White House as a featured guest for a healthcare announcement. Trump, for his part, publicly teased Rogan as “a little bit more liberal,” while still using him as a messenger for a policy that depends on cultural permission as much as on FDA process.
Ibogaine has long been promoted as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction, typically outside the US, in part because of the regulatory status at home. If the executive order leads to faster trials or expanded access programs, it could shift demand back toward domestic providers—while also forcing regulators to decide whether “breakthrough” rhetoric should translate into liability standards, prescribing rules, and payment systems.
Trump signed the order at the Resolute Desk with Rogan and Kennedy in the room.
Ibogaine remains a Schedule I drug under federal law.