Trump signs order to accelerate psychedelic drug reviews including ibogaine

Though psychedelics remain classified as Schedule I substances and ibogaine is known to cause irregular heart rhythms and has been linked to more than 30 deaths, the order reflects rare bipartisan support for research into their therapeutic potential. The move enables the first human trials of ibogaine in the United States.

President Donald Trump on Saturday directed his administration to speed reviews of psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, a substance with documented health risks that has been embraced by combat veterans and conservative lawmakers seeking treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction. The executive order directs the Food and Drug Administration to issue national priority vouchers for three psychedelics, potentially cutting review times from months to weeks — the first time the FDA has offered that fast-tracking to any psychedelics.

The FDA is clearing the way for the first human trials of ibogaine in the United States.

The Administration’s Pitch

Trump signed the order in the Oval Office surrounded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., conservative podcaster Joe Rogan, and Marcus Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL whose memoir about a deadly mission in Afghanistan was the basis of the film “Lone Survivor.”

“Today’s order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life,” Trump said as he signed the order. The president said his directive will help “dramatically accelerate” access to potential treatments and added: “If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it’s going to have a tremendous impact.”

Rogan said he texted Trump information on ibogaine and the president responded: “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it.”

“You’re going to save a lot of lives through it,” Luttrell told Trump during the ceremony. “It absolutely changed my life for the better.”

The Safety Question

Ibogaine is made from a shrub native to West Africa and was first used by members of the Bwiti religion in African nations like Gabon during their religious ceremonies. In recent years, U.S. veterans have reported benefiting from the drug after traveling to clinics in Mexico that administer it.

But ibogaine is known to cause irregular heart rhythms and has been linked to more than 30 deaths in the medical literature, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit that conducted some early research. The National Institutes of Health briefly funded research on the drug in the 1990s but discontinued the work due to ibogaine’s cardiovascular toxicity.

Frederick Barrett, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, said the restrictions have hampered study. “It’s been incredibly difficult to study ibogaine in the U.S. because of its known cardiotoxicity,” Barrett said. “If the executive order can pave the way for doing objective, scientific research with this compound, it would help us understand whether it is truly a better psychedelic therapy than others.”

The Veterans’ Push

Veteran organizations and conservative lawmakers sustained a push for ibogaine research that Trump’s order now fulfills. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry co-founded a group called Americans for Ibogaine and recently appeared on Rogan’s podcast making the case for reducing federal limits on the drug.

Backing from veteran groups and Perry led to a law last year providing $50 million for ibogaine research in Texas. The federal order calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to direct at least $50 million to states that have enacted or are developing programs to advance psychedelic drugs for serious mental illness, establishing a federal-state partnership with funding, technical assistance, and data sharing.

Ismail Lourido Ali, co-executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, said Trump’s order might encourage other states to follow the Texas model. “The stigma around Schedule I drugs is significant,” Ali said. “It feels like this would give pretty substantial cover for Republican governors and legislatures to step into the ring in terms of funding research programs at their universities.”

Research and Commercial Reality

No psychedelic has been approved in the United States, but a number are being studied in large trials for various mental health conditions, including psilocybin, MDMA and LSD. All remain classified as Schedule I substances alongside heroin. Two states—Oregon and Colorado—have legalized psychedelic therapy with psilocybin.

A Stanford University study found that veterans treated with ibogaine showed improvements in symptoms of traumatic brain injury, including PTSD, depression and anxiety. The study enrolled 30 veterans who received the drug in Mexico and did not include a placebo group for comparison, an essential feature of rigorous medical research. Patients in the study received a combination of ibogaine mixed with magnesium intended to reduce heart risks.

Tom Feegel of Beond Ibogaine, which operates a clinic in Cancun, Mexico, said the impact of the order will not be immediate. “There will be no insurance coverage, it will still be considered unapproved and non-covered care,” Feegel said. “But what it does mean is that ibogaine shifts from being fringe and underground to being federally acknowledged.”

Feegel said his clinic treated 2,000 people with ibogaine last year for between $15,000 and $20,000 per person. The clinic also gave free treatment to about 100 veterans. Clinics that use the drug typically monitor patients’ heart readings and have emergency medical equipment on hand.