President Trump has signed an executive order to ease restrictions on the psychedelic ibogaine, signaling the administration’s willingness to further U.S. research into the drug, which is used in some countries to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr. Trump was joined by health officials including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and podcaster Joe Rogan.
Mr. Trump said the order will “dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs,” which he said have shown “life-changing potential.”
Mr. Trump said that the federal government will make a $50 million research investment into ibogaine. He said the federal government was also opening a pathway for ibogaine to be administered to “desperately ill patients” under the Food and Drug Administration’s Right To Try rule.
“Everybody is so strongly in favor of this. It’s for a lot of people, but it’s for our veterans in particular,” Mr. Trump said, highlighting veteran suicide rates.
“If these turn out to be as good as people are saying it’s going to have a tremendous impact on this country and in other countries too,” Mr. Trump added.
Food and Drug Administration commissioner Marty Makary said that three psychedelics would be added to the National Priority Voucher pilot program, which is a pathway meant to dramatically reduce review times for drug and biological products that align with U.S. national health priorities. The FDA will also begin the process to allow for researchers to conduct human trials into ibogaine’s use, he said.
“This is an unmet public health need and there are potentially promising treatments,” Makary said. “That’s why there is a sense of urgency around this.”
CBS News first reported that Mr. Trump was expected to sign the order earlier this week.
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring compound found in a shrub native to Africa. It has been used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and brain trauma. Researchers say ibogaine could eventually fill a gap in addiction treatment, particularly for opioid dependence, but more large-scale clinical trials are needed before it can be considered safe or effective for any condition.
The scientific evidence behind the drug so far consists mostly of small observational studies and open-label trials. Only one double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial has been completed. More advanced trials have been started recently, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill approving $50 million for research last year. It is unclear how the federal government will help facilitate further research. Sources told CBS News that strategies were still being hammered out in internal discussions this week.
As a Schedule I substance, ibogaine is currently grouped by the Drug Enforcement Administration alongside substances including heroin and ecstacy. Americans have traveled to unregulated clinics, often in Mexico or the Caribbean, to take the drug. Studies show that ibogaine can cause dangerous heart rhythm disturbances, which can be fatal. A 2023 review of 24 studies including 705 people called the risk of death from heart problems “worrying,” and showed that at least 27 people have died after taking ibogaine.
