President Donald Trump on Saturday signed an executive order seeking to hasten research into the therapeutic benefits of LSD, Ecstasy, psilocybin and other mind-altering drugs by ordering federal agencies to ease restrictions that have long limited the ability of scientists to study them.
The measure also provides $50 million for state-level research into ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic made from the root of a Central African shrub that has been drawing interest from researchers for its potential to treat opioid use disorder and other forms of substance abuse.
The funding will most immediately benefit Texas, which has already committed $50 million to studying ibogaine but recently failed to secure matching funds from a private drug developer.
鈥淚鈥檓 pleased to announce historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs,鈥� Trump said from the Oval Office.
The move, long anticipated by researchers and drug reform advocates, aims to recast the government鈥檚 largely adversarial relationship with psychedelics, most of which have been illegal since President Richard Nixon launched a war on drugs in the 1970s.
The strict prohibitions have remained in place even as a growing number of studies suggest that psychedelic compounds can be effective in treating a range of mental health challenges, from severe depression and anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder and the existential distress of a terminal illness.
Most psychedelic compounds are considered Schedule 1 drugs 鈥� those with 鈥渘o currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse鈥� 鈥� making it difficult for scientists to conduct clinical trials. Researchers have long bridled at that categorization, noting the many studies suggesting that the drugs have significant therapeutic value.
The executive order directs the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to reduce the red tape and restrictions that have long stymied researchers in the field.
It also paves the way for seriously ill patients to receive investigational drugs that have completed early clinical trials but have not yet been approved by the FDA.
The executive order would not immediately result in the rescheduling of any drugs, but it creates a mechanism for easing restrictions on those that have successfully navigated most of the FDA鈥檚 yearslong approval process.
This article originally appeared in .
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