Strange trip: why Trump is backing psychedelics

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Last month President Trump signed an executive order designed to fast track both research and access to psychedelic drugs as treatments for mental health illnesses. The most prominent in the order was ibogaine, a drug derived from the root bark of a West African shrub, that has shown some promise in relieving the long term effects of traumatic brain injury. Madeleine Finlay talks to journalist Mattha Busby about podcaster Joe Rogan’s role in the story, what else is behind the President’s interest in psychedelic research, and what the order will change in practice for scientists and researchers. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:12.6	A strange scene, or perhaps better described as another strange scene,
0:18.9	unfolded at the White House recently with President Donald Trump
0:22.2	centre stage.
0:24.3	He's sat there at his desk in the Oval Office, and he's got a cast of characters behind him.
0:31.6	Joe Rogan, who's a lot shorter, actually, than many people may have thought.
0:35.3	Sort of his head is, is like bobbing behind Trump.
0:39.5	Joining Joe Rogan, the influential podcaster with an interest in alternative therapies,
0:45.0	was a lawyer Brian Hubbard who runs Americans for Ibergain,
0:49.4	a kind of psychedelic that's had a lot of interest from the veteran community.
0:53.8	And then there's a congressman next to him who took the psychedelics himself for his own war trauma.
1:03.0	Just a few weeks before, Brian Hubbard and former Texas Governor Rick Perry had done a podcast with Joe Rogan.
1:11.6	They were just like, can you ask him, Joe?
1:14.9	So Joe Rogan supposedly texts Trump, and Trump responds almost immediately
1:21.6	regarding the medicalization of this particular psychedelic Ibogaine.
1:27.0	Great, sounds good. Do you want FDA approval?
1:31.1	And seemingly, just like that, they're on a fast track to review an approval.
1:36.3	Today I'm pleased to announce historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new
1:41.8	medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.
1:50.6	Psychedelics do remain illegal in the US. Classed as Schedule 1, they're defined as drugs with
1:56.7	no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
2:01.6	But this new executive order is a green light for researchers and pharmaceutical companies
	...

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