Trump’s psychedelic order tests review norms

President Donald Trump’s executive order on psychedelics could accelerate the path to market for a class of drugs that has struggled to overcome scientific, medical and regulatory barriers. It reduces regulatory friction at FDA and the Drug Enforcement Administration, de-risks investment, allocates funding to state drug research programs, and creates commercial incentives for psychedelic drugs to treat PTSD, opioid addiction, and other high-priority disorders. But its broader significance may lie in the precedent it sets for political intervention in drug regulation.

While many of the elements of the EO could have been accomplished by FDA without instructions from the president, there is one major exception. It creates a right-to-try pathway for psychedelic therapies that was previously blocked by the courts, and carves out exemptions for ibogaine, a highly touted drug that has not been studied in formal trials in the U.S. ...