Why is Trump wooing psychedelics?

Critics say that the order will only shave a few months off of FDA approval, but it made Joe Rogan happy

By Russell Payne

Staff Reporter

On Saturday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order expediting federal review of psychedelic drugs for treating mental illness, a class of drugs including LSD, psilocybin “magic” mushrooms and others that are highly illegal. Despite being banned, a wealth of research suggests they can treat intractable mental health problems, which has attracted significant investment from the biotech industry.

Those who have been working in the space are split, with some seeing the order as little more than a public relations stunt amid the president’s floundering Iran war, which he launched in late February alongside Israel. Others see the attention as a meaningful change in the government’s approach to drug policy, at least when it comes to psychedelic medical treatments.

At the signing on Saturday, Trump was surrounded by the typical coterie of administration officials, such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime proponent of psychedelics. But one guest stood out from the crowd: podcaster Joe Rogan, who buoyed Trump in the 2024 election and has long supported right-wing causes and figures, but also has a long, documented interest in psychedelics.

The initial reporting, from Axios, suggested that the order from Trump was an olive branch to Rogan, who has recently become critical of the administration over the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the president’s war against Iran. Trump’s treatment of Rogan also stands out from his attitude toward other right-wing podcasters, like Candace Owens and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whom Trump has attacked relentlessly for criticizing his foreign adventurism.

Rogan later revealed on his podcast that he had been texting with the president prior to the event, saying that he brought up the issue to Trump himself.

“The text message came back: ‘Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it,” Rogan said. A rubber stamp from the president is not how drug development works, of course, but rather through a rigorous (and expensive) federal approval process. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has evaluated psychedelic adjacent drugs, approving esketamine in 2019 and rejecting MDMA in 2024.

Nonetheless, psychedelics are a hot topic lately. At congressional hearings Tuesday, Kennedy was asked about the administration’s pivot on psychedelics by Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., who said that he was concerned that the move was simply a way to “appease Joe Rogan’s ire” over the Iran war.

“I want safety and efficacy to be the standards by which psychedelics are approved, not the president’s attempt to shore up support from his base for a disastrous war in Iran,” Achincloss said.

However, the pomp and circumstance of the signing, as well as the limited material consequences of the order has left those working for psychedelic reform divided on how to think about it. This has only been heightened by the fact that Trump has signed other popular executive orders at times when he was flagging in the polls. Earlier this year, for example, Trump signed an executive order ordering the fast-tracking of cannabis rescheduling while he was in the midst of the Epstein files scandal, but those in the cannabis industry said it had little real-world consequences in terms of changing the federal government’s cannabis policy.

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