{"id":11280,"date":"2025-07-20T20:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T20:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11280\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T20:28:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T20:28:15","slug":"within-a-year-rfk-wants-to-help-you-treat-depression-with-psychedelics-lsd-and-ecstasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11280\/","title":{"rendered":"Within a year, RFK wants to help you treat depression with psychedelics, LSD and ecstasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades,\u00a0proponents of psychedelic drugs<\/a>\u00a0have come to Washington with a provocative message: Illegal, mind-altering substances like\u00a0LSD and ecstasy<\/a>\u00a0should be approved for Americans grappling with\u00a0depression<\/a>,\u00a0trauma<\/a>\u00a0and other hard-to-treat conditions.<\/p>\n

A presidential administration finally seems to agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis line of therapeutics has tremendous advantage if given in a clinical setting and we are working very hard to make sure that happens within 12 months,\u201d Health\u00a0Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>\u00a0recently told members of Congress.<\/p>\n

His suggested timeline for green-lighting\u00a0psychedelic therapy<\/a>\u00a0surprised even the most bullish supporters of the drugs. And it comes as\u00a0psychedelics are making inroads<\/a>\u00a0in deep red states like Texas, where former Trump cabinet secretary and ex-governor\u00a0Rick Perry<\/a>\u00a0has thrown his full support behind the effort.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s\u00a0embrace of psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0has sparked both excitement as well as concern from those in the field, who worry the drugs might be discredited if they appear to be rushed onto the market or are too closely linked with Kennedy, who is known for controversial views on\u00a0vaccines<\/a>, antidepressants and\u00a0fluoride<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite optimistic,\u201d says Rick Doblin, whose\u00a0organization<\/a>\u00a0has pursued the medical use of MDMA (or ecstasy) since the 1980s. \u201cBut I\u2019m also worried that the message the public might get is \u2018Well, RFK likes psychedelics and now it\u2019s approved.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

FDA may reconsider MDMA<\/p>\n

Under President Joe Biden, the\u00a0FDA rejected MDMA<\/a>\u00a0as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, citing\u00a0flawed data and questionable research<\/a>. Regulators called for a new study, likely taking several years. It was a major setback for\u00a0Doblin and other advocates<\/a>\u00a0hoping to see the first U.S. approval of a psychedelic for medical use.<\/p>\n

But the agency appears ready to reconsider.\u00a0FDA chief Marty Makary<\/a>, who reports to Kennedy, has called the evaluation of MDMA and other psychedelics \u201ca top priority,\u201d announcing a slate of initiatives that could be used to accelerate their approval.<\/p>\n

One new program promises to expedite drugs that serve \u201cthe health interests of Americans,\u201d by slashing their review time from six months or more to as little as one month. Makary has also suggested greater flexibility on requirements for certain drugs, potentially waiving rigorous controlled studies that compare patients to a placebo group.<\/p>\n

That approach, considered essential for high-quality research, has long been a stumbling point for psychedelic studies, in which patients can almost always correctly guess whether they\u2019ve received the drug or a dummy pill.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and FDA also recently hired several new staffers with ties to the psychedelic movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all very promising signs that the administration is aware of the potential of psychedelics and is trying to make overtures that they\u2019re ready to approve them,\u201d said Greg Ferenstein, a fellow at the libertarian Reason Foundation, who also consults for psychedelic companies. \u201cWe didn\u2019t hear anything about that in the Biden administration\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for HHS did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

As a presidential candidate, Kennedy discussed how his son and several close friends benefited from using psychedelics to deal with grief and other issues.<\/p>\n

A number of\u00a0veterans lobbying for psychedelic access<\/a>\u00a0have already met with Trump\u2019s Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing so far is positive,\u201d Collins told House lawmakers in May.<\/p>\n

But some experts worry the hope and hype surrounding psychedelics has gotten ahead of the science.<\/p>\n

Philip Corlett, a psychiatric researcher at Yale University, says bypassing rigorous clinical trials could set back the field and jeopardize patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf RFK and the new administration are serious about this work, there are things they could do to shepherd it into reality by meeting the benchmarks of medical science,\u201d Corlett said. \u201cI just don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas goes all-in on ibogaine research<\/p>\n

As officials in Washington weigh the future of psychedelics, some states are moving ahead with their own projects in hopes of nudging the federal government. Oregon and\u00a0Colorado<\/a>\u00a0have legalized\u00a0psychedelic therapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And last month, Texas approved $50 million to study ibogaine, a potent psychedelic made from a shrub that\u2019s native to West Africa, as a treatment for opioid addiction, PTSD and other conditions. The research grant \u2014 the largest of its kind by any government \u2014 passed with support from the state\u2019s former GOP governor, Perry, and combat veterans, some who have traveled to clinics in Mexico that offer ibogaine.<\/p>\n

Ibogaine is on the U.S. government\u2019s ultra-restrictive list of illegal, Schedule 1 drugs, which also includes heroin. So advocates in Texas are hoping to build a national movement to ease restrictions on researching its use.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernmental systems move slowly and inefficiently,\u201d said Bryan Hubbard of Americans for Ibogaine, a group formed with Perry. \u201cSometimes you find yourself constrained in terms of the progress you can make from within.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ibogaine is unique among psychedelics in both its purported benefits and risks. Small studies and anecdotal reports suggest the drug may be able to dramatically ease addiction and trauma. It was sold for medical use in France for several decades starting in the 1930s, but the drug can also cause dangerous irregular heart rhythms, which can be fatal if left untreated.<\/p>\n

Some veterans who have taken the drug say the risks can be managed and ibogaine\u2019s healing properties go far beyond antidepressants, mood stabilizers, counseling and other standard treatments.<\/p>\n

Marcus Capone struggled with anger, insomnia and mood swings after 13 years as a Navy Seal. In 2017, at the urging of his wife Amber, he agreed to try ibogaine as a last resort. He described his first ibogaine session as \u201ca complete purge of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut afterward I felt the weight just completely off my shoulders,\u201d he said. \u201cNo more anxiety, no more depression, life made sense all of a sudden.\u201d<\/p>\n

A nonprofit founded by the Capones, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, or VETS, has helped over 1,000 veterans travel abroad to receive ibogaine and other psychedelics.<\/p>\n

But federal scientists have looked at the drug before \u2014 three decades ago, when the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded preliminary studies on using it as an addiction treatment. The research was discontinued after it identified \u201ccardiovascular toxicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be dead in the water,\u201d in terms of winning FDA approval, longtime NIDA director Nora Volkow said.<\/p>\n

But Volkow said her agency remains interested in psychedelics, including ibogaine, and is funding an American drugmaker that\u2019s working to develop a safer, synthetic version of the drug.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very intrigued by their pharmacological properties and how they are influencing the brain,\u201d Volkow said. \u201cBut you also have to be very mindful not to fall into the hype and to be objective and rigorous in evaluating them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades,\u00a0proponents of psychedelic drugs\u00a0have come to Washington with a provocative message: Illegal, mind-altering substances like\u00a0LSD and ecstasy\u00a0should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,2971,2714,10896,84,10897,393,394,9081,8680,4509],"class_list":{"0":"post-11280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-drugs","11":"tag-fda","12":"tag-fda-approval","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-hhs","15":"tag-mental-health","16":"tag-mentalhealth","17":"tag-psychedelics","18":"tag-psychology","19":"tag-rfk-jr"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}