• Updated

President Donald Trump has directed his administration to speed up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine. That drug and other psychedelics remain banned under the government’s most restrictive category for illegal, high-risk drugs. But the administration is taking steps to ease restrictions and spur research on using the drugs for medical purposes, including conditions such as severe depression. Trump signed an executive order Saturday that he says will help “dramatically accelerate” access to potential treatments. Veteran organizations and others say ibogaine shows promise for conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction. But ibogaine is known to sometimes trigger potentially fatal heart problems.