LDI Experts Welcome New Momentum but Warn Key Evidence and Oversight Gaps Remain
n April 18, 2026, President Donald Trump, flanked by podcaster Joe Rogan, among others, issued Executive Order (EO) 14401, which began by noting that current mental health treatments fail many Americans. Then, in a remarkable shift from 20th-century tough-on-drugs policies, the federal order encouraged research on the use of psychedelics, especially ibogaine compounds (derived from a West African shrub), for mental health conditions. It also potentially fast-tracked the drugs’ approval and provided $50 million for state-run research efforts.
“It’s not nothing to set aside $50 million, but I see the importance of the executive order as primarily symbolic,” said LDI Senior Fellow Holly Fernandez Lynch, Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine. “It shows that the White House is behind psychedelic research, which could be important for investors. That could lead to more research and development, and eventually that’s going to benefit patients.”
Some experts predict that analogs of psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”) and MDMA (“ecstasy”) will gain FDA approval within the next year or two. Ibogaine, a passion of Joe Rogan’s, is less likely to be approved because it is known to cause heart problems.
But caution may be warranted. “There’s a lot that we don’t know about psychedelic-assisted therapy,” said Heath D. Schmidt, a Professor in Penn’s Schools of Nursing and Medicine. “We should learn to walk before we run.”
Here are some of the “known unknowns” that may affect the future of therapeutic psychedelics.
How Do Therapeutic Psychedelics Work?
Studies conducted in the last 20 or so years have suggested that psychedelics, usually psilocybin or MDMA, can be effective after one to three doses at reducing smoking, alcohol use, and opioid use, and at tempering anxiety, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — conditions that can be intractable. The prevailing theory is that psychedelics increase the neuroplasticity of the brain, enhancing its ability to rearrange neural connections into new configurations.
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