Trump signs order to speed review of psychedelics, including the controversial drug ibogaine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday directed his administration to speed up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, which recently has been embraced by combat veterans and conservative lawmakers despite having serious safety risks.

Ibogaine and other psychedelics remain banned under the federal 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 like severe depression.

“Today’s order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life,” Trump said as he signed an executive order on the drugs. The Republican president said his directive will help “dramatically accelerate” access to potential treatments. "If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it's going to have a tremendous impact,” he said.

Veteran organizations and psychedelic advocates have long contended that ibogaine, which is made from a shrub native to West Africa, has great promise for hard-to-treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction.

Trump’s announcement follows pledges by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials to ease access to psychedelics for medical use, an issue that has won rare bipartisan support.

Joining Trump in the Oval Office were his top health officials, conservative podcaster Joe Rogan and Marcus Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL whose memoir about a deadly mission in Afghanistan was the basis of the film “Lone Survivor.” Rogan said he texted Trump information on ibogaine and the president responded: “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it.”

“You’re going to save a lot of lives through it,” Luttrell told Trump during the ceremony. “It absolutely changed my life for the better.”

The Food and Drug Administration next week will issue national priority vouchers for three psychedelics, which the agency's commissioner, Marty Makary, said will allow certain drugs to be approved quickly “if they are in line with our national priorities.” The vouchers can cut review times from several months to a period of weeks. It is the first time the FDA has offered that fast-tracking to any psychedelics.

The FDA is also taking steps to clear the way for the first-ever human trials of ibogaine in the U.S.

Trump's action surprised many longtime advocates and researchers in the psychedelic field, given that ibogaine is known to sometimes trigger potentially fatal heart problems. The National Institutes of Health briefly funded research on the drug in the 1990s, but discontinued the work due to ibogaine's "cardiovascular toxicity.”

“It’s been incredibly difficult to study ibogaine in the U.S. because of its known cardiotoxicity,” said Frederick Barrett, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “If the executive order can pave the way for doing objective, scientific research with this compound, it would help us understand whether it is truly a better psychedelic therapy than others.”

No psychedelic has been approved in the United States, but a number of them are being studied in large trials for various mental health conditions, including psilocybin, MDMA and LSD. All those drugs remain illegal, classified as Schedule I substances alongside drugs such as heroin. Two states — Oregon and Colorado — have legalized psychedelic therapy with psilocybin.

Ibogaine was first used by members of the Bwiti religion in African nations like Gabon during their religious ceremonies.

In recent years, U.S. veterans have reported benefiting from the drug after traveling to clinics in Mexico that administer it.

Backing from veterans groups and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry led to a law last year providing $50 million for ibogaine research in that state. Perry, who co-founded a group called Americans for Ibogaine, recently appeared on Rogan’s podcast, making the case for reducing federal limits on the drug. It was his second time talking about ibogaine on the popular podcast in the past two years.

Trump's order calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to direct at least $50 million to states that have enacted or are developing programs to advance psychedelic drugs for serious mental illness. It's described as a federal-state partnership to provide funding, technical assistance and data sharing.

Ibogaine is known to cause irregular heart rhythms and has been linked to more than 30 deaths in the medical literature, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit that conducted some early studies in patients outside the U.S.

The group's co-executive director, Ismail Lourido Ali, said Trump's order might encourage other states to follow the Texas model.

“The stigma around Schedule I drugs is significant,” Ali said. “It feels like this would give pretty substantial cover for Republican governors and legislatures to step into the ring in terms of funding research programs at their universities.”

Owners of ibogaine clinics said the impact of the order will not be immediate.

“There will be no insurance coverage, it will still be considered unapproved and non-covered care,” said Tom Feegel of Beond Ibogaine, which operates a clinic in Cancun, Mexico. “But what it does mean is that ibogaine shifts from being fringe and underground to being federally acknowledged.”

Feegel says his clinic treated 2,000 people with ibogaine last year for between $15,000 and $20,000 per person. The company also gave free treatment to about 100 veterans.

Clinics that use the drug typically monitor patients’ heart readings and have emergency medical equipment on hand.

One of the only recent studies conducted by U.S. researchers found that veterans treated with ibogaine showed improvements in symptoms of traumatic brain injury, including PTSD, depression and anxiety. The Stanford University study was small — enrolling 30 veterans who received the drug in Mexico. It did not include a placebo group for comparison, an essential feature of rigorous medical research. Patients in the study received a combination of ibogaine mixed with magnesium intended to reduce heart risks.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Marcus Luttrell, a retired U.S. Navy Seal, and his brother, Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, listen to President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Joe Rogan laughs as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

BEIRUT (AP) — A U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon came under attack with small arms fire Saturday morning leaving one French peacekeeper dead and three wounded, two of them seriously, France's president and the force known as UNIFIL said.

Both President Emmanual Macron and the UNIFIL force blamed Hezbollah, but the militant group denied involvement.

The attack near the southern Lebanese village of Ghandouriyeh came after a 10-day ceasefire went into effect at midnight Thursday between Israel and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2 when the Iran-backed group launched rockets into Israel after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing top officials including the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The war, in which Israel invaded parts of Lebanon, left nearly 2,300 people dead in Lebanon, more than 1 million people displaced and caused wide destruction.

“Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media. “France demands that the Lebanese authorities immediately arrest those responsible and assume their responsibilities alongside UNIFIL,” the U.N. mission in southern Lebanon.

In Beirut, three judicial officials said the country's Military Tribunal opened an investigation over the incident and is in contact with the army's intelligence department to work on identifying the attackers. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Hezbollah denied links to the attack calling in a statement for caution in assigning blame and judgment until the Lebanese army completes its investigation to determine the full circumstances of the incident. Hezbollah said peacekeepers should coordinate with the Lebanese army in their operations.

Hezbollah expressed surprise in the statement at the hasty accusations leveled against it, especially given the silence of these same parties “when the Israeli enemy attacks UNIFIL forces.”

Macron identified the dead soldier as Staff Sgt. Florian Montorio of the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment from Montauban. He added that three of Montorio’s “comrades in arms were injured and evacuated.”

“The nation bows in respect and extends its support to the families of our soldiers and to all our military personnel engaged for peace in Lebanon,” he said.

His death came nearly a month after a drone attack on March 12 targeted a Kurdish military base in Iraq's Erbil region, killing French Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion and wounding six others.

French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said Saturday that the soldier was killed during an ambush. She said he was on a mission to open a route toward a UNIFIL post that had been isolated for several days due to fighting in the area between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

A 10-day ceasefire took effect in Lebanon on Friday, but it wasn't clear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating.

“He was caught in an ambush by an armed group at very close range,” she said on X. “Immediately hit by a direct shot from a light weapon, he was pulled back under fire by his comrades, who were unable to resuscitate him.”

UNIFIL said a patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghandouriyeh on Saturday to re-establish links with isolated UNIFIL positions came under small-arms fire from non-state actors. UNIFIL said one peacekeeper succumbed to his injuries and three others were injured, two of them seriously.

Macron spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam following the attack “in order to call on the Lebanese authorities to shed full light on this incident, to identify and prosecute those responsible without delay, and to do everything possible to ensure the safety of UNIFIL soldiers, who must under no circumstances be targeted,” Macron's office said.

Salam posted on X that he has ordered an investigation into the attack and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Aoun and Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the attack.

The Lebanese army condemned the attack in a statement adding that it will continue its “close coordination” with UNIFIL. The army added that it is investigating the attack to detain the perpetrators.

Macron also reiterated “the importance of full respect for the ceasefire by all parties and reaffirmed France’s commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty, for the benefit of all Lebanese people and regional stability.

Earlier Saturday, the Israeli military said it had conducted aerial and ground strikes in southern Lebanon adding after it identified several incidents in which militants “violated the ceasefire understanding” by approaching areas close to where Israeli troops are located.

The military mentioned for the first time what it called a “Yellow Line,” saying militants tried to approach it from the north.

There is no mention of a “Yellow Line” in the 10-day ceasefire agreement that was announced by President Donald Trump and went into effect this week.

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that according to the ceasefire agreement, Israel reserves the right to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.”

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qammati told Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed TV Saturday that the group will not tolerate any Israeli strikes similar to what happened after the November 2024 truce, when Israel continued to carry out almost daily airstrikes.

“This time we will not practice the strategic patience policy,” Qammati said.

Petrequin reported from London.

A French U.N peacekeeper sits on an armored personnel carrier at a road used by displaced people to return to their villages on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Qasmiyeh, near Tyre city, southern Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Barber Mohammad Mehdi cuts the hair of his client Ayman Al Zein inside his shop, which was damaged in an Israeli airstrike that also damaged Al Zein's shop, in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man walks between destroyed buildings on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Residents remove rubble from their destroyed house on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Residents remove rubble from their destroyed house on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Jibchit village, south Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)