The Trump administration is putting America on the fast track to a good trip.
On Friday, April 24, the Food and Drug Administration granted an expedited review process to three experimental psychedelic drugs. It issued priority vouchers to three currently unnamed companies, two of which are expected to research psilocybin as a treatment for depression, and one that will study a drug called methylone, a stimulant similar to MDMA (the main ingredient in the street drug ecstasy), for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Those vouchers shorten the FDA’s review process from its standard 10 to 12 months to just one to two months, meaning FDA-approved psychedelics could arrive as soon as this summer. Research into psychedelics has been limited before now because the drugs have been illegal in the U.S.
FDA commissioner Marty Makary said in a press release that psychedelics “have the potential to address the nation’s mental health crisis, including conditions like treatment-resistant depression, alcoholism, and other serious mental health and substance abuse conditions.”
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The FDA’s fast-track approval for new psychedelic research comes just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to the same effect. On Monday, April 18, Trump ordered the FDA commissioner to grant priority vouchers to psychedelic drugs that have received “breakthrough therapy” designations, in an effort to “ensure that red tape does not delay the FDA’s gold standard review of any potential therapy.”
Beyond psychedelics, the Trump administration is also moving to make state-licensed marijuana safer and more accessible. On Thursday, April 23, the Justice Department announced a new hearing, scheduled to begin June 29, to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug.
Schedule I drugs—a category that includes heroin, ecstasy, and LSD—are considered to be more dangerous and require higher regulation, while Schedule III drugs are defined as “drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” The reclassification would ease the process of new research into marijuana’s medical applications, along with making its federal legalization more feasible.
A new era for drug approval
The FDA’s rapid review for psychedelics is part of the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) program, which launched in June of 2025.
“Using a commonsense approach, the national priority review program will allow companies to submit the lion’s share of the drug application before a clinical trial is complete so that we can reduce inefficiencies,” Makary said of the new voucher program at the time. “The ultimate goal is to bring more cures and meaningful treatments to the American public.”
The CNPV program isn’t without its critics. It was launched without approval from Congress, sparking concern that pharmaceutical companies could essentially bribe the Trump administration with financial contributions in the hopes of securing vouchers.
Experts emphasize that even with expedited FDA approval, rigorous research still needs to be at the forefront of any drug trial. Dr. Peg Nopoulos, chair of the University of Iowa’s psychiatry department, told NBC News that she’s “happy to see that the wheels are being greased” on psychedelic research, but that “the science behind it has to be rock solid.”
“I’m a scientist, and there’s no way we can approve a drug without understanding who’s going to benefit from it, who’s not going to benefit from it, and what the risks are,” she said.
