President Donald Trump’s recent executive order authorizing research on psychedelic drugs as mental health treatments has drawn praise for creating increased access to the drugs and pursuing alternative methods of combating America’s mental health crisis. Some, however, are raising concerns that the order isn’t actually putting Americans’ health first.
Tom McClusky, director of government affairs at CatholicVote, said one of the main issues surrounding the order is that it sidesteps research showing psychedelics to be dangerous recreational drugs that carry serious health risks. He compared the order with the push for legalizing marijuana, saying that both movements don’t prioritize health as they promise.
“Wrapping psychedelics up in medical terms, just like they do with marijuana, is a farce,” he said. “In the case of marijuana, it was all being pushed by people who were going to financially profit. I'd bet it is the same here.”
McClusky added that proponents of legalizing the drugs in states are now using the same tactics on the national level.
Questions have also been raised as to whether due diligence was performed before the order was drafted and signed. Josh Mercer, vice president of CatholicVote, said that the organization’s “greatest concern is that this decision was fast-tracked and didn't go through the proper channels to assess the potential risks of allowing new uses for these psychedelics.”
Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions in Washington, D.C., and a former White House drug policy advisor, has raised concerns about the risks implied in the executive order, specifically, harms linked to the psychedelic drug ibogaine.
“While we support rigorous research for treatment discovery, President Trump’s executive order on ibogaine puts politics and hype ahead of science by suggesting that a dangerous, unapproved hallucinogen can somehow be a medical treatment," he told Fox News Digital.
He added, "Ibogaine remains a Schedule I substance with serious safety concerns, including documented cardiotoxicity and deaths. [The government] should not normalize unproven and risky drugs under the guise of helping those who have served our country.”
Sabet also said he worries about unqualified practitioners improperly prescribing psychedelics and warned that the order could lead to “unfettered recreational use and microdosing,” potentially increasing the risk of “psychosis and other anxiety disorders.”
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