How A Text From Joe Rogan Convinced Trump To Greenlight Psychedelic Therapy
on Apr 20, 2026
“The Federal Prohibition Of Psychedelic Medicine In America Is Now Over”
On Saturday, April 18, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House which will institute “historic reforms” regarding access to “medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.”
Present for the signing of the executive order with Trump were HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Podcast host Joe Rogan, of The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify, was also present.
“In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering with severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans,” Trump said, alluding to the suicide rate among veterans.
According to the Veterans Affairs’ latest report on suicide among veterans, which was conducted in 2025 while looking to figures from 2023, “The suicide rate per 100,000 Veterans rose for both male and female Veterans in 2023. For women, the rate rose from 13.7 to 13.9, and for men, it rose from 37.3 to 37.8.”
Trump then stated that it was Joe Rogan who brought this potential path toward treatment to his attention, saying, “[Joe Rogan] said, ‘We have to do something about this.'”
Noting that the top health officials in his administration — RFK Jr., Dr. Oz, Dr. Makary, and Dr. Bhattacharya — had all given “uniform support” to this effort, Trump decided to move forward with this treatment path “immediately.”
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Joe Rogan Speaks In The Oval Office
According to the April 18 executive order, titled “Accelerating Medical Treatments For Serious Mental Illness,” the FDA has granted “Breakthrough Therapy designation to specific psychedelic drugs.”
Among those drugs is ibogaine, which is cited as having “[shown] potential in clinical studies to address serious mental illnesses for patients whose conditions persist after completing standard therapy.”
Given permission to speak, Joe Rogan stated, “Let me tell you how this happened. I sent President Trump some information.”
Prefacing his comments by noting that America has “a gigantic opioid problem,” Rogan said, “In 2024, more than 80,000 people died of overdoses. It’s a horrible number, and there’s more than 5 million people who are addicted to opiates right now in this country.”
Speaking on a path to a cure, Rogan said, “With one dose of Ibogaine, more than 80% of people are free of that addiction. With two doses, it’s more than 90%.”
Returning to how he sent Trump a message about this treatment, Rogan said, “The text message that came back: ‘Sounds great! Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it!’ It was literally that quick.”
When initially asked by Trump to speak, Joe Rogan said, “I’m here because of the man at my left, [W.] Bryan Hubbard. [He] and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry came on my podcast. They told me how impactful this medicine is, and having that conversation with them, millions of people got to hear their story — hear the stories of all the different people that have had life-changing experiences from it.”
Hubbard was then recognized, and he powerfully said, “Federal prohibition of psychedelic medicine in America is now over.”
To this, many in the Oval Office applauded, including RFK Jr.
“One the 250th year of our nation’s founding, everyone who has fought for this day through decades of monumental struggle, sacrifice, and suffering can now declare a seminal victory for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Hubbard said. “Right we bear as images of our eternal Creator, whose essence is almighty, eternal, unconditional love for each and every one of us.”
Hubbard noted that it will be the same government systems that restricted access to this treatment that will now be making it available, praising Trump for having the “courage” to make this a reality.
Trump’s executive order goes on to state, “It is the policy of my Administration to accelerate innovative research models and appropriate drug approvals to increase access to psychedelic drugs that could save lives and reverse the crisis of serious mental illness in America.”
Leaning on one of the biggest successes of his first term as president, the Right To Try Act, which was signed into law by Trump in 2018, is being used to allow those who are deemed eligible for these experimental treatments to have access to the drugs that are necessary.
Watch Joe Rogan speak in the Oval Office, here:
Watch Joe Rogan interview W. Bryan Hubbard and former TX Gov. Rick Perry, here:
