Every 11 minutes, an American dies by suicide. Millions more struggle to manage their mental health, cycling through medications, therapy appointments, and hospital visits without ever finding relief. In late April, the FDA took a decisive step toward addressing this prolonged health emergency. In response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, the agency announced plans to expedite the review of certain psychedelic medicines for serious mental health conditions. It’s about time.
FDA FAST-TRACKS PSYCHEDELIC DRUG RESEARCH FOLLOWING TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER
The U.S.’s mental health crisis currently condemns millions to daily suffering, with little hope of relief. Given just how few effective treatments exist, the government should not let psychedelic medicines languish in regulatory limbo. Science-backed psychedelic treatments should be evaluated with the same urgency as other promising medicines.
Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults suffer from a mental illness. Depression alone now affects 1 in 5 adults — a historic high, according to a recent Gallup poll.
For many patients, particularly those with severe or treatment-resistant depression, today’s standard of care often falls short. Most widely prescribed medications rely on mechanisms developed decades ago and often take weeks to produce modest effects, if they work at all.
