Joe Rogan truly had President Donald Trump’s back on Saturday.
The world’s No. 1 bro-caster, who has expressed some buyer’s remorse over his endorsement of Trump, stood directly behind the president, who was seated at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office signing an executive order to ease restrictions on medical research and treatments using psychedelic drugs.
And it happened because of Rogan, Trump said.
“I got a call from a number of people, including the great Joe Rogan, and he said, ‘We have to do something about this,’” Trump said. “And I looked into it.”
The executive order directs the Food and Drug Administration to support clinical trials for psychedelics and speed up the process to approve drugs deemed to be safe and effective, including ibogaine, psilocybin, MDMA and LSD, all of which are illegal in the United States.
Flanked by Rogan, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and others, Trump said experimental treatments with psychedelics “have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression,” including veterans.
“If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it’s going to have a tremendous impact,” Trump said.
Rogan told reporters he learned about the medical benefits of psychedelics from an interview on his podcast with W. Bryan Hubbard, the CEO of the nonprofit Americans for Ibogaine — who stood next to Rogan in the Oval Office — and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
Recommended
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
