Psychedelic Approvals on Track, Advocacy in Flux: A Washington Dispatch on FDA, Election Year and ‘Ibogaine Exceptionalism’

My last U.S.-focused dispatch, The View from D.C. published in December, reported significant tumult across the regulatory apparatus and within the psychedelics advocacy realm. Beneath the noise, however, I observed a quiet confidence that multiple FDA approvals were close at hand. 

On my most recent trip, earlier this month, I again heard of chaos among federal agencies and infighting between various corners of the psychedelic advocacy field. But I also heard more of that quiet conviction, including a belief from various stakeholders that politics should not, and will not, get in the way of FDA’s review of psychedelic candidates, even though it may chill the chances of psychedelic policy reforms in an election year. I also heard a lot about ibogaine, advocacy for which appears to be becoming its own realm.

Here, I share some observations and thoughts on all of this, based on my discussions with staffers, lobbyists, advocates, lawyers, drug developers, investors, and others involved in the world of psychedelics…