In April, I signed a very important executive order to speed up medical treatments for serious mental illnesses — specifically, psychotropic drugs, including ibogaine. This substance has helped many of the extraordinary veterans and real American heroes who were with me today in the Oval Office of the White House alongside Joe Regan. Today, I announce that Secretary Kennedy received a historic gift from the University of Miami; this university provided the federal government with its original 1994 request for a license to review the drug ibogaine. This action enables everyone to have direct access to the FDA’s initial approval, so that the development of ibogaine as a medical treatment in the United States can be accelerated. This is huge! A special thanks to the University of Miami for taking this step to ensure that Americans benefit from this treatment as quickly as possible.

This adds to the tremendous progress made since April, including the massive amount of research funding from the Department of Health and Human Services, cooperation between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs, FDA guidance, and more. We are moving forward at great speed so that our veterans who are grappling with serious mental illnesses can have the right to pursue treatment in America. We hope more companies and institutions will join us in this very important work. Our veterans deserve it! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

President Donald J. Trump