Fast-tracked psychedelics risk repeating psychiatric drug disasters as synthetic compounds are promoted as safe and natural, violating informed consent.
By CCHR International
The Mental Health Watchdog
May 5, 2026
An Executive Order signed April 18, 2026 directs federal agencies to fast-track Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of and expand patient access to psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and ibogaine, to treat “mental illnesses.” The order calls for accelerated research, priority regulatory reviews, and new access pathways under the federal Right to Try Act, a law originally designed to help patients with life-threatening illnesses obtain experimental treatments that have passed early safety testing but are not yet fully approved.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) warns that this initiative risks repeating the documented shortcomings of earlier psychiatric drugs, such as antidepressants, now with serious documented adverse effects. CCHR further cautions that the claim psychedelics are “natural” or “plant-based” is deceptive marketing, as these substances are typically laboratory-synthesized compounds, similar to conventional antidepressants.
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, states: “Switching one mind-altering drug with another is like switching seats on the Titanic. Consumers—many desperate from the failure of other psychiatric drugs and electrical ‘therapies’—are being misled about psychedelics being ‘plant-based,’ just as they were in the 1990s with claims that a serotonin imbalance in the brain caused depression requiring an SSRI antidepressant.”
She further states: “Calling psychedelics a ‘plant-derived’ market is egregiously misleading and violates informed consent. They call it ‘plant-derived,’ but you’re swallowing factory-made chemicals. The plant’s name is borrowed, but the plant is skipped to produce it chemically. It is akin to calling lab-manufactured psychedelics herbal tea in a capsule.”