When the political scientist Rick Doblin founded an organization in the 1980s aimed at securing federal approval for the medical use of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, his vision was nothing short of utopian. He thought the psychedelic drug, which can enhance feelings of love and social connection, would heal global trauma and usher in world peace. The psychedelic movement at that time was a grass-roots effort by hippies, students and bohemians.
Now his organization’s corporate spinoff, Lykos Therapeutics, may soon be acquired by Antonio Gracias, a billionaire private equity investor and close friend of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk. Mr. Gracias, who previously served on the board of Tesla and SpaceX, is working in Mr. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, where, given the job of overhauling Social Security, he has pushed unsubstantiated claims about immigrants voting illegally.
The planned acquisition of Lykos is an example of how tightly entwined a once left-wing psychedelic movement has become with the Trump administration and the tech right. Peter Thiel, who has close ties with many top-level Trump officials, is a major investor in the psychedelic company Atai Life Sciences. Mr. Musk has talked about how he uses a small amount of prescription ketamine “once every other week or something like that.” And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he’s open to decriminalizing or even legalizing the drugs in some form, citing his son’s experience using ayahuasca to process grief from the death of his mother, Mary Kennedy. Stocks in companies working on psychedelic treatments rose after Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation as health secretary.
The Food and Drug Administration turned down Lykos’s application for MDMA therapy in 2024, citing the need for better data. But the pro-psychedelic lobby is hopeful that Mr. Kennedy’s Health and Human Services will appoint a psychedelic czar and trim the red tape in the F.D.A.’s approval process for psychedelic treatments. Some are dreaming even bigger, aiming for the rapid legalization of these drugs.
For some psychonauts, the rightward shift of psychedelic politics is bewildering. Even if the federal government decides to support psychedelic medicine, will there be enough people working at Health and Human Services or Veterans Affairs (where there is hope to use psychedelics to treat post-traumatic stress disorder) to roll it out safely and effectively? Too close a marriage between MAGA and the psychedelic movement could politicize psychedelic science. Mr. Musk’s erratic behavior has given ketamine a bad name.
I worry that the psychedelic enthusiasts of Silicon Valley will apply their “move fast and break things” philosophy to mind-altering drugs, approving them too quickly and without adequate protections for Americans. Psychedelics are very promising as a mental health treatment, but they are also incredibly powerful drugs that carry serious risks — something I know firsthand.
