President-elect Donald Trump has named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he will have the chance to advance major drug policy reforms he’s championed such as promoting access to psychedelics therapy and reshaping federal marijuana laws.
Kennedy followed a dizzying path to the Trump administration, entering the 2024 presidential election as a Democratic candidate before switching to independent as he lagged in the polls and then eventually endorsing the GOP nominee. Along that path, he stood out in part for his drug policy platform, which involved legalizing and taxing certain psychedelics in addition to cannabis.
If confirmed by the Senate or otherwise elevated to health and human services secretary via a recess appointment, Kennedy will be in a unique position of influence to follow up on those goals, commanding control of the nation’s health apparatus that oversees the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other critical agencies.
HHS under the Biden administration has already completed its portion of a marijuana rescheduling review, conducting a scientific analysis that led to a recommendation to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). That rulemaking process is ongoing, but it’s possible that Kennedy could leverage his authority to initiate another review if he feels a lower schedule, or complete descheduling, is more appropriate, as he’s repeatedly argued.
Kennedy’s advocacy for psychedelics reform is also particularly relevant to his potential role at HHS. FDA faced criticism from advocates earlier this year after the agency rejected an application to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The nominee has made clear he believes psychedelics hold significant therapeutic potential that should be untapped, and he’d wield influence over that potential administrative reform as well.
Last month, Kennedy specifically criticized FDA over the agency’s “suppression of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.
“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” he said.
On the presidential campaign trail, Kennedy talked about how he wanted to legalize and tax marijuana and psychedelics, using the resulting revenue to create “healing centers” where people recovering from drug addiction could learn organic farming as a therapeutic tool. He also voiced support for freeing up banking services for the cannabis industry.
Kennedy has also been open about his own struggles with addiction during his youth and the lessons that he’s taken away from his decades in recovery. While he said he’s generally not one to recommend a drug to treat substance misuse, he’s seen in his own family how psychedelics can facilitate the type of psychological healing needed for long-term recovery.
“I would legalize psychedelic drugs—some form of legalization,” he said in June, adding that he didn’t necessarily envision a commercial market where anyone could visit a shop to buy the substances, but that there should be regulated access.
With respect to psychedelics, the candidate said that he’s reviewed studies on the substances, and “there’s so many people being helped in different ways by them, and we have to make it easier—maybe to prescribe them or to give them through therapeutically.”
“I don’t know about just buying them in stores. I have to look at all that,” he said. “But in one way or another, we need to make it easy for people to use them in ways that could benefit our children and could benefit everybody. I’ve seen it in my own family, the benefits of it.”
He said that he’s “seen miraculous recoveries from psychedelic drugs from PTSD from veterans who have who have used it, from people who have suffered severe depression, OCD and many, many other injuries.”
“I’m not saying blanket legalization—but we need to make it easy for psychiatrists and therapists who are trained to be able to use this on their patients [as] an experiment and see if we get good results,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy also said that he was moved to support psychedelics access by his son’s experience with ayahuasca.
“My inclination would be to make them available, at least in therapeutic settings and maybe more generally, but in ways that would discourage the corporate control and exploitation of it,” he said last December.
Kennedy reiterated his support for psychedelics reform as recently as last week, sharing a video from podcaster Joe Rogan where the issue was discussed and writing that he agrees “veterans are the most deserving of benefiting from psychedelic therapy.”