'Not getting away with it anymore': Trump speaks on Iran closing Strait of Hormuz

Behind me, there are tremendous professionals, medical professionals, most, and some military, like Marcus, some great military professionals, too. Real hero. Today, I'm pleased to announce historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs. In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans. Our veterans are having a tremendous hard time. You know, the suicide rate, we have it down a little bit, but they are having a hard time. And I got a call from a number of people, including the great Joe Rogan, and he said, we have to do something about this. And I looked into it. I called Bobby. I called Oz. I called Marty and Jay. And it was really, it was uniform support. And I said, so why would we wait three or four years to get it done, or 10 years, frankly? Let's get it done immediately. And that's what happened. This has probably never been anything happen so quickly. Everybody is so strongly in favor of this. It's for a lot of people, but it's for our military, in particular. The suicide epidemic among veterans is a national tragedy. Since 9-11, we've lost over 21 times more veteran lives to suicide than on the battlefield. So, we lose, think of that, 21 times more. And today, we're bringing them new hope. I think you're going to see a big difference and a big reduction in that number. I want to thank Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who's a fantastic — where are you, Bob? Oh, we're here. He always makes it difficult for us. Come here, Bob. He's done a great job, too. And people love him. And, more importantly, your wife is here someplace, Bobby. She's out there. Where are you? Where are you? The real boss in the family. Yeah, it's fantastic. Thank you very much for being here. As well as FDA Commissioner Marty McCary, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. See how easy that name is now? You know, it used to give me a little trouble. That was a tough name. Congressman Morgan Luttrell is a friend of mine and a real — he's a real war hero. He knows something that a lot of us will never find out about. Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the two of them. I don't know what was in the — what's in your blood, fellas? You guys are — good mom and dad, right? Good mom and dad. Good somebody. Good to have you. Joe Rogan, who's a fantastic person. We did a little interview before the election. We had over 300 million people. And I said, oh, man, I hope Kamala doesn't do it. And she didn't. He wanted her to do it, but she didn't. Someday, Joe is going to explain why. I could tell you why. But along with many other — because she didn't want to. With many other veterans. And I just want to thank — the people behind me are outstanding. It's an amazing group. The executive order I'm signing — we're actually signing the executive order today. It is really a moment. It directs the FDA to expedite their review of certain psychedelics already designated as breakthrough therapy drugs. They're very much being discussed. Like, it's one of the hottest things I think you're talking about, Oz, right? It's nothing. If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it's going to have a tremendous impact on this country and other countries, too. These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they're both safe and effective for the American patients. And the nice part is we're actually doing this early, but it has been going on — research has been going on for quite some time. But, you know, usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up. But we're changing that. This order will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA-approved. And we think many of them will go very quickly. And I have to say, the most favored nations pricing that we established and I established has been knocking the cost of drugs down by 50, 60, 70, 80 percent. And I also want to thank you and Bobby for the great job you've done. It's incredible. And the press refuses to write about it. I think it's probably as big as what we're talking about today. The drug costs are going down at — and, by the way, Trump Rx, which is the way you go to get your very low-cost drugs. But when you think, in my first term, for 28 years, drug prices went up, and I got it down one quarter or one-eighth of a percent. I was so proud of myself. It's the only one that, in 28 years, got them down. And I had a news conference to explain how great I was. I said, I'm the greatest there ever was. I got it down one-eighth of a percent. Okay? I was very proud because it only went up. For 28 years, it went up. Now I got it down a little bit. And now I got it down 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent with these guys. So now I am — you know? But nobody wants to write about it. But it doesn't matter because the people have found out, and they're getting — you know, we're the highest — we were the highest in the world, by far. Sometimes would be 10 times higher than other countries. You'd buy a drug. I call it the fat pill or the fat drug. You'd buy it in London. You'd buy it for $10 for a pill, let's say, or a pill generally. But actually, to be specific, London, $87. New York, $1,300. I said, how can that be possible? How can it be possible? Eighty-seven dollars. And actually, a friend of mine called me up, and he said, you know, he's a very rich guy, but — and he happens to be on this Ozepic, I guess, at the time. And it had — it was not working, by the way. The guy was extremely successful, but highly neurotic. Got a lot of problems. I will not mention his name. He's begging me not to mention his because he's become quite famous. He's a big factor here. But he's very smart, very rich guy, very, very successful guy. And he said, a president — he used to call me Donnie. Now he calls me President, out of respect. He said, I'm in London. I bought this stuff for 87 bucks. In New York, I paid $1,300. What's going on? I said, well, that's the way it is. We pay the highest prices in the world. And it sort of hit me that — how ridiculous it is. Made, by the way. He checked it. He had a whole big research done on it because he couldn't believe it. Made in the same factory, same plant, same — everything was the same except the price. And now we are the lowest price. We are tied. In other words, whatever the lowest price in the world is, that's the price we pay. That's a tremendous difference. So we'll be paying — they'll go — they go up a little bit. So the 87 will go, like, to 120, and we'll go down from 1,300 to 120. So we'll have these massive price cuts. And they've already started. And I think it's one of the biggest things. But unfortunately, the press doesn't like to talk about it. But — because it's a — if I were a Democrat, it would be headlines all over the place. But — so I do that. That's why I like live television, actually. It's great because you can't do any cutting. But we're so honored by that. And that's going to have a huge impact on this also because the pricing — not only is it important, but the pricing is going good. And you're going to get the rescheduling done, right, please? So we get — will you get the rescheduling done, please? You know, they're — you know, they're slow-walking me on rescheduling. Okay? You're going to get it done, right? In 2024 study from Stanford University, 30 special operation veterans with traumatic brain injuries underwent — it's called ibogaine treatment. Ibogaine. Remember the name. Is that pronounced relatively properly, what you say? I don't want to get it wrong. Ibogaine, because it's so important. And experienced an 80- to 90-percent reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety within one month. Can I have some, please? I'll take some. I'll take whatever it takes. I don't have time to be depressed. You know, if you stay busy enough, maybe that works too. That's what I do. In Texas, Republican leaders have already committed $50 million to the ibogaine research. And today, the federal government is making a $50 million research investment in its own. And so that was just approved just last night. We're also opening a pathway for ibogaine to be administered to desperately ill patients under the Right to Try law. That's a law that I started, and I got Right to Try. Very proud of that. It was done in my first term. And I used to marvel at the fact that people that were terminally ill could not get a drug. They're terminally ill. They're going to die. And the FDA — right, Marty and Jay? The FDA was protecting them from dying. But they're going to die. And so we have these incredible drugs. And they may work and they may not work, but we wouldn't let anybody get them because they were bad for your health. But these are people that were going to die. And it never made sense to me. So one of the first things I did early in my term — and it was very tough to get, actually. Hard to believe. It was very tough with Congress. But they came through — the Republicans came through. And we have something called Right to Try. And we've saved thousands and thousands of lives. That's — if you're terminally ill or very ill, and there is a new drug that is not available because it's gone through the process of the FDA — and Marty has cut that process down by 50 percent. We're down — it used to take 12 years, and now we have it down to five or six years. And it's one of the most important things that you can do. But if you're terminally ill and there's a new drug that may work or may not work, but it hasn't been approved yet, you sign a document, and you're not going to hold the country liable. You're not going to hold the drug companies or the insurance companies or anybody liable. And you have the right to try. And what it's done — and nobody wanted it. The insurance companies hated it. Even the doctors, they were all afraid of it because they didn't want to be sued. But I took all of the liability out of it. You sign a document, you're not going to sue the doctor. You're not going to sue the hospital. You're not going to sue anybody, including the country. And everybody signs it, like, immediately. And we have tens of thousands of people on this. And we've saved thousands and thousands of lives. And what it has done — we never thought of it so much as. But what it has done is, in some cases, these drugs are working so good. It literally cures people that were terminally ill. But it's one of the things I'm most proud — I'm proud of a lot of things we've done. But that's one of the things we're most proud of — right to try. But I've always believed in ensuring that the American patients have access to breakthrough treatments and therapies with love for our veterans. And I have real love for our veterans. I was with a group yesterday. It's incredible what they've gone through. And care for American patients. Today's order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life. Just lead a happier life. They've been through so much. So I'd like to ask Secretary Kennedy to say a few words, followed by Commissioner McCary, Marcus Luttrell, Joe Rogan, and anybody in the group that would like to speak. You're tremendous people. I know many of you. And you're really highly respected people. And the Luttrell family is well represented. But I don't mind having both Luttrells. Both Luttrells can say a few words, okay? Great people. And so, Bobby, do you want to start it off, please? Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, and thanks to the leadership of President Trump for making this historic day possible. Under the executive order, HHS will accelerate research, approval, and access to new mental health treatments, including psychedelic therapies such as Ibogaine. For taking this decision, this decisive step to confront one of the most urgent public health challenges facing our nation, the mental health crisis. More than 14 million Americans live with serious mental illness. And one in four adult experiences a diagnosable disorder each year. Suicide has risen by more than 30 percent over the past two decades, with another peak in recent years. Among veterans, more than 6,000 die by suicide each year since 2001. We have lost far more veterans to suicide than to combat. At the same time, millions of Americans living with depression, PTSD, addiction, and other conditions do not respond to existing treatments. We owe it to our war fighters and veterans to turn over every stone to alleviate the emotional and mental health blowback from their deployments. It's disturbing to me and to the president that hundreds, in fact, thousands of veterans are having to travel to Mexico or other countries to experiment with interventions that hold great promise but for which our knowledge is still insufficient. This executive order will remove the legal impediments that block American researchers, scientists, physicians, and clinicians from properly studying these medicines. And where appropriate, establishing protocols for their safe therapeutic use. We're directing the FDA to prioritize therapies that have received breakthrough therapy designation, treatments that early evidence suggests may improve what we have today. We're expanding the use of Right to Try so that eligible patients with treatment-resistant conditions can access these therapies under medical supervision. We're also coordinating with the DEA and the Department of Justice to begin rescheduling reviews after successful phase three trials. When the FDA determines a therapy is safe and effective, patients should not face avoidable delays in access. At the same time, HHS will work with states, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal partners to strengthen research and share clinical data. We will use that data to support faster, evidence-based decisions. Through ARPA-H, HHS will allocate, as the President says, at least $50 million from existing funds to partner with states that are advancing these therapies. We will support those efforts with funding, with technical assistance and data sharing consistent with applicable law. Researchers at Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Harvard and other leading institutions have reported meaningful and, in some cases, extraordinary clinical improvements. If these results continue, these therapies could offer longer-lasting relief, not just symptom management, and reduce economic burden of mental illness, which costs this country hundreds of billions of dollars every year. This policy creates a strict science-based pathway for FDA approval and controlled medical use. The bottom line is progress in mental health treatment has not matched the scale of the problem. I want to thank Joe Rogan for helping bring national attention to innovative, potentially lifesaving treatments for veterans and others living with mental illness, and for pushing this conversation into the mainstream. I also want to thank Representative Morgan Littrell from Texas, and former Navy SEAL Marcus Littrell for their leadership on this issue. I also want to thank the CEO of American Thrive again, Brian Hubbard, and the organization's ambassador, the former Navy SEAL, Henry Berkowitz, and former SEAL Team 6, Rob O'Neill. I want to thank a couple of people for getting this record across the finish line, Kelly Means and Dr. Heidi Overton. Thank you, Heidi, for your leadership and for your attention. Steve failed to detail, which is often frustrating. I'm always right, so thank you. And thank you, above all, Mr. President. The President Thank you very much, Bobby. You're fantastic. Bobby's really done an amazing job. You know, MAHA, it's a big deal. And I want to thank you. You really — you work so hard, Oz and everybody up here. And I just want to thank you. Great job. And he's somewhat outside of the box, would you say? And we need outside of the box a little bit, right? Would you say, Oz? Marty, please. Great. Thank you, Mr. President. Next week, the FDA will issue three national priority vouchers for serotonin 2A agonists, also known as psychedelics. Under this new program, in this administration, drugs can get approved in weeks, not a year or a year-plus, but in weeks, if they are in line with our national priorities. We have 18 vouchers in the program. We'll be adding three more next week. This is an unmet public health need, and there are potentially promising treatments. That's why there's a sense of urgency around this. That's why we're doing it now. The applications are about to come in. So this is the natural, perfect timing for this announcement. For many men and women, they have been fighting battles on the ground. But even after the wars are over, those battles continue in their mind. Now, there are a lot of medications in medicine where we don't know exactly how it works, but we see profound results. If we actually listen to those who experience the therapeutic value, we can learn as a medical field. We just have to listen. The stories of those individuals with dramatic results, that is data, that is scientific data, even from a single individual. We also have randomized control trials, and we have to do that because we need to be able to say there's good support when we recommend these therapeutics. If you look at those trials, there's a 30 to 40 percent remission rate for conditions like PTSD. Otherwise, we get nothing. We have almost nothing for these conditions. And today, the FDA is also announcing the first Ibogaine investigational new drug clearance. This will pave the way for the first in ever human trials in the United States. To be clear, the FDA will also have criteria and circumstances that have to be used to administer these drugs. These drugs can have side effects, and so it's not like you go to the pharmacy and pick it up. It's like medications that are administered in an ICU or an operating room. There are criteria for doing it in a controlled setting. Finally, given the urgency of today's mental health crisis, I just want to thank you, Mr. President, and say the FDA is proud to support this broader effort to evaluate new therapeutics for some of the greatest Americans we have in this country. Thank you very much. You did a great job, too. Appreciate it. Marcus? Yes, sir. To start off, Mr. President, thank you so much for having us in here and doing this. You're going to save a lot of lives with it. I'd like to say how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to go through the program and receive the Ibogaine. It absolutely changed my life for the better. I went through a lot of the programs that the veterans are going through, and I always kind of felt like I was a victim coming out of the program. When I came out of this, I felt like I had gotten my life back. That was five years ago. I literally lived the best days of my life every single day. I'm so thankful for everybody who's in this room to help out with this. I know this is kind of a new frontier for us. And just the fact that we're taking this kind of slow, smooth, smooth, as fast, and we're getting it in there so we can test this out so we don't get ahead of ourselves, I think that's very impactful. I think there's a lot of people out there that need help, not only our veterans, but our civilian population that can benefit from this. And it's going to do great things for our country to get it back on track and open up a lot of doorways and pathways for us to be successful in the future. Thank you for your time. That's fantastic. So you've done this five years? Yes, sir. And it's just been a whole different day? Every single day is a better day for me. Wow, that's amazing, really. I can vouch for that. This guy's got guts. Come here. These guys. Two good guys. I didn't realize you were involved in it already. It's the best testament you can have. There's nothing better than that. A man who's really respected by everybody, and he's a fantastic person. Joe Rogan, to say a few words, please, Joe. I want to say that I'm here because of the man to my left. Brian Hubbard and former Texas Governor Rick Perry came on my podcast. They told me how impactful this medicine is. And having that conversation with them, millions of people got a chance to hear their story, hear the stories of all the different people that have had life-changing experiences from it. And I want Brian to be able to speak about this. Good, Brian, please. Thank you, sir. I heard that, Joe. You have no trouble speaking. No trouble speaking. I want to assure you that my presence here is the most concrete affirmation that God has a wonderful sense of humor. Thank you, thank you. Federal prohibition of psychedelic medicine in America is over. On the 250th year of our nation's founding, everyone who has fought for this day through decades of monumental struggle, sacrifice, and suffering, can now declare a seminal victory for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, rights we bear as images of our eternal creator, whose essence is almighty, eternal, unconditional love for each and every one of us. This is the end of the beginning. We have moved mountains, yet there are mountains to move. Government systems which have relentlessly suppressed psychedelics are the same systems which will now manage their emergence. We dare not let our guard down for one second and be higher trigger ready to impose accountability for incompetence, obstruction, or failure. Credit belongs, for credit is due. With this executive order, President Trump has delivered an epic victory for all humanity. I thank him for having the courage to make this happen, and my mission brother, Joe Rogan, for having the spine to make the ask. To our brothers and sisters in Gabon, you have our deepest gratitude for your stewardship of the sacred tree grown for the healing of nations. I will do my best to deliver the respect and honor you deserve for helping heal this nation. It is my joy to deliver these good patterns unto the meek, which will hopefully bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to all who are bound. God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you, brother. Tell you how this happened. I sent President Trump some information. We have a gigantic opiate problem in this country, obviously. In 2024, more than 80,000 people died of overdoses. It's a horrible number. And there's more than five million people that are addicted to opiates right now in this country. With one dose of Ibogaine, more than 80% of people are free of that addiction. With two doses, it's more than 90%. I sent him that information. The text message came back, sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it. It was literally that quick. These drugs are illegal not because they're harmful. They're illegal because of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act that was passed by the Richard Nixon administration. They did it to target the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement. It's not because these drugs harm people. And for 56 years, we've lived under those terrible conditions. We're free of that now. Thanks to all these people that you see next to me and thanks to President Trump. I want to thank you. He's a little bit more liberal than me. I mean, that's okay. I have a lot of friends that are liberal. But Joe is an amazing guy and he wrote, made a little note about this and I had it checked out. I didn't just do it. I had it checked out. I went to Bobby and Oz. I went to some of the people that work for you, real pros, and everybody came back with the same answer. You know, normally they'll come back because this happens a lot. We have a couple of them like that. They're not sure. It's like, you know, it goes two ways. This thing, everybody thought it was incredible. And I told Bobby, I said, Bobby, let's just do it and get Oz involved and it's going to get done so quickly. And you guys did a great job. Would you like to say something, Oz? Mr. President, I want to thank Matt Zord, who's hiding in the back there, who actually, on Sunday, wrote a draft for this. You already thanked Heidi and Kelly, but Susie Wiles makes everything run here. This was an unimaginable task in one week to be able to go from a series of connections and communications with Joe Rogan through the honey badger of them all, Bobby Kennedy, who said, we're not going to stop. We didn't start calling everyone down. The Mike Spears has been involved and Chris Clump, who's been doing a fantastic job helping run everything in great efficiency, made something, I just want to emphasize this. This is an entire paradigm shift away from a one-day-a-pill model, which has failed so many. And to the many who are drug-resistant that Joe just spoke to, this offers them a way of getting out of that rut. The question now is, can we study why it works to understand it better, to use it better? That's what Jay Bhattacharya is going to do at NIH with major funding support, perhaps at ARPA as well. Marty spoke eloquently about the FDA's accelerated pathway for this. And then when we learn more, figure out better ways of getting access to these products through our healthcare system. But this is an extraordinarily exciting day and it would never happen if the president just would not take no for an answer. He went, he called on the way, Joe, to the fight on Saturday. And I think he was as determined to get this done as the men in those rings and women in those rings that night. Thank you, sir. I want to thank Professor Nolan Williams. When I was a professor at Stanford, I got to know him. And he taught me about IdaGain and all the promise that it has for treatment-resistant depression and so many other conditions. And frankly, for me, I learned a lot. Unfortunately, he passed away last year. I want to thank this amazing team that just moved heaven and earth to get things done. I do want to emphasize, this is something that we're still studying and we have to keep studying. We have to figure out the right way to make sure we administer it, that it's safe, that we don't just take it for granted. We already know everything, because we don't. And for the NIH and for ARPA-H, we are absolutely committed to making sure that we keep studying it, keep getting the best gold standard science on it. You see here, Nora Hoka, who's my National Institute of Drug Abuse director. She's been an absolute hero in just developing scientific, so the commitment for American science to focus on this and, in many ways, that scientific advance that brought us to this moment. So thank you, President Trump. But if it's good, we want to get it fully approved fast, right? I mean, for the things that have great evidence, and that's what we want to do. Because, you know, these studies, they go on for a long time, and if it's good. I mean, I have a witness right here. These two incredible brothers. That, to me, is a study, right? I mean, just as Commissioner McCary said, there's stuff that we know and we can tell it works. We still got to figure out sometimes how it works or why it works. That, we got to keep doing, even as we move forward fast. So- But it does work. Some of those, I mean, absolutely. Some of those previous absolutely work. Yes, it works. You can see the testament here. It works. I'm trying to get the answer, because it either works or it doesn't. I would think that there's been a lot of research already, indirect research, maybe the ultimate research, people that have taken it. Because I've spoken to people that have taken it, aside from the trail, both of them. I've spoken to five people that- Mr. President, it works. That had big problems. I've done it three times, it works. Yeah, please. It fixed my demonic relationship- This is Rob O'Neill, who's a friend of mine and a great guy. Go ahead, Rob. It fixed my demonic relationship with alcohol. It saved my life and then it saved my wife. So every day is a blessing. It took about three years of- I did it three times. It's a different adventure every time. That's not fun. So without it, you would have had problems? I did it with, there was a Green Beret, 28-year sergeant major, that told me when we finished, make sure you tell Amber Capone, the CEO of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, that she saved my life because I was gonna kill myself next week. This was my last chance. I had a 28-year veteran tell me that. This works. Okay, good. Mr. President, could you ask Marcus to speak about his experience? Thank you, Secretary. Yeah, Mr. President, what Rob O'Neill's talking about, my wife, Amber Capone, is the CEO of our charity, Vets, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions. We had prayed for this day to come 10 years ago when we started the charity. We've been sending veterans outside the country, Joe, that you've been talking about for years, several thousand now, and we said, the mission will end once this day happens. So we believe this is a huge step in maybe that the mission goes away and now we have affordable access right here in the U.S. Why didn't they get it done? We're getting it done, right? You're getting it done. Why get other presidents looking at it, right? Why didn't they get it done? I think we needed you. I can answer that question. That's my job. I can answer that question, sir, if you want. Go ahead, please. There's a small group of us in the House that have been trying to move legislation since I showed up. Mr. Correa, Mr. Bergman, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Crenshaw, every year have tried to move legislation. That side of the room's not gonna like what I have to say about this. And every year it has all fallen short. Every year it has all fallen short. And it's because of the proverbial roadblocks that are always in the way, okay? Fair assessment. But those members of myself were convicted never to give up, ever. And with this executive order, I'm gonna maintain the proposal, Mr. President, with this executive order, you have broken down those barriers and allowed us, I have all the faith in the world that this will codify and remain forever. So thank you very much for taking care of your service members and your veterans and giving the members that have been working on this for so long a chance. Thank you, sir. Well, this, when I sign this, this does solve it for the three-year, but we'll get that codified very soon. Absolutely, thank you. Once I sign it, we get it codified. So that'll be, we'll make it permanent. I have no doubt it's gonna be working. Would anybody else like to say something? These two women are so talented. Well, I love an executive order that says research, research, research, because it's ultimately what guides us on to how to optimally do things. And I think that this is what hopefully will start to happen. And bringing up change in a system that has been very difficult to modify because of prior experiences. These drugs have unique characteristics that could actually, if we don't investigate them, can bring us into potential applications that currently we're not thinking about. But if we close the door to science, if we close the door to data, we'll just keep on doing the same thing again and again. Wasn't that door closed? Hmm? Do you think the door was closed? It was hard. It was hard to do research. It's very, very hard. And it's actually just by scheduling as I want, it makes it very difficult. So this is a big move that is gonna happen. It will facilitate research. I figured there's just this one thing that we're talking about here. That's good. I'm glad we didn't waste this Saturday morning. Okay. Please. Yes. Mr. President, this is a much needed bold move for precision mental health for our veterans and others and accelerates access to personalized targeted treatments. As you have heard, many, many veterans and others experiencing mental health disorders, they go through up to years of trial and error, trying one treatment that doesn't work, trying another and not knowing why. My work at Stanford and with my colleagues is to develop brain-based tests that can be measured right now in our VA and other locations that help us understand why these new treatments work and who they'll be most effective for. So with your mandate, we are in a position to really accelerate saving lives of many more people and getting them well sooner. And I believe that with this, the United States will be the first country in the world to treat mental health like we do cancer and like we do many other chronic mental illnesses. We know the world is watching this because there are a lot of countries that wanna do this and they haven't been able to. They're gonna be following suit very, very strongly. Thank you very much, both. Anybody else? You guys okay? Everybody, let's sign it, right? You wanna say something? Mr. President, thank you. This treatment saved my life as well and so many fellow veterans. Helped me get off opiates, stopped using a nerve stimulator I hadn't planned to sleep for the first time in over 10 years, so thank you. And you have no doubt, right? Zero. Well, to me, that's the best research of all, frankly. Okay, it's my honor. Good, that's a good one. I wanted this one to be here, too. You think Biden can do that? He can. The folks, and I think we'll keep it on the subject pretty much. We'll have some questions on Iran, I know that, but this is such an important subject that I'd rather let this just speak for itself and we'll be talking about Iran later. We have very good conversations going on. It's working out very well. They got a little cute, as they have been doing for 47 years. Nobody ever took them on. We took them on. They have no Navy. They have no Air Force. They have no leaders. They have no nothing. Actually, their leaders are, it is regime change. You call that enforced regime change, but we're talking to them. They wanted to close up the Strait again, you know, as they've been doing for years. They can't blackmail us. In fact, a lot of the ships are coming up to Texas. I don't know if you know, in Louisiana, the ships are coming up. They got used to it. Maybe they'll keep doing it. It's worked out pretty good, but it's going, actually, along very well. And we'll see, but we'll have some information by the end of the day. We're talking to them. And, you know, we're taking a tough stand. They've killed a lot of people. A lot of our people have been killed. A lot of your fellow soldiers have been killed over the years by Iran. The roadside bomb, Soleimani. I killed Soleimani. Thank you for that. He was making the explosive form penetrators. They were making them in Iran, bringing them to Iraq and blasting through the vehicles. Well, he was the father of the roadside bomb, essentially, and he killed a lot of people. And when you see soldiers or others, but soldiers generally walking around with no legs, with no arms, a face that's been smashed, that was Soleimani. That was Iran that did that. So we have a much different view on it than other presidents have. They've gotten away with murder for 47 years. They're not getting away with it anymore. Does anybody have any questions with the great professionals? So I wanted to know, could this potentially ever be available through the VA? You know, because I was talking to Liz over here, one of your, you guys went down to Mexico together, but it's really expensive. And this is another drug that's expensive. We have the right guy, us. Let's go. A lot of Iranians need this. Why are you good for this question? They're talking about expense and availability. So I spoke to Doug Collins. Obviously, both he, and he obviously pays for the VA, and we pay for Medicare, Medicaid, children's health insurance, are very focused on the results that the NIH and FDA are gonna offer us. We have a mechanism of creating models, CMMI. That might be the wise way to go because we can continue to study the impact. It is such a massive shift in how you deliver care. Imagine instead of taking a pill a day for your depression, you go through one treatment, but you have to have a few people watching you. It's a very different world. We're working that through. That's why the President, I think this is the perfect step to get everything rolling, to deliver on the promise he made. What timing would you say on that before you know? Well, we could have a CMMI model that we would announce by the end of this year. But the reason I'm not committing to that now is I wanna make sure that the FDA and NIH have time, along with the great scientists, to give us a bit more information about how to deliver care. I'll give you one concrete example. For things like, well, Ibogaine is a little different story, but you would want two people in the room during the treatment. That's true for many of these approaches. That's a very different way of delivering medicine. And so the models that we, that Abe Sutton runs that group for us and has done a great job for the President, that would be probably the fastest way of moving forward and give the VA data so they can make wiser decisions, because Doug Collins is very focused on this. There's one thing I'd add. There's nothing more expensive right now than the mental health crisis in America. 21% of Americans have a diagnosable mental health condition. The leading cause, excuse me, the second leading cause of death for young adults today is suicide. Mr. President, antidepressants right now are the most prescribed class of medications in the country. Over 20% of women are on an antidepressant. And is that good in terms of do they work? There's highly problematic research on the fact that over 20% of US women are on these drugs that are prescribed for life. We have a mental health crisis. Do they work? No. They don't. I want a couple of them. I would not agree. But no, it is indefinitely an issue for women. Mr. President, what you and Secretary Kennedy unlocked is for the first time questioning this system where we spend three times more per capita than any other country in the world and we are living six, seven years less. We have the highest rates of suicide and depression in the developed world. The incentives of our system are not- And by the way, autism, which we're really working hard on, right Bob? We have the highest rates- And we're coming up with some pretty amazing findings. Pediatric cancer is the highest rates in the world. We are struggling and we pay more than any other country and the power of this executive order is really representative and gives validation to the cries of maha moms and the votes of maha moms because for the first time it's taking a therapy. That's one time. This is a one time. One time, not a lifetime drug that can change someone's life. And that's the power and I think that's why this is- So the antidepressants, all that we read about and we prescribe to our military, they're not very effective? It's a lifetime drug and- Well, even if it's lifetime, but do they- Look at what's happened as we've prescribed them and made them one of the most prescribed- The numbers are not great. Perhaps I could jump in from the scientific side. Thank you, Mr. President. What's the timeline for those- Hold on. She has something to say. Oh, I'm sorry. I think what's really important about your order is you include, we really want to understand why these rapid acting treatments work. We need that for every treatment in mental health illnesses. Standard antidepressants in research, they do work for some people, but certainly not everyone. And if we think of cancer, all other conditions, we have a test to know which treatment is needed, and we don't have that for mental illness. It's guesswork. This is terrible. With that, it either works or it doesn't work, and you have the result for this, you don't. Part of this order, I think it's really important that we're able to have the investment to understand who does this work for and the test to accompany that. So thank you for making that point. Do you think this could be a big step above antidepressants, what we're doing? I think it can be identifying who doesn't respond to an antidepressant straight away, rather than waiting for years. And what percentage of people respond positively to antidepressants? 20 to 30%. That's not great. No. That's not great. Well, thank you very much. Mr. President, what's the timeline for those with mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, to readily take advantage of this treatment based upon the executive order that you're signing today? So I'd like to ask maybe Marty that question. Sure. So first of all, right now it's available on clinical trials. We have not had applications in-house at the FDA. There was one that came in under the Biden administration. It was kicked out and not accepted. We now have three applications that are imminent and we'll be issuing vouchers next week. The fastest FDA approval was 42 days during the HIV epidemic. On our national priority voucher program under President Trump, we're getting, we are now down to that time frame on a routine basis instead of a year. In my opinion, we need the same level of urgency we had with HIV for PTSD and depression and anxiety in our mental health disorder and cancer and heart disease and so many other conditions. So you're gonna see decisions out from the FDA later this summer, as soon as we get the applications. That's great. And Mr. President. I like that answer. I like that answer to the office. Thank you, Mr. President. And then in regards to the timing of the executive order, was there not enough known about this treatment a year ago or five years ago or eight years ago to sign the executive order that you signed? So do you wanna answer that question? Go ahead. I'll just add in 2016, the lead professor at Johns Hopkins said this was the most promising therapy that he's seen in his career and many doctors from leading institutions said that. There's been a hold. There's been incentives against this and to the bravery and leadership of President Trump. So you're getting artificial barriers? Yes. And this, to be clear, is starting a scientific, a fast-track scientific process that's subject to FDA approval. But this has been known among leading institutions for many times as a very promising therapy. So could it not have been signed in your first term or there just wasn't enough information known about it? Nobody told me about it, frankly. All of a sudden, I've been getting a lot of calls. In all fairness, I think a lot's been learned over the last few years. Yeah, can I just say that? I mean, a lot has been learned over the past few years. I think in the first term, if I was standing behind the president, I would have much more comfortable than I am now thanks to the research that's been done. I mean, it's still a lot more to do. It's worked for so many people and it's really a great move to do this. But the research is really important because we're gonna keep improving, keep learning and make sure that the people get the treatment they need when they are depressed, when they are addicted, when they have PTSD. If you keep doing the research and also acknowledge the research that's been done, that's when you get good health policy. And Secretary Kennedy's role, he just doesn't stop. Every day, all day long until he gets these things done. This is not an easy boulder to push up the hill. And Secretary Kennedy was undaunted and he'd been talking about it for a while, so he had a passion anyway, but his mentoring gets a lot of folks to move this quickly. If I can jump in rapidly, because I was one of those doctors that was not supportive of psychedelic therapy because I thought it was magical thinking. But over the past six to 10 years, we have seen an emergence of data that we cannot ignore. These drugs have the capacity, as was mentioned before, with one single administration to change the behavior of someone towards a therapeutic effect. In animal models, one single administration recreates pathways that have been eroded because of pathology. So we have a tool that potentially could allow us to basically manipulate the ability of our own bodies to heal itself if we know how to properly use it. And that's why research, as I mentioned before, is opening up doors to explore what else can we do, how to optimally use it. But you're just hearing and seeing automatic research. You're hearing and seeing things now that you wouldn't have really, you wouldn't be able to have done a couple of years ago. I mean, it just seems to me, I've been hearing about it a little bit over the last year. Over the last year. I never heard anything about it in the past. It was almost like taboo. It's not taboo anymore. And there was not enough science neither, and I think that's where the evidence speaks for itself. And ultimately, that's why I say, I was one of those doctors that didn't believe in it. So we do data in order to change our perspective and to do things better. I'm just surprised to hear about the antidepressants. I assumed they'd be better. That's not very good. So, Bobby, you're gonna push it very hard? Yes. We'll get it done? When these two guys and this third, with Rob, too, and with you, I mean, that, to me, is research, right? Maybe the ultimate research, right? Big fans, all big fans, right? Well, I want to thank everybody, and it's gonna be...