WASHINGTON >> For decades, proponents of psychedelic drugs have come to Washington with a provocative message: Illegal, mind-altering substances such as LSD and ecstasy should be approved for Americans grappling with depression, trauma and other hard-to-treat conditions.

A presidential administration finally seems to agree.

“This line of therapeutics has tremendous advantage if given in a clinical setting and we are working very hard to make sure that happens within 12 months,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently told members of Congress.

His suggested timeline for green-lighting psychedelic therapy surprised even the most bullish supporters of the drugs. And it comes as psychedelics are making inroads in deep red states such as Texas, where former Trump cabinet secretary and ex-governor Rick Perry has thrown his full support behind the effort.

The administration’s embrace of psychedelics has sparked both excitement as well as concern from those in the field, who worry the drugs might be discredited if they appear to be rushed onto the market or are too closely linked with Kennedy, known for controversial views on vaccines, antidepressants and fluoride.

“I’m quite optimistic,” says Rick Doblin, whose organization has pursued the medical use of MDMA (or ecstasy) since the 1980s. “But I’m also worried that the message the public might get is ‘Well, RFK likes psychedelics and now it’s approved.’”

FDA may reconsider

Under President Joe Biden, the FDA rejected MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, citing flawed data and questionable research. Regulators called for a new study, likely taking several years. It was a major setback for Doblin and other advocates hoping to see the first U.S. approval of a psychedelic for medical use.

But the agency appears ready to reconsider. FDA chief Marty Makary, who reports to Kennedy, has called the evaluation of MDMA and other psychedelics “a top priority,” announcing a slate of initiatives that could be used to accelerate their approval.

One new program promises to expedite drugs that serve “the health interests of Americans,” by slashing their review time from six months or more to as little as one month. Makary has also suggested greater flexibility on requirements for certain drugs, potentially waiving rigorous controlled studies that compare patients to a placebo group.

That approach, considered essential for high-quality research, has long been a stumbling point for psychedelic studies, in which patients can almost always correctly guess whether they’ve received the drug or a dummy pill.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and FDA also recently hired several new staffers with ties to the psychedelic movement.

“These are all very promising signs that the administration is aware of the potential of psychedelics and is trying to make overtures that they’re ready to approve them,” said Greg Ferenstein, a fellow at the libertarian Reason Foundation, who also consults for psychedelic companies. “We didn’t hear anything about that in the Biden administration”

A spokesperson for HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

As a presidential candidate, Kennedy discussed how his son and several close friends benefited from using psychedelics to deal with grief and other issues.

A number of veterans lobbying for psychedelic access have already met with Trump’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins.

“What we’re seeing so far is positive,” Collins told House lawmakers in May.