Dr. Heidi Overton, the White House’s deputy assistant to the president for health policy, has become a flashpoint within the Make America Healthy Again movement after substantially trimming a presidential executive order on psychedelic therapies, drawing accusations from MAHA allies that she is restraining the administration’s health-reform agenda.
The dispute centered on an order directing federal agencies to expand research and access to treatments including ibogaine for addiction and trauma. When podcast host Joe Rogan and representatives of the ibogaine advocacy community reviewed Overton’s edits to the draft, they objected strongly enough to threaten withdrawal from the signing ceremony, according to accounts of the April 2026 negotiations.
The Edits and Their Scale
Overton, a 37-year-old physician with a doctorate in clinical investigation, reduced the health and human services draft from approximately 1,400 words to roughly 900 words. Among the provisions removed or scaled back were the creation of a dedicated psychedelic-therapy czar position and a comprehensive treatment-funding-reform initiative.
Most significantly, a proposed $250 million research fund was reduced to a $50 million partnership between the federal government and states. The revised order still calls for expanded research and regulatory pathways for psychedelic-assisted therapies but with substantially narrower scope and funding than the original proposal.
Rogan, who stood beside President Trump during the signing, had contacted the president privately months earlier. Trump responded to Rogan by text with apparent enthusiasm, according to the account: “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it.”
Broader Tensions Over Health Policy Direction
The psychedelic-order dispute reflects deeper frustration within MAHA circles about Overton’s influence over the administration’s health portfolio. Since the start of Trump’s second term in January 2025, the White House has coordinated nearly all major health policies through her office, including revisions to childhood-vaccine recommendations and a redesign of federal dietary guidelines.
MAHA activists have accused Overton of slowing progress on marijuana rescheduling at the federal level and limiting the scope of changes to nutrition policy. Her role as gatekeeper on health matters has made her a target for critics who view her as insufficiently aligned with the movement’s goals of dismantling federal dietary mandates, expanding medical freedom, and accelerating approval pathways for alternative and psychedelic therapies.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Overton’s standing, stating that “the president adores her.” Her position within the administration appears secure, despite the backlash.
FDA Commissioner Consideration
Overton has been named as one of three finalists under consideration for the position of FDA commissioner, a role that would expand her authority over drug approvals and medical regulation. Her selection would signal Trump’s approach to pharmaceutical and therapeutic reform, though the nature of her edits to the psychedelic order has raised questions about how aggressively she would pursue MAHA-aligned changes to agency policy.
The tension between Overton and MAHA activists highlights competing visions within the Trump administration: one emphasizing rapid, sweeping health-policy reform and expanded access to alternative treatments, the other reflecting a more cautious, step-by-step regulatory approach. Overton’s continued influence over health policy, and her potential elevation to the FDA, will likely shape the pace and scope of federal health changes for the remainder of Trump’s second term.
Related developments in health policy include the Supreme Court’s decision to leave a healthcare worker vaccine mandate ruling standing, Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to advance regenerative agriculture, and congressional scrutiny of improper payments in the SNAP nutrition program.