This was supposed to be the year of the MDMA revolution.

About this time last year, prescription MDMA looked like a sure thing. After decades of clinical research, political wrangling, and aggressive promotion, the popular underground club drug was set to be tamed and medicalized, with a stamp of approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Then, it wasn’t.

In a stark change of course, the FDA rejected the MDMA therapy it had been considering by a 10-1 vote. The decision derailed psychedelic medicine for the foreseeable future.

Except for one thing—an unexpected lifeline from the Trump administration. In May, the FDA’s new commissioner, surgical oncologist Marty Makary, appeared on cable