Newt Gingrich, former U.S. House speaker (R-GA), is once again emphasizing the benefits that the powerful psychedelic drug ibogaine can have on people suffering from serious physical and mental health issues.
Newt’s World podcast featured an interview with Ambio Life Sciences co-founders, which provides treatment for ibogaine in Mexico.
Gingrich stated that the option was at “absolute forefront of science” and asked why ibogaine is “such an uniquely powerful intervention in treating conditions such as addiction”.
The FDA has not approved ibogaine, which is currently on the Schedule I list in the U.S., and therefore, it is unavailable to most patients. Aspirin, however, is readily available, despite the fact that the FDA did not approve the drug.
“We’ve grandfathered it in—and we can produce aspirin, and billions of people have taken it—but we literally could never meet the FDA standard,” he said.
“To what degree is the very complexity of ibogaine, when measured against what clearly is its impact, put in a kind of similar situation where we could spend so many years trying to figure out what the underlying mechanisms are—and we’re losing people every year while we’re engaged in that kind of academic research?” Former speaker: “To what degree is the very complexity of ibogaine, when measured against what clearly is its impact, put in a kind of similar situation where we could spend so many years trying to figure out what the underlying mechanisms are–and we’re losing people every year while engaged in that type academic research?”
Jonathan Dickinson said that it was “a really good question”, which speaks of complex regulatory obstacles.
The FDA has not yet approved the use of the drug.
Gingrich asked Gingrich about the effectiveness of ibogaine for treating addiction and about concerns over potential heart issues that could be associated with its use.
Gingrich: “The more that I know, the more curious I get.”
It is just the latest of a number of conversations that the former speaker had about psychedelic medicines.
Gingrich praised the potential of ibogaine to help treat PTSD and anxiety in veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.
He has also had as a previous guest the executive director for Americans for Ibogaine.
Gingrich cited a recent law signed by Texas Governor Rick Perry as a noteworthy development at the state level. Greg Abbott (R) to create a state-backed research consortium to conduct clinical trials on ibogaine as a possible treatment for substance use disorders and other mental health conditions.
Texas’ ultimate goal is to turn the drug into a prescribed prescription with FDA approval. The state will retain a share of profits.
In Gingrich’s earlier podcast episode with W. Brian Hubbard, executive director of Americans for Ibogaine, the former speaker said that ibogaine represents an “astonishing breakthrough” in the nation’s current “sick care system” that’s left people with serious mental health conditions without access to promising alternative treatment options—and that he intended to use his influence to advance the issue.
This could be a major breakthrough in the country’s long and losing battle with addiction, he stated at that time. “It strikes me that the whole ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement—that this could be a very significant building block in getting us back to being a country that’s not addicted. “I can’t think of a better podcast to talk with you about it.”
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In recent years, the message about the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics is being spread in many ways. This includes prominent media outlets and the Trump Administration.
For example, a Navy SEAL veteran credited with killing Osama Bin Laden said during a recent Fox News interview that psychedelic therapy has helped him process the trauma he experienced during his time in the military, stressing that “it works” and should be an available treatment option.
That interview came days after the U.S. House of Representatives included an amendment to a spending bill from Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) that would encourage VA to support research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating medical conditions commonly affecting military veterans.
Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Kennedy recently said his agency is “absolutely committed” to expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy and, alongside of the head of FDA, is aiming to provide legal access to such substances for military veterans “within 12 months.”
VA Secretary Doug Collins also disclosed in April that he had an “eye-opening” talk with Kennedy about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. He said that he is open to having vouchers provided by the government to pay for psychedelic therapies for veterans receiving services from outside the VA, as Congress looks at pathways to access.
Collins also recently visited a facility conducting research on psychedelics, and he reiterated that it’s his “promise” to advance research into the therapeutic potential of the substances—even if that might take certain policy changes within the department and with congressional support.
The secretary’s visit to the psychedelics research center came about a month after the VA secretary met with a military veteran who’s become an advocate for psilocybin access to discuss the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine for the veteran community.
Collins also briefly raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump in April.
Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—introduced a bill in April to provide $30 million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.
Bergman has also expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing psychedelics reform under Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to tackle such complex issues.
Kennedy, for his part, also said in April that he had a “wonderful experience” with LSD at 15 years old, which he took because he thought he’d be able to see dinosaurs, as portrayed in a comic book he was a fan of.
Kennedy criticised the FDA in October last year for its “suppression” of psychedelics and an array of other problems that he compared to a “war against public health”. Kennedy said this was a situation that will end with the Trump administration.
In December, VA separately announced that it’s providing $1.5 million in funding to study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Last year, VA’s Yehuda also touted an initial study the agency funded that produced “stunning and robust results” from its first-ever clinical trial into MDMA therapy.
Shereef Enahal, the ex-VA Under Secretary of Health who served under Shereef in VA from 1996 to 1999 said “it was very encouraging” when Trump chose Kennedy as HHS’s leader. And he hoped to work with him on the issue if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.
Image courtesy Flickr/Scamperdale
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