Two state legislatures controlled by the GOP held a discussion on the potential for the psychedelic drug ibogaine in treating addiction and mental health issues this week.
In Mississippi, House Public Health and Human Services and Senate Public Health and Welfare jointly held a 3-hour-long hearing in which legislators heard testimony from scientists, researchers and veterans about the therapeutic potential of ibogaine.
The Kentucky legislature’s Interim Joint Committee Health Services, as part of its broader hearing which also covered other topics, examined the use of ibogaine to potentially treat opioid dependence.
Rep. Sam Creekmore, who chairs the Mississippi House committee that hosted the hearing, stated that the opioid crisis has “scarred entire communities and families, and cut too many short lives”.
We also face an increasing mental health crisis, which is affecting our first responders, veterans and trauma survivors. “We know that the current treatments, although essential, do not work for everyone,” said he at Thursday’s hearing. We cannot ignore the evidence of credible science or those testimonies from people who have found a way to hope when all hope was lost.
Creekmore, who recently authored an op-ed for MEDCAN24 about ibogaine, previously said the hearing was meant to help inform legislation he’s planning to introduce legislation, which he said is largely modeled after a bill that passed the Texas legislature and was signed into law in June.
That measure will 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. The project’s goal is ultimately to make the psychedelic a prescription medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The CEO of Americans for Ibogaine, Bryan Hubbard, told Mississippi legislators at an hearing on Wednesday that “the aim here is the development of ibogaine with the quickest possible time by creating a unified FDA test that will include multiple states in America.”
Creekmore is asking Mississippi for $5 million in support of the efforts to test ibogaine.
Thomas Recore of state Department of Mental Health’s Medical Director spoke also at the hearing. Recore told lawmakers it was “clear” to him that the potential of ibogaine warranted further study.
In Kentucky, a GOP Senator spoke to lawmakers Wednesday about his desire to use state funds to fund research into ibogaine and its potential for treating opioid addiction as well as other mental health problems.
Donald Douglas, a Republican senator and doctor himself, has said that the clinical treatment models used for “decades” “just ain’t work.”
According to The Lexington Herald-Leader, he told his colleagues that he planned to introduce legislation during the next legislative session, modeled after the Texas law on funding for ibogaine-related research. He also noted that he is part of an alliance of legislators from 15 states, who coordinate on this issue.
In 2023, Kentucky officials had considered a plan to use $42 million from Kentucky’s opioid settlement fund for psychedelics research. Hubbard was at that time the chairman of the Kentucky Opiod Commission and led this effort. But it fell flat after Hubbard was replaced with a newly appointed state attorney.
Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat from Texas, warned against ibogaine on Thursday. He said that the drug can have “really significant” reactions and “more research is needed” to understand it.
It is not wise to take a chance with something as powerful and potentially harmful. He told the Herald-Leader that this was the FDA’s job, and they should research it. We should not be looking for the next “bright, shiny” object. Instead, we need to recognize and appreciate the work done by the existing structure. [which] Has done so much to assist our people.”
Meanwhile, at the federal level, a GOP senator recently said he’s “confident” that, under the Trump administration, lawmakers will help secure alternative treatment options for military veterans—including access to psychedelic medicine.
The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Doug Collins, recently touted his role in promoting psychedelics access for veterans with serious mental health conditions, saying he “opened that door probably wider than most ever thought” was possible.
Collins, who raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with the president, said “we’re going to do it the right way,” while advancing clinical trials investigating ibogaine, MDMA and psilocybin.
Last month, the secretary also reiterated that he’s “very open” to expanding access to psychedelics therapy for veterans—emphasizing that he’s intent on finding ways to “cure” people with serious mental health conditions and not just treat their surface-level symptoms.
Collins noted that VA either internally or through private partnerships is actively conducting about a dozen clinical trials into “various different substances that we’re seeing actually really good results on,” including one based at VA Bronx Health Care that’s investigating MDMA-assisted therapy with “actually really, really good results.”
During that interview, Collins was also shown a recent clip of Navy SEAL veteran Rob O’Neill, who killed Osama Bin Laden, talking about his theory that the federal government has intentionally avoided providing access to psychedelic medicine because cures are less profitable than long-term treatments. Collins replied, “I will tell you now that this secretary of veterans affairs and I, we want to heal the people.”
Meanwhile, last month a GOP-controlled House committee approved an amendment attached to a must-pass defense bill that would require a “progress report” on an ongoing psychedelic therapy pilot program for active duty military service members and veterans.
Separately, bipartisan congressional lawmakers recently met with the VA secretary to discuss pathways to provide access to psychedelic medicine as an alternative treatment option for conditions such as PTSD.
After requesting the meeting with Collins in May, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—founding co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—said the three had a productive conversations about advancing psychedelics therapy for the veteran community.
Collins has stood out as a VA secretary who’s especially passionate about exploring the potential of substances such as ibogaine and MDMA to provide relief from serious mental health conditions, coordinating with other officials including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of HHS, who said recently that his aim is to free up plant-based medicine options within 12 months.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) separately said the psychedelic 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 he intends to use his influence to advance the issue.
Also, the House recently included an amendment to a spending bill from Correa and Bergman that would encourage VA to support research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating medical conditions commonly affecting military veterans.
The lawmakers separately 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.
Collins, for his part, 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.
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 said were akin to a “war against public health”. Kennedy claimed that the Trump Administration would put an end to this “war”
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).
Photos courtesy Flickr/Scamperdale
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