Just when you thought psychedelic medicine could not get any […]

Just when you thought psychedelic medicine could not get any better… 🤯
We heard the latest results from a number of Stanford research projects yesterday, but let me start with the most mind-blowing… One treatment session with ibogaine led to 𝟴𝟯-𝟵𝟬% 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗧𝗦𝗗, 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝘅𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in 30 Special Operations veterans diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury. The benefits persisted through the 1-month follow up. Cognitive function improved across the board, and their self-reported disability… well, it disappeared.

Shared with permission. These results have not been published yet, but should be.

Important caveat: this was an open label trial with no placebo arm. That work is to come; this study was to explore the reports of “miracle cures” from several hundred U.S. veterans who have gone to Mexico to do a day of treatment for their opiate addiction and PTSD and emerged with reports of life-saving healing. Ibogaine is a long-acting, overwhelmingly strong psychedelic with QT-prolongation cardiac risk requiring medical supervision, making it tricky to study. It is not a “party drug” in any sense. And like all of the plant medicines that appear to be more efficacious than any currently FDA-approved therapies, it is a Schedule 1 illegal drug, a relic from Nixon’s duplicitous “war on drugs.” As a fellow donor summarized so poignantly, when it comes to opiates and psychedelics, what they called drugs were actually medicines, and what they called medicines were addictive drugs.

Full disclosure: we are donors to VETS (the non-profit that organizes the trips to Mexico for treatment) and early investors in atai, the public company taking several psychedelic medicines through clinical trails, including ibogaine for opiate use disorder: https://atai.life/programs/ibogaine/