Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill on Wednesday that will allow the state to spend $50 million researching the psychoactive drug that can treat opioid withdrawal.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on Wednesday that would put state funds toward researching a psychoactive drug called ibogaine.
In a ceremony at the Texas Capitol, Abbott signed Senate Bill 2308, authored by State Sen. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound), which would establish a program to pay for drug development trials to treat opioid use disorder and other mental health conditions.
“This is about restoration,” Parker said. “This is about the opportunity to restore the lives of so many veterans who have put their lives on the line for all of us who literally have put their lives on the line for all those years, and they’ve suffered as a result tremendously.”
It would create a state-funded consortium to research the psychedelic drug, including higher education institutions, drug developers, nonprofits and other stakeholders.
Ibogaine is a plant-based psychedelic substance that is extracted from the roots of an iboga plant, which is typically found in Central West Africa. For centuries, it has been used in healing traditions and rituals.
“Nobody understands how it works. What we do know is that it has the unique ability to have a significant regenerative impact on the brain itself, to the extent of essentially eliminating all signs of traumatic brain injury and veterans who have undergone pre and post-treatment diagnostic imaging studies,” Bryan Hubbard, the director of the American Ibogaine Initiative, said. “Its implications for how we treat diseases like Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, and other degenerative conditions that affect the brain are profound.”
Ibogaine has been used in other countries to treat addiction and brain trauma. For years, people have traveled to clinics in different countries to access it. The goal of the state-backed research consortium is to develop a drug that will receive approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“This will have benefits for everyone if the clinical trial is successful, as we believe it will be,” Parker said. “Think about what the impact will be, the lives that can be saved and restored because of this fantastic, amazing breakthrough, potentially here with ibogaine.
Parker joined Abbott for the ceremony, along with House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock). State Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine) authored similar legislation in the House.
“I’m excited about today,” Burrows said. “I’m more excited about these trials and what’s going to come from them and hopefully, the relief that provides to so many affected members and people who need this therapy.”
Abbott said the program, which the state will fund through a $50 million appropriation from the state general revenue fund, will make Texas a global leader and hub for ibogaine research, development, treatment, manufacturing and distribution.
“Texas is now leading the way in the United States for the evaluation of ibogaine as a potential medication that can help improve the lives of so many Americans,” Abbott said.
The trials will be run through public-private partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and state research institutions. The educational institution would serve as the group’s leader and represent it to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The institution would handle administrative operations and be responsible for submitting proposals or requesting funding for the clinical trials.
“Our mission is to make ibogaine the Manhattan Project of our time by developing it as a breakthrough therapeutic for opioid dependency, polysubstance dependency, as well as any other mental health or neurological conditions for which it demonstrates efficacy during the trials,” Hubbard said.
Texas is the first state in the nation to fund clinical trials like this, and the investment in psychedelics research is larger than the $10 million the federal government has made. Kentucky attempted a similar approach but was unsuccessful.
The state would retain a commercial interest in “all intellectual property that may be generated over the course of the drug development clinical trials.” Texas would receive 20% of the revenue from an ibogaine drug resulting from the trials, and a quarter of that would fund veterans’ programs.
“It will have enormous implications long term, for all kinds of various neurological conditions as well,” Parker said. “We look forward to that day when we’re able to really provide meaningful relief to the people in Texas that suffer from so many of these conditions that ibogaine will improve their lives.”
During committee hearings for the bill, veterans testified that the drug has helped them deal with PTSD, anxiety and depression. To access it, veterans must travel abroad to countries like Mexico, where it is legal. Ibogaine is currently not legal in the United States and is considered to be a Schedule I substance.
Chase Rowland, a former Army Ranger who suffered a brain injury while jumping out of a plane, said the drug has had “miracle-like effects.”
After 17 years of being addicted to opioids, he traveled to Mexico in August 2023 and says it changed his life. He called it the greatest gift he has ever been given.
“Ever since I used ibogaine, now, when I look at alcohol or opioids, any substance I see is pain, and I want nothing to do with any of it,” Rowland said. “This medicine is extraordinary. It’s remarkable what it did.”
A recently released study of 30 veterans who underwent ibogaine therapy in Mexico by Stanford University found that they experienced significant reductions in Traumatic Brain Injury associated disability, PTSD, depression and anxiety.
According to the Texas Ibogaine Initiative, the therapy targets opioid withdrawal. Opioids impact the brain’s ability to regulate itself, but studies show ibogaine therapy can resolve opioid withdrawal syndrome within 72 hours.
“My intention was to know why I can’t stop using drugs, and I wanted to know why I use it,” Rowland said. “It took me through my back, through my life. It was like a lifeline. And it was, in a way, like I was my best self was above hovering and looking down at my current self and kind of going through my life and giving me the option to go in certain doors that were past memories.”
Advocates say it’s essentially a reset on the brain’s opioid receptors. The plant-based substance can restore the brain’s ability to produce dopamine and serotonin. Without it, that process wouldn’t begin until a patient avoided opiates for 18 months.
“My addiction over 10 years just destroyed everything with our family. And towards the end of my having an experience, it made me go through every moment where my addiction hurt my wife and kids,” Rowland said. “It was like this medicine was allowing me to feel what the three of them combined were feeling like every time I did all that stuff.”
The consortium has the backing of Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has, in recent years, become one of the highest-profile advocates for the study of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of PTSD in veterans.
The state funding for research of ibogaine as an emerging treatment for neurological and mental health conditions comes amid efforts by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) to ban another substance commonly used by veterans to treat PTSD, THC. Senate Bill 3 would ban consumable THC products from being sold at stores, and would only allow sales of CBD and CBG, cannabis compounds that won’t get users high.
Senate Bill 3 is still sitting on Abbott’s desk, awaiting his decision on whether to veto it or sign it into law. On Wednesday, the governor told reporters that he has not decided whether to veto or sign the bill, and has until June 22 to make that decision.
Patrick has taken criticism from both the left and right over the THC ban. Groups, including hemp industry leaders, have called on Abbott to veto SB 3. Patrick has thrown his support behind the ibogaine investment as an alternative to prescription remedies and cannabinoids.
State lawmakers also expanded the state’s medical marijuana program this session. House Bill 46 improves the state’s Compassionate Use Program, making more ailments eligible for low-THC cannabis. Those include chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, Crohn’s disease and patients in hospice or palliative care. It also permits more dispensing licenses and satellite stores to reach more patients. That bill is also still on Abbott’s desk, awaiting his signature.