The Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission in Kentucky, which is one of the hardest-hit states by the current overdose crisis heard from veterans, parents and psychologists, as well as other advocates, including the former Texas Governor, for hours on Friday. Rick Perry (R), who are in favor further study of ibogaine for treating addiction, have given hours of testimony on Friday.
The second of two public meetings on a plan to channel at least $42,000,000 in state funds towards ibogaine research for the next six-year period, was held. This hearing explored whether ibogaine assisted therapy could best treat opioid use disorders. The commission will vote on the proposal by mid-November.
The money for the program will come from Kentucky’s share of the $26 billion multistate settlement that was reached in February 2022 with opioid manufacturers and distributers. The state’s $478m share went to local governments while the remaining half was managed by the state Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission (part of the Office of the Attorney General).
According to the latest data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kentucky’s drug overdose mortality rate was the fourth highest in the nation in 2021.
More than two dozen individuals testified at the hearing on Friday, including veterans, therapists and ibogaine-patients and their families, a former NBA-player and at least two ex-politicians–Perry, a Democratic state attorney general who served five terms in congress and Ben Chandler, a Democratic politician and former state attorney-general. Chandler now heads the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
Chandler told the commission that he, too, had been personally affected by opioid addiction. Chandler’s first cousin committed suicide at the age of 30 after numerous failed attempts to quit using opioids. His brother, who had turned to the illegal market when unable to obtain prescription opioid pills, also died this year after a fentanyl-related overdose.
He said, “We haven’t been able solve the problem in my opinion,” of the opioid crisis, recalling a warning he had received in the 1990s from a policeman about the devastating effects OxyContin. It is still a difficult problem, and we must use all the tools we can. “I’ve read that a drug such as ibogaine has the potential to be the change that we need–or at the very least, a significant difference.”
Jerry Catlett spoke of his son’s experience after struggling for years with opioid addiction. Catlett initially thought that his son’s idea to go to Puerto Rico to receive ibogaine was “another trick,” but felt that there was no harm in trying.
He told the panel that he and his wife had come to the conclusion “that our son was a walking dead.” The boy, however, was a success as a result of the ibogaine assisted therapy.
Catlett said to the commission, “He told me that he no longer was addicted to opioids within minutes of taking the medication.” Six months later, Catlett told the commission that he had taken another treatment. He’s still free of opioid addiction today.
Catlett’s son is now working outside of the country to help connect other people with drug addiction disorders to ibogaine treatment. He told me last week that he is losing about six people every year he is trying to help. This is six people that this individual knows who haven’t had a chance use ibogaine,” Catlett added. “The only way I believe that boy is above ground today, because of ibogaine treatments.”
Perry, former Texas Governor and Secretary of Energy under President Trump, talked about his experience with ibogaine. He referred to his relationship both with U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-TX, and Marcus Luttrell, who are both combat veterans. Congressman Luttrell has previously described psychedelic treatment with 5-MeO DMT, as “one the greatest things that ever happened to me.”
Perry told the Kentucky Commission that he had seen “that this treatment works when everything else fails.”
He asked, “Why wouldn’t you explore these breakthrough treatments, given that they have the potential to produce curative effects not possible with current pharmacology?”
Perry, as he has in the past, made the argument that Republicans at the federal government level are more supportive of psychedelic Reform than Democrats. He added that it is time to put aside partisan politics and do what’s right.
He told the commission that Kentucky has the chance to be a leader in the country when it comes to exploring this potentially groundbreaking new treatment. I’m not a politician, but a human being who wants you to think about the potential for ibogaine.
Rex Elsass, a resident of Ohio, spoke during the public comments portion of the hearing about the death in 2019 of his son Reid from an overdose. This loss prompted Elsass to lead the REID Foundation. He said that if plant-based therapies had been available “Reid” would still be alive.
Elsass from Ohio described himself as “your next-door neighbor” to the Kentucky commissioners. He has attended every public hearing to voice his opinion. He said that the Kentucky proposal to research ibogaine was a source for hope.
He said with a voice trembling from grief, “I have come to thank my neighbor.” “I am looking at men and women in this country who are leading the way more than anyone else right now.”
W. Bryan Hubbard expressed his gratitude for those who had taken the time to testify. He thanked veterans who “have served our country, were willing to put it all on line for us and have done so today with visceral honesty.”
In June, GOP lawmakers and veterans of the military discussed a newly-introduced bill that would create a 75 million dollar federal grant program for research into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics to treat certain health conditions in active duty military personnel.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-TX, is the leader of this bipartisan bill. It’s called “Douglas ‘Mike’ Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act of 2023,” in honor of a deceased former Navy SEAL who received a Silver Star.
The bill would require the Defense Secretary to create a grant program that funds Phase 2 clinical trials into psilocybin (and ibogaine), MDMA (5-MeO-DMT) and MDMA. It also focuses on the exploration of treatment applications, such as post-traumatic disorder, traumatic head injury, and chronic traumatic neuropathy.
The grants can also be used for “training practitioners to treat members of the Armed Forces on active duty with covered psychedelic drugs” in order to treat covered conditions.
Reps. Lou Correa, Nancy Mace, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Matt Gaetz and Jack Bergman are co-sponsors. The bill was introduced around the same time that a relaunch of a congressional Caucus focused promoting research on the therapeutic potential of Entheogenic Substances.
Around two months before, Crenshaw had led in writing to the leaders of House Appropriations Subcommittee to urge them to instruct federal agencies on health to include active military personnel in psychedelic research.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has recently begun soliciting proposals to investigate how psychedelics can be used to treat addiction. It plans to fund the studies with $1.5 million.
In May, NIDA director Nora Volkow said that new evidence is emerging that psychedelics have “significant potential” to treat certain mental conditions. This topic is of “great interest” to researchers.
Last year, Sens. Brian Schatz, D-HI and Cory Booker, D-NJ, urged top federal officials to give an update on studies into the therapeutic potentials of psychedelics. They argued that federal prohibition had stymied research.
NIDA’s response to the question was that the federal prohibition made it harder to study the benefits of psychedelics and required researchers to jump through extra regulatory hoops. Volkow said previously that she personally does not like to study Schedule I substances due to the complications.
In 2021, the director told Marijuana Moment that researchers should prioritize psychedelics research because more people will use the substances as a result of studies that show their therapeutic potential.
In March, a bipartisan and bicameral version of a new bill was filed to streamline federal rescheduling for “breakthrough therapies” such as psilocybin or MDMA to promote drug research and development.
Booker, Sen. Rand Paul, (R-KY), and Mace led another bill last year, which was designed to clarify federal “Right to Try”, (RTT), laws that give seriously ill people access to Schedule I medications, such as marijuana and psychedelics, like psilocybin, and MDMA. The bill was not passed by the end the session.
FDA and other federal agencies discuss marijuana research barriers, state legalization models, and CBD regulations at National Academies meeting
Image courtesy of Kim Gjerstad/Wikimedia.
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