Ibogaine Treatment in US Healthcare
“Every demand is a demand for love.” -Jacques Lacan
Scaling access to a life-saving treatment.
I hosted and organized an event on the topic of integrating ibogaine treatment into the US healthcare system, sponsored by Americans for Ibogaine (AFI), Austin Health Alliance (AHA), and Minicircle.
The event featured a panel I moderated with Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Board Chair of Americans for Ibogaine, W. Bryan Hubbard, CEO of Americans for Ibogaine and Former Chairman and Executive Director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, Marcus Luttrell, Retired Navy SEAL, Navy Cross and Purple Heart Recipient, Author of Lone Survivor, and Board Member of Americans for Ibogaine, and Tasia Poinsatte, Colorado State Director of Healing Advocacy Fund and Former Research Director at RBI Strategies. I also gave opening remarks, as did Governor Perry, W. Bryan Hubbard, and Minicircle CEO Mac Davis.
To those who don’t yet know about the life-saving power of this treatment, here is how I described it in my opening remarks: “Ibogaine is the most effective means of quieting that hungry ghost we call opiate addiction, of helping our veterans not commit suicide when they are on their last leg of hope and can no longer bear the burden of the complex PTSD and moral injury they have experienced both on and off the battlefield, and not to mention ibogaine’s potential to break us from the shackles of technology addiction, love addiction, and all of those dependencies that keep us stuck in a place of lack.”
With only a month’s notice to organize this, I filled the room with 80 high-caliber healthcare innovators and raised Americans for Ibogaine over $5,000. People found the event deeply moving, and it brought us one step closer to creating access to this life-saving treatment for all who can benefit.
One month later, the federal landscape shifted with the signing of Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness.