4 August 7 - 13, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents I n an idyllic paradise, palm fronds cast shadows on glimmering water. Nearby, the rhythmic droning of Tibetan sing- ing bowls is interrupted by the chirps of the black-throated magpie-jays hid- ing high up in the trees. Volcanic rocks glow like rubies in the hearth of a temazcal, a tra- ditional Mesoamerican sweat lodge. The lingering scents of chef-curated tasting menus waft through the open halls of a sprawling hacienda. Beneath the terracotta roof tiles that glow in the Mexican sun, mo- tionless bodies in near-catatonic states lie lined up under the eyes of physicians over- seeing their hourslong hallucinogenic trip. Weekly, throngs of people touch down in Mexico for a getaway that isn’t the usual tropical vacation. Some meet a suited chauf- feur ready to cart them in a swanky, leather- finished Cadillac to a luxury resort-style facility in Cancun or Tulum. Others, less for- tunate, haphazardly work through a lan- guage barrier with an Uber driver taking them to a seedy center in Tijuana, just miles from the American border, or Tezpotlan, a small town in the mountain region two hours south of Mexico City. All arrive in the country with the same goal: to be rid of their ailments, whether it be a rehab-resistant opioid addiction, the unshakeable traumas of war service or the tremors that come with neurodegenerative diseases. To do so, they’ve turned to a holistic medical treat- ment available in only a handful of coun- tries, and certainly not the United States. Ibogaine, pronounced eye-bow-gain, is a psychoactive alkaloid extracted from the root bark of iboga, an evergreen shrub native to Central Africa. Forest-dwelling tribes in Gabon have used the bitter powdered root for thousands of years in a sacred ritual sym- bolizing death and rebirth as part of Bwiti, a spiritual practice in the region. Ingesting the root, which induces a half-day-long immo- bilizing high, paired with an occasionally fa- tal racing heart rate, is part of the initiation ceremony into the Bwiti practice. The cere- mony is said to be as close to a kiss of death as a human can get before crossing the Pearly Gates. In 1992, the Drug Enforcement Admin- istration formally classified ibogaine as a Schedule I substance, ending ongoing re- search in the U.S. and creating significant barriers for future research. Since then, no one has gained permission to distribute ibogaine for clinical trials on U.S. soil, but Texas, an unlikely proponent, successfully passed a bill during this year’s legislative session that creates a $100 million grant program, of which the state will provide half, for ibogaine clinical research, pend- ing approval from the Food and Drug Ad- ministration. It is the largest publicly funded psychedelic research initiative in history. The bipartisan bill, which GOP leaders heavily backed, stands in juxtaposition to the resurrection of the War on Drugs rag- ing in Texas right now. In a state inching closer to an outright ban on all THC prod- ucts, ibogaine, one of the most potent hal- lucinogens with a proven high risk of fatality when not properly administered, has passed staunch conservative drug nay- sayers. They are attracted by the drug’s po- tential applications to alleviate the opioid crisis and deal with a shortage of mental health services for veterans. As a bonus, the state will reap the earliest economic boosts when the days of ibogaine commercializa- tion arrive. But critics point out the hypoc- risy of removing veterans’ access to widely used THC products while simultaneously touting a cost-prohibitive therapy that is years from widespread use in an incompat- ible healthcare system. Ibogaine’s Origins as Therapy I f you’ve never heard of ibogaine, you’re not alone. When taken correctly, the treatment is prohibitively expensive, serving the few with several spare Gs. Averaging about $1,000 a day, a low-cost program runs around $6,000 in total, but the pinnacle of luxury treatment centers visited by A-listers can cost six figures for a cushy month-long stay. The root is avail- able on the black market for $35, but self-ad- ministration is not recommended and is reportedly responsible for most of the fatali- ties associated with ibogaine. “[Self-administering] is the dumbest thing you could ever possibly fucking do on this planet,” said Dr. Charlie Powell, a four- time board-certified physician from North Texas and military veteran who went to ig- bogaine therapy in Mexico in 2023 to treat PTSD and opioid dependence. “Because now you’re not getting the protection of the medical side of things to protect your heart and your safety. You’ve got to have the pre- work, the post-work. … This is not an antibi- otic. You’ve got to do the program.” Inaccessibility and the taboo nature of re- habilitation centers keep ibogaine a hidden gem among hallucinogen enthusiasts. Pow- ell, who worked in the medical industry for 26 years before selling his facilities for $250 million, was recommended ibogaine for PTSD during a lengthy tattoo session. He had never heard of it before. “When [my artist] said the words one day, ‘psychedelic medicine,’ those two words don’t belong in the same book,” Powell said. “I had all the technology, I had imaging cen- ters, I had just about every bit of high-tech thing you could have in medicine. I didn’t know about this. [I thought] it must not be any good because if it were any good, I would know about it.” But Powell’s PTSD was unrelenting, and as he watched more of his former platoon members die by suicide, he worried his obit would be next if he didn’t try something new, even if it were experimental. The drug made its way to the main stage in Texas through the Texas Ibogaine Initia- tive, an advocacy organization spearheading the research endeavor. The initiative has won support from a slew of big names, in- cluding U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, who is open about his experiences using ibogaine, and U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Both are veter- ans. However, the top-bill names belong to former Gov. Rick Perry and right-leaning podcaster Joe Rogan, who joined forces for an episode on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast to discuss ibogaine. Perry has been clear about his belief that ibogaine is the way of the future. “I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat,” Perry wrote about ibogaine in an op-ed for the Washington Post. “Every one of us knows someone who’s struggling, whether with addiction, trauma or mental health. This is the cause I will dedicate the rest of my life to fighting for, because too many lives hang in the balance to do any- thing less.” The discovery of ibogaine as a therapeu- tic remedy was by chance. In the ’60s, a 19-year-old heroin addict from the Bronx named Howard Lostof, desperate for a new type of high, tried iboga root that he pro- cured from a local chemist. After 30 intro- spective hours spent tripping, Lostof came back to cognisance without craving heroin. By happenstance, the former addict was thrust into a lifelong career in pharmacology after accidentally discovering the addiction- combating properties of iboga. He adminis- tered the treatment to his similarly addicted peers with the same results, proving his hy- pothesis and, to a degree, changing Texas hates when people get high, but the state is on its way toward legalizing ibogaine, a potent, potentially fatal hallucinogen. BY ALYSSA FIELDS Sarah Schumacher Holistic Hallucination | UNFAIR PARK | >> p6
