6 August 7 - 13, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents opioid rehabilitation forever. He spent the remainder of his life championing the medi- cal benefits of the root, and in the ’80s, pat- ented a capsulized version, ibogaine, produced exclusively for rapid opioid detox. Ibogaine was scheduled before he was ever able to begin his research. Almost 50 years later, some ibogaine ex- perts worry that Texas may not be the best launchpad to pick up where Lostof left off. While most would like to ensure that veter- ans are well cared for, we may have to recon- figure our healthcare system, or the benefits of the risky drug are moot. Around The World in 8 Hours I bogaine is not an entry-level experience, and it’s not for the faint of heart. Literally. This isn’t a face-melting acid trip that turns the world into a kaleidoscopic picture show and gives voice and visage to the inani- mate. To the onlooker, an ibogaine trip is bor- ing. There are no convulsions, no silly streams of consciousness, no proclivity to leap off the side of a building in hopes of sprouting wings and catching air, and, if all goes according to plan, no heart arrhyth- mias. While no trip is the same, it’s uni- formly introspective and described as living a thousand grueling lifetimes with infinite experiences and sensations in just a few hours. “I must have lived at least a hundred events in my life over again in third-person,” Powell said. “Everything fit into place, things I didn’t consider, traumas that really messed me up and I didn’t realize it. I was able to real-time integrate and understand. I came out of that not just happy. I came to peace.” Some envision a spirit guide who takes them through their every memory, a hand- held stroll through their unprocessed trauma, like Dickens’ Ghost of Christmas Past. Others see visions similar to memories but not quite the same, carrying the familiar and uncomfortable deja vu of a recurring dream. “Pardon my language, I was tripping balls,” Powell said. “Some people have a guide, some people don’t. Mine showed me a lot of things. It was more than I can even begin to understand.” Three-quarters of patients experience vomiting, a common side effect of ibogaine, and in Bwiti, it’s interpreted as the expulsion of the past. But for the most part, ibogaine induces a state called ataxia, or the extreme loss of muscle coordination to the point of immobility, confining most people to a bed. Becoming a stationary blob and occasion- ally retching sounds easy enough to manage in an American clinical setting, but the emo- tional toll of an ibogaine high necessitates extensive preparation beyond standard Western medicine, according to Trevor Mil- lar, co-founder of Ambio Life Sciences, a leading ibogaine rehabilitation facility in Ti- juana. Millar’s colleague and business part- ner, Jonathan Dickinson, is the lead author of Clinical Guidelines for Ibogaine-Assisted Detoxification produced by the Global Ibo- gaine Therapy Alliance, which sets interna- tional treatment standards for the therapy. Ambio is soon expanding to Malta, where it will use the therapeutic tech- niques and standards drafted by Dickin- son. Very few countries have laws for or against ibogaine, leaving it in a legal gray area in most places. It’s not technically il- legal in Mexico, but it’s also not legalized by formal law, allowing Ambio and other resorts to distribute the medicine without penalty. “We are fully licensed as a mental health and addiction clinic in Mexico, but there is no specific licensing around ibogaine itself,” Millar said. “It is not on any books. The interest- ing thing is, there are UN treaties that most countries in the world have agreed to, and those UN treaties make most drugs illegal, even if the country wanted to make them legal. Ibogaine isn’t on any of those UN treaties. That’s the gift so far.” Ambio operates on an application-only basis. Because of the serious cardiac con- cerns, a complete medical screening, includ- ing a list of every substance the patient has ever consumed, an EKG and a complete blood panel, is required before you book your stay. Ambio requires a minimum of two pre- and post-treatment counseling ses- sions, which Millar said should be the indus- try standard. Done the right way, he said, the experience is truly life-changing and a gift to be a witness to. “To see somebody detox off opiates, I’ve seen thousands of treatments now, it doesn’t get old,” Millar said. “It’s still remarkable to see somebody pop out the other end of a treatment like that.” To get to Ambio, you fly into San Diego and are chauffeured 30 minutes across the bor- der. At the clinic site, pa- tients will meet their trip companions in a group therapy setting. Millar says they are of- ten bonded for life by the end of the week, es- pecially in the program that predominantly serves veterans. Before ibogaine distribution, patients undergo a se- ries of treatments blending facets of tradi- tional Mexican medicine, like sweat lodges, and sacred Bwiti practices, like several- course feasts. Patients in the addiction de- toxification program typically require a longer stay to certify a few days’ worth of so- briety before the trip. Several times before capsule distribution and the impending yack, hydration gets boosted through intra- venous magnesium and saline supplementa- tion, and heart rates are regularly monitored. Millar says any cardiac issues that could arise are relatively easy to screen out before treatment, and notes that he’s never had a fatality at his treatment center. Just in case, a cardiologist is on call. In the final hours before treatment, pa- tients gather around a bonfire to bid adieu to their past worries before taking the first cap- sule in unison. They are soon guided to the treatment room, attached to an EKG ma- chine, given the remainder of the capsules, and lie down to ride it out and awaken anew. The crash from the powerful high of ibo- gaine packs just as strong a punch. Patients are prepared for their seismic rebound to Earth’s surface, which takes an entire day to recover from, called “gray day”. Many of the licensed ibogaine facilities in Mexico fuse Eastern and Western medicine, which ibogaine industry experts say is cru- cial, and that will need to happen before Texas can emerge as a reputable destination for ibogaine therapy in the distant future. “As things unfold in Texas, there’s a very good chance that for quite some time, what’s happening in Mexico is going to be better than what happens in Texas,” Millar said. “My encouragement, again, to Texas, is let’s start with the end in mind. … It’s going to re- quire some tweaks to the medical system as we know it. It needs to be comfortable and loving and very supportive. And yes, still medicalized, but let’s skip this sterility of a hospital, perhaps.” Not All Highs Are Equal T he ibogaine bill, Senate Bill 2308, filed by North Texas Sen. Tan Parker and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, creates a consortium to “conduct United States Food and Drug Administration’s drug development clinical trials with ibogaine to secure the administration’s approval of the medication’s use for treatment of opioid use disorder, co-occurring substance use disor- der, and any other neurological or mental health conditions for which ibogaine dem- onstrates efficacy and to the administration of that treatment.” The collection of businesses and entities comprises higher education institutions, hospitals, the state Health and Human Ser- vices Commission, the comptroller and a drug developer. The bill almost passed unanimously, with Texas Republicans and Democrats uniting in rare bipartisanship. Only four of 138 voting House members voted against the bill; one of them was a Democrat. Similarly, four of 31 voting Sena- tors voted against the bill, all Republican. “I support ibogaine research, but I do not support government picking winners and losers or raising taxes to do it, which is ex- actly what the Legislature did,” Rep. Brian Harrison, one of the only nay voters, wrote to the Observer in an email. “Also, the hypoc- risy is stunning: The same Legislature that banned hemp products is forcing taxpayers to fund psychedelics.” Harrison was the only Republican to vote in opposition to the THC ban bill and was the only Republican who urged Abbott to veto the legislation. Abbott did. But Harrison is the outlier of the Texas Republican Party’s current approach to drugs. A majority of his colleagues voted op- positely, approving an outright ban on Holistic Hallucination from p4 Magda Stuglik Ambio Life Sciences is a rehabilitation clinic that uses Ibogaine in Tijuana. “To see somebody detox off opiates, I’ve seen thousands of treatments now, it doesn’t get old.” –Trevor Millar >> p8
