Lansing — Michigan lawmakers are considering legislation that would push $50 million toward research on the efficacy of the psychedelic drug ibogaine in addressing mental health issues and addiction.
The legislation would use some of the state’s opioid settlement funds to create a grant program that could be tapped by the University of Michigan or other state research universities for studies on the substance, which currently is classified by the Federal Drug Administration as a Schedule 1 drug, the same category as cocaine, ecstasy and heroin.
The drug, a plant-derived compound known for its psychoactive effects, has recently gained interest among U.S. military veteran groups who have argued it helps to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Because it remains illegal in the U.S., individuals seeking treatment must currently travel to Mexico or other foreign countries to receive it for treatment.
“This legislation is about one simple, but urgent goal: Giving Michigan families, veterans and communities more hope in the fight against opioid addiction, trauma and mental health challenges that have too often gone untreated or undertreated,” state Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, said in committee Tuesday.
The House Families and Veterans Committee heard testimony on the legislation on Tuesday, but has not yet advanced the bill to the House floor.
Greene is hopeful for swift, bipartisan passage of the legislation — in part due to signs of federal interest in the drug’s potential usage — but some lawmakers Tuesday expressed concerns about research efforts on the state level.
That research, state Rep. Carrie Rheingans said, should be led by the federal agencies whose funding was cut by the Trump administration. She also expressed doubts that the opioid settlement funds could be used for research like the kind proposed by the state House.
“I am all for supporting this research through the appropriate channels: NIH (National Institutes for Health) and the VA (Veterans Administration),” the Ann Arbor Democrat said. “So stop DOGE-ing the NIH and the VA and maybe you’ll get what you ask for.
“Jaime Greene needs to go to Washington D.C. to testify on this, not to the state of Michigan,” Rheingans told The Detroit News.
A handful of other states, Texas being the first, have passed legislation and appropriated funding for ibogaine research at the state level. Greene’s bill would allow Michigan to join a consortium with those other states so they could pool their findings to provide evidence of efficacy to the FDA.
“We would actually almost like to be the leader in this as well,” Greene, a veteran who has struggled with trauma from her time in service, said of Michigan’s role. “We also have other resources and pharmaceutical companies that physically reside in our state as well. This is not only a healing opportunity but a great economic opportunity for the state.”
The committee hearing Tuesday included testimony from three individuals who had received ibogaine treatment in Mexico, including Henry Berkowitz, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and senior advisor for Americans for Ibogaine.
After his time in service, Berkowitz said he struggled with a long road of unsuccessful treatments, at one time taking up to eight prescriptions twice a day. When he had his first child, Berkowitz said, “I realized I had to try something new” and received treatment in Mexico.
“The first night after ibogaine, I slept without medication for the first time in 13 years and I haven’t taken a pharmaceutical since,” Berkowitz told lawmakers Tuesday.
Berkowitz acknowledged the experience itself was “very difficult,” and other experts noted the treatment has its risks.
Kevin Boehnke, associate director of the Michigan Psychedelic Center at the University of Michigan, noted some who take the drug experience nausea, vomiting, loss of muscle control, cardiac issues or an ultimate failure to respond positively to ibogaine. The Michigan Psychedelic Center has also previously undertaken a state-financed study on veteran use of cannabis.
“We need rigorous, high-quality, clinical studies conducted in medically supervised settings with safety monitoring,” said Boehnke, who also is an associate professor of UM’s Department of Anesthesiology and the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat this process,” he said. “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.”
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that instructed the FDA to speed up access to medical research and treatment with psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, Reuters reported. The president also said the U.S. would push $50 million to federal research into ibogaine.
Trump said the use of ibogaine came to his attention, in part, through podcaster Joe Rogan.
Under the proposed legislation, the $50 million in state opioid settlement funds would be appropriated to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that state research institutions could apply to for ibogaine research funding.
The bill also authorizes the department to create a “consortium among states, drug manufacturers, health facilities, and institutions of higher education to conduct ibogaine research.”
“Before receiving any funds from Michigan, the consortium would have to submit an investigational new drug application to the FDA and pursue a breakthrough therapy designation for ibogaine,” according to a nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analysis of the legislation.
If or when the FDA legalizes ibogaine, the bill would allow Michigan physicians to prescribe it.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan GOP lawmaker pushing for state-funded psychedelic research
Reporting by Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
