In the late aughts, Talia Eisenberg was living a glamorous life in New York City. At age 20, she founded the Heist Gallery, a small, subversive establishment for young up-and-coming creatives. Over the next couple of years, she collaborated with artists, attended exhibitions and stayed close with her large New York-based family.
But behind the scenes she was struggling with a heroin habit — one that started with a bottle of painkillers left over from a dental surgery.
Multiple stints at expensive rehab centers hadn’t helped. Nothing did until she sought out an underground provider that specialized in ibogaine — a plant-derived psychedelic compound sometimes used to treat addiction.
“I had a profound experience, where I saw my grandmother and what she had survived,” said Eisenberg, whose grandmother lived through the Holocaust. “I knew that I had to make a difference in the world, and I saw that I would never put that poison in my body again.”
Sixteen years later, Eisenberg and her husband, Tom Feegel, run Beond, an ibogaine therapy retreat center in Cancun, Mexico, that treats a range of mental health issues, funds new research and advocates for ibogaine’s medical potential. It’s a model that could be brought to Colorado in the not-so-distant future, following recent legal changes.
“We are following the policy changes and the individual policy makers in Colorado very closely,” Feegel told the Sun at the Psychedelic Science conference in Denver last month. “We expect to be invited to do this in Colorado and other states as well.”
In 2023, Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 290, titled the Natural Medicine Regulation and Legalization Act, which led to psilocybin mushroom healing centers opening their doors in Colorado this summer. The act also decriminalized three other plant-derived psychedelic drugs: ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, and mescaline. The law specified that regulators cannot consider the latter two drugs for integration into healing centers until 2026, at the earliest. But no such restrictions were placed on ibogaine.
Ean Seeb, Polis’ special advisor on cannabis and natural medicine, said that the lack of restrictions was reflective of lawmakers’ optimism about the drug.
“Recognizing the unique benefits associated with this medicine and the extreme promises that it is showing, in terms of treatment for a myriad of different challenges, we have an opportunity to accelerate introducing ibogaine as a regulated medicine,” he said during a panel at Psychedelic Science.
Polis also mentioned ibogaine during a keynote speech at the conference. “We’re looking at opportunities to consider adding ibogaine treatments as efficiently as possible,” he said.
Before regulators can begin rulemaking for ibogaine, they first must receive a recommendation from the state’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board — a panel of experts representing health care groups, Indigenous practitioners, local municipalities and other stakeholders. A spokesperson for the Natural Medicine Division said that the board first broached the subject at a June 12 meeting and there was much to discuss.
“We anticipate the board will delve further into potential risks associated with the administration of ibogaine,” the division wrote in an email to the Sun. “We also want a better understanding of the ethical sourcing of iboga and ibogaine.”
For all its promise, ibogaine also comes with inherent risks and ethical issues — ones that Colorado regulators will grapple with in the coming months.
Promising results
The root of the West African shrub iboga has been used by Indigenous people in spiritual practices for centuries. Thus far, Western scientific research has mostly focused on ibogaine, just one of the chemicals found in the root. The drug has shown promise for a number of applications, including treating substance use disorders, depression, anxiety and traumatic brain injuries.
Those who have experienced ibogaine say that it is a particularly intense psychedelic drug. An ibogaine trip can last for up to three days, much longer than psychedelics such as LSD or psilocybin.
“It’s a dream-like experience,” Feegel, the co-founder of Beond, said. “The most meaningful memories of your existence are presented visually or symbolically.”
After the acute effects of the drug wear off, users report a period of openness to new ideas and habits that lasts for weeks. According to Victor Pablo Acero, a post-doctoral scholar at The Ohio State University specializing in psychedelic treatment of traumatic brain injuries, this period provides a unique opportunity for therapeutic intervention.
“Like other psychedelics, it increases plasticity,” Acero told the Sun. “Ibogaine has the longest window for this critical period where you get to relearn habits and be in this very open, malleable, plastic state.”
Researchers have also found that ibogaine provides a unique benefit to recovering opioid addicts — it lessens the symptoms of withdrawal.
“It’s able to mitigate withdrawal symptoms and decrease cravings, which is really what makes getting off opioids so hard,” Acero said. “Being able to mitigate that greatly improves the odds of somebody actually being able to go through treatment successfully.”
Though the research into ibogaine is promising, Acero warns against overstating the results. So far, studies have been limited to relatively small cohorts and reports from treatment centers like Beond.
“It’s one of the least well-understood, studied and characterized psychedelics,” he said. “Regardless of that, the studies that have been conducted are showing its potential.”
Ibogaine remains a Schedule I drug at a federal level, which means that robust clinical trials investigating the drug require FDA approval. Texas will seek that approval in the coming months, after state lawmakers passed a bill directing $50 million toward ibogaine research. But, even if Texas’ research program is approved, the process will take years.
In the meantime, a regulated ibogaine healing industry in Colorado could provide researchers with another source for valuable data on ibogaine-assisted therapy. In June, Colorado passed a new law that requires the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to report behavioral health outcome data for patients who go through psychedelic healing work. The law also requires the department to make this data freely accessible to researchers.
“This data is invaluable,” Seeb told the audience at Psychedelic Science. “It was really important to keep it free, accessible and open source.”
Inherent risks
As Colorado regulators weigh the pros and cons of bringing ibogaine to natural medicine healing centers, one consideration looms large over the conversation. According to case reports, several people have died during or following ibogaine administration. The cause of these deaths is still unclear, and some may have been complicated by opioids or other drugs.
One risk, though, is well-defined. Ibogaine can cause a type of heartbeat irregularity known as long-QT syndrome. Researchers think that this symptom could lead to heart attacks in rare cases, and might explain some or all ibogaine-related deaths.
Medical professionals can manage the dangers of long-QT syndrome through careful monitoring and intravenous doses of magnesium. Experts say that the risk of heart failure is low if ibogaine is administered under medical supervision.
“It’s not a hugely life-threatening thing if you’re in a clinical setting where you’re monitoring this,” Acero said. “The most dangerous thing is being in a setting that does not have adequate training or clinical staff.”
Beond employs a team of doctors, cardiology experts and nurses to oversee their clients in Cancun from start to finish. Even so, the company has not been able to completely eliminate risk. In 2022, a 49-year-old opioid addict from South Carolina died during treatment at the facility. For some, his death sparked newfound skepticism in the safety of the drug.
“David’s death is a cautionary tale for the nascent ibogaine industry,” journalist Mattha Busby wrote in Rolling Stone magazine, using a pseudonym for the man who died. Busby says he briefly met David while undergoing a free ibogaine treatment at the clinic. “Treatment with the powerful psychedelic has great promise in easing the spiraling human losses from the opioid crisis, but treatment can be fraught with danger. Many unanswered questions remain over how ibogaine operates in the body.”
If ibogaine treatment is brought to Colorado, Feegel hopes regulators will craft strict clinical standards for administering the drug. “You need a medical doctor at every stage, and you need qualified nursing staff as well,” he said.
The safety measures in place at Beond make ibogaine treatment more akin to a surgery than to other forms of psychedelic healing work — at least in terms of staffing requirements, he said. This also greatly increases the cost. Treatment at Beond ranges from $9,500 to $19,500 depending on how far in advance clients book. Stays typically last about 10 days.
Feegel speculated that, in Colorado, ibogaine treatment would likely be unaffordable for most patients unless the state required insurers to cover it.
“It will probably require a state mandate to say, ‘if you want to sell insurance in Colorado, you have to cover this procedure,” Feegel said. “And, there’s good reason to do that because of the economic impact of the benefits of ibogaine treatment.”
Feegel then pointed to the enormous public cost of opioid use disorder. According to the CDC, opioid addiction and overdoses cost Colorado more than $14 billion in 2017.
“Even though the procedure may be cost-prohibitive at a patient-payer level, in the end it’s cheaper because it’s a more effective treatment,” Feegel said.
Colorado lawmakers are well aware of the medical risks associated with ibogaine. The Senate Bill 290 decriminalized possession and personal use of the drug, along with the other plant medicines named in the legislation. But, the law also specified that ibogaine remain illegal to share. In other words, it’s legal to possess and use ibogaine, but criminal to give it to a friend.
“Given the unique risk profiles associated with ibogaine … we took away the sharing provisions,” Seeb said.
Honoring traditions
At the psychedelic science conference last month, researchers, including Acero, shared research results with a ballroom of curious attendees during a panel titled “Studies of ibogaine therapy and safety.” After the panel, a woman named Pamela Ngondet Rosario stood at the mic to ask a question. Rosario comes from a family of Bwiti practitioners — an Indigenous spiritual tradition with roots in the West African nation of Gabon that incorporates iboga into initiation rites and healing ceremonies.
“What role can we play in these modern ibogaine therapies and treatments and research to make sure that the spirit of the medicine is honored and that our values are not disrespected or forgotten or dismissed?” she asked the panel.
The researchers expressed interest in collaborating with Bwiti healers, while also citing ethical and logistical barriers to integrating Indigenous practices into Western science.
It’s a question that Colorado regulators, too, are considering. At the June 12 meeting, the Natural Medicine Advisory Board watched a YouTube video of Moubeyi Bouale, a grand master of the Bwiti tradition, offering his support to a now-defunct Kentucky initiative for ibogaine research.
“I would like to express the hope that this commission will adopt a resolution that will lead our spirit and strengthen our ongoing commitments to the quality of life of people suffering from addictions, particularly in the United States, and to the guardians of tradition in Gabon,” Bouale said.
Colorado regulators may seek a similar endorsement. In a presentation given at the end of the June 12 meeting, ibogaine treatment experts urged the board to reach out to Gabonese officials with a letter of interest to “participate in traditional knowledge share and/or exportation.”
Even if Colorado receives support from Bwiti practitioners, some Indigenous groups may see this move as exploitive if it is not paired with reciprocal benefits. In June, the state-appointed Federally Recognized American Tribes and Indigenous Community Working Group released their first annual report on Colorado’s natural medicine program. In it, they addressed inherent power dynamics between Indigenous natural medicine practitioners and the state.
“Some Indigenous people are leaving their traditional cultural training to work at profit-driven retreat centers, raising concerns about whether they can truly give informed consent without feeling exploited,” the authors wrote. “Ensuring fair compensation and respect for individuals and their communities is crucial.”
An uncertain future
Ibogaine’s pathway to becoming a regulated natural medicine in Colorado is still complex and uncertain. But, according to Seeb, the Polis administration remains hopeful that they can introduce ibogaine before the governor’s final term is up in November of 2026.
“The hope is that we’ll have an opportunity to see something happen prior to him departing as governor,” Seeb told Psychedelic Science attendees.
Of course, this vision is dependent on the checks and balances that the administration helped craft into law. In the coming months, the advisory board will work with regulators and stakeholders to determine if Colorado can offer ibogaine treatment safely and ethically.
If the answer is yes, the state may become the first in the nation to implement such a program.