Some Athletes are Trying the Psychedelic Ibogaine to Treat Brain Injuries (yahoo.com)
(Sunday September 28, 2025 @11:05PM (EditorDavid)
from the sports-medicine dept.)
- Reference: 0179575646
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/29/033214/some-athletes-are-trying-the-psychedelic-ibogaine-to-treat-brain-injuries
- Source link: https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-ufc-athletes-try-game-100000386.html
"As awareness grows around the dangers of head trauma in sports, a small number of professional fighters and football players are turning to a psychedelic called ibogaine for treatment," [1]reports the Los Angeles Times .
They note that the drug's proponents "tout its ability to treat addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, or TBI. "
> Ibogaine, which is derived from a West African shrub, is a Schedule 1 drug in America with no legal medical uses, and experts urge caution because of the need for further studies. But the results, several athletes say, are "game-changing".... Although athletes are just discovering ibogaine, the drug is [2]well known within the veteran community , which experiences high rates of brain injury and PTSD. In Stanford's [3]study on the effects of ibogaine on special forces veterans, participants saw [4]average reductions of 88% in PTSD symptoms , 87% in depression symptoms and 81% in anxiety symptoms. They also exhibited improvements in concentration, information processing and memory.
>
> "No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury," Dr. Nolan Williams, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a statement on the results. "The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further...."
>
> States can work faster than the federal government by carving out exemptions for supervised ibogaine therapy programs, similar to what [5]Oregon has done with psilocybin therapy . Many states have also opted to legalize marijuana for medicinal or recreational use... In June, Texas approved a [6]historic $50-million investment in state funding to support drug development trials for ibogaine, inspired by the results seen by veterans. Arizona legislators approved $5 million in state funding for a clinical study on ibogaine in March, and California legislators are pushing to [7]fast-track the study of ibogaine and other psychedelics.
[1] https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-ufc-athletes-try-game-100000386.html
[2] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-26/could-psychedelics-help-solve-the-veteran-suicide-crisis-these-california-vets-say-yes
[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02705-w
[4] https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/01/ibogaine-ptsd.html
[5] https://www.opb.org/article/2023/11/29/psilocybin-mushrooms-oregon-service-centers-price/
[6] https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/11/texas-psychedelics-ibogaine-treatment-addiction-rick-perry-funding/
[7] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-26/could-psychedelics-help-solve-the-veteran-suicide-crisis-these-california-vets-say-yes
They note that the drug's proponents "tout its ability to treat addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, or TBI. "
> Ibogaine, which is derived from a West African shrub, is a Schedule 1 drug in America with no legal medical uses, and experts urge caution because of the need for further studies. But the results, several athletes say, are "game-changing".... Although athletes are just discovering ibogaine, the drug is [2]well known within the veteran community , which experiences high rates of brain injury and PTSD. In Stanford's [3]study on the effects of ibogaine on special forces veterans, participants saw [4]average reductions of 88% in PTSD symptoms , 87% in depression symptoms and 81% in anxiety symptoms. They also exhibited improvements in concentration, information processing and memory.
>
> "No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury," Dr. Nolan Williams, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a statement on the results. "The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further...."
>
> States can work faster than the federal government by carving out exemptions for supervised ibogaine therapy programs, similar to what [5]Oregon has done with psilocybin therapy . Many states have also opted to legalize marijuana for medicinal or recreational use... In June, Texas approved a [6]historic $50-million investment in state funding to support drug development trials for ibogaine, inspired by the results seen by veterans. Arizona legislators approved $5 million in state funding for a clinical study on ibogaine in March, and California legislators are pushing to [7]fast-track the study of ibogaine and other psychedelics.
[1] https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-ufc-athletes-try-game-100000386.html
[2] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-26/could-psychedelics-help-solve-the-veteran-suicide-crisis-these-california-vets-say-yes
[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02705-w
[4] https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/01/ibogaine-ptsd.html
[5] https://www.opb.org/article/2023/11/29/psilocybin-mushrooms-oregon-service-centers-price/
[6] https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/11/texas-psychedelics-ibogaine-treatment-addiction-rick-perry-funding/
[7] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-26/could-psychedelics-help-solve-the-veteran-suicide-crisis-these-california-vets-say-yes
Can we give some to the president? (Score:2)
Asking for a friend.
Re: (Score:2)
He does seem to have some sort of brain injury. Since we're talking athletic injuries, the only thing "athletic" he does is golf - perhaps he got struck by lightning on the golf course.
This drug might also help fill the void the brain worm left in RFK Jr.