President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order encouraging research on the psychedelic ibogaine as a possible treatment for mental health challenges such as substance use disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This comes on the heels of over 220 psychedelic policy reform bills that have been introduced in the states over the last five years.
I authored one of those bills as a Republican and chairman of the Public Health Committee in the Mississippi House of Representatives. It was signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) just weeks ago. The bill joins Mississippi with Texas in a budding national movement to gain Food and Drug Administration approval for ibogaine. Trump’s executive order is a welcome step forward for all of us concerned about mental health in this country.
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The mental health crisis in America is not a temporary problem. It’s a generational threat. We need bold moves like this executive order to save lives and help our loved ones.
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We cannot continue to treat mental health conditions with outdated thinking. Many of us were taught that drug addiction, in particular, is a moral failing. That people struggling with substance use lack strong character and morals. This is false. Addiction is a health crisis, not a moral crisis. It’s devastating families across this country, and we need more tools to address it.
The same goes for overdose. 54,734 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2024. And while drug overdose deaths have begun declining, we’re still losing tens of thousands of people every year to them. We’ve become numb to these losses because they’ve gone on for so long. This is unacceptable. Each of these people has value and worth. They are all someone’s loved one.
Conventional treatment for drug addiction can work, but national relapse rates for opioid addiction remain between 65% and 70%. Traditional approaches often fail, and we must innovate.
While U.S. clinical trials are still limited, international clinics are already using ibogaine in supervised medical settings with highly encouraging results in treating addiction. Reports from Mexico, Brazil, and New Zealand show long-term recovery rates of 50% to 70%, and short-term improvements of 80% or more. These numbers far exceed typical outcomes for conventional opioid treatments.
But ibogaine doesn’t have potential only for addiction. Over the last year, as I worked on ibogaine legislation in Mississippi, I met several fellow Mississippians who are special forces veterans and found healing through ibogaine treatment for the internal wounds they came home with. While it can be tempting to celebrate the health these veterans regained and move on, we have to acknowledge that they had to travel to Mexico for ibogaine treatment because it’s illegal in the United States.
We are failing our men and women in uniform when they have to leave the country they fought for to get treatment for the conditions they came home with. Many of our veterans are stuck in silence or tragically end their suffering through suicide. This is unacceptable and preventable. When elite warriors tell us that every conventional tool failed but ibogaine worked, we owe it to them to listen. The cost of delay isn’t just measured in dollars. It’s measured in lives.
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In a world as divided as the one we live in, putting more tools in the toolbox for mental health treatment is something everyone can get behind. It’s bold. It’s smart. And Trump’s executive order is accelerating our move toward those tools. People often think of Mississippi as the state most resistant to change. But that’s not always the case.
We have deep roots and strong family ties. We’ve seen our loved ones struggle, and we know there are better solutions. The people of Mississippi and now the White House are publicly asking for psychedelic therapies to be given a chance. All of us win when more people in our communities are healthy and whole.
Rep. Sam J. Creekmore IV is chairman of the Mississippi House of Representatives’ Public Health Committee.
