The latest federal investment brings ibogaine—yes, the Schedule I substance—one step closer to U.S. clinical trials, months after Trump signed an executive order to accelerate psychedelic research and directed at least $50 million in existing federal funds toward the effort.
The Donald Trump administration is putting more federal money behind a psychedelic substance that has attracted both scientific interest and significant safety concerns. On November 12, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced up to $4.9 million in funding to advance research into ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic being investigated as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), particularly among military veterans.
The investment, announced one day after Veterans Day, will come through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Rather than paying for clinical trials themselves, the money will help researchers prepare for them, from developing pharmaceutical-grade ibogaine to establishing dosing guidelines, evaluating safety data and preparing regulatory applications.
Kennedy suggested the government could move unusually quickly through the development process.
“We’re going to have, I think, a record drug approval process,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
The initiative brings together two private-sector partners. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company will work on establishing the foundations for domestically manufactured ibogaine, while Beond Inc., a Texas-based company operating in Mexico, will contribute clinical information gathered through its treatment experience.
According to AP, Beond has treated more than 3,000 patients at its Mexican facility, where ibogaine treatment is permitted. The information could help U.S. researchers better understand the substance’s risks and potential effects.
As Kennedy put it, the push is closely tied to veterans’ experiences. “Veterans have told us ibogaine changed their lives,” he said in the official HHS announcement.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins echoed that urgency. “For veterans living with PTSD, we owe them both urgency and the best science we can produce,” Collins said.
What Does the Science Actually Say About Ibogaine?
Derived from the Tabernanthe iboga shrub native to Central Africa, ibogaine has attracted attention for its possible effects on substance dependence, depression and trauma-related conditions. But it is also associated with serious medical risks, including potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias.
In January 2024, researchers published a study in Nature Medicine examining 30 male U.S. special-operations veterans who had experienced traumatic brain injuries.
The participants received ibogaine alongside intravenous magnesium at a treatment facility in Mexico. Researchers reported substantial improvements in disability, PTSD symptoms, depression and anxiety following treatment, with effects still evident at a one-month follow-up.
The findings offered an encouraging signal, but there were important limitations. The study was observational, involved only 30 men, and did not include a control group or randomization. It therefore could not establish whether ibogaine itself was responsible for the improvements. Those uncertainties are precisely what federal officials hope future research will address.
The evidence extends beyond veterans, although it remains limited. A small double-blind, placebo-controlled study in Brazil involving 20 people with cocaine dependence found that a single 1,800-milligram dose of ibogaine extract (75% purity) was associated with reduced cocaine craving compared with placebo at both 72 hours and 24 weeks. Other human studies have highlighted the safety questions surrounding the compound. In a 2021 observational study of 14 people with opioid use disorder, a 10 mg/kg dose produced clinically relevant but reversible QTc prolongation—that is, an abnormal lengthening of the heart-rate-corrected QT interval on an electrocardiogram—with half of the participants exceeding a QTc of 500 milliseconds and all experiencing severe transient ataxia. And a 2026 pilot study involving 9 adults with moderate to severe alcohol use disorder found that ibogaine was feasible to administer under continuous monitoring, but also observed QTc changes and other adverse effects, leading researchers to emphasize the need for rigorous cardiovascular screening and randomized controlled trials. On that subject, a 2026 review identified only three randomized trials involving ibogaine or its metabolite noribogaine, with just one examining ibogaine itself, underscoring how limited the clinical evidence remains.
“Reports of successful ibogaine treatments are too promising to ignore,” said Dr. Al Bugazia, senior advisor at ARPA-H, in the agency’s November 12 announcement.
Ibogaine remains a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States, and the FDA has not approved it to treat PTSD or addiction. The new ARPA-H awards do not authorize clinical trials, which will require separate regulatory review and appropriate safety safeguards.
So How Much Money Has Been Committed to Psychedelic Research in Total?
The November announcement is only one piece of a much larger funding picture.
In April 2026, Trump announced a $50 million federal research investment as part of his administration’s efforts to accelerate psychedelic medicine. The corresponding executive order directed ARPA-H to allocate at least that amount from existing funds to support partnerships with states developing psychedelic treatment programs.
The federal commitment followed an earlier investment at the state level. In June 2025, Texas lawmakers approved $50 million for ibogaine research, backed by former Governor Rick Perry and veterans’ advocates, according to The Texas Tribune.
Now, alongside November’s $4.9 million commitment, HHS has announced an additional $20 million funding opportunity through the National Institute of Mental Health. That program will support a research network investigating rapid-acting psychiatric treatments, including ketamine, esketamine, psilocybin and other emerging therapies. Award recipients are expected to be announced in summer 2027.
These figures represent different programs at different stages, not a single pot of money already spent. The federal $50 million allocation and November’s $4.9 million awards may overlap, while Texas’s $50 million comes from state funding. The separate $20 million program is an announced funding opportunity rather than a completed research expenditure.
The financial commitments nevertheless suggest that psychedelic medicine is gaining attention as a research priority among federal and state policymakers.
And more funding may be on the way. According to ARPA-H is planning additional ibogaine research awards focused on substance use disorders, including opioid addiction, with further funding expected before the end of 2026.d
‘Ibogaine. Remember the Name’: How Trump Got Involved
Trump’s interest in ibogaine did not begin with the November funding announcement.
On April 18, 2026, the president signed an executive order titled Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness, directing federal agencies to accelerate research and regulatory consideration of psychedelic medicines, including ibogaine.
During the signing ceremony, Trump highlighted a study conducted by Stanford researchers involving 30 veterans and delivered a memorable instruction: “Ibogaine. Remember the name.”
The remark came with an unusual explanation of how the substance first caught the president’s attention.
Trump publicly credited podcast host Joe Rogan, who has repeatedly discussed ibogaine’s possible applications for addiction and mental health on The Joe Rogan Experience.
Rogan, who attended the signing ceremony, said he had personally sent Trump information about the substance. According to Rogan’s account, the president responded enthusiastically and quickly supported a path toward FDA approval.
Together, these developments point to an unusual mix of voices bringing ibogaine into the political mainstream: veterans seeking alternatives to conventional treatments, researchers studying psychedelic compounds, conservative politicians and influential media personalities.
Trump’s April order directed the FDA and the DEA to work toward a potential Right to Try pathway for eligible patients, while expanding coordination between federal health agencies and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The full transcript of the signing ceremony also shows that Trump presented the initiative as a response to the mental health challenges facing veterans and Americans whose conditions have not improved with existing treatments.
Seven months later, the administration is beginning to translate those promises into specific research projects.
Whether ibogaine ultimately becomes an FDA-approved treatment remains uncertain. Its potential benefits must still be weighed against substantial safety risks, and preliminary findings will need to withstand rigorous clinical testing.
For now, the November 12 announcement represents another concrete step in the federal effort to investigate psychedelic medicine, with veterans’ mental health at the center of the conversation.
Cover photo: Military Health System, U.S. Department of Defense – http://health.mil/, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons // Edited with Canva
