Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) extolled the therapeutic promise of ibogaine on a recent episode of his podcast, drawing attention to a Stanford University study that found the psychedelic showed potential to treat PTSD, anxiety and depression in military veterans with traumatic brain injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could be one of the great breakthroughs of the next 10 or 15 years,\u201d he said on the episode of Newt World that aired last month.<\/p>\n
Gingrich, who previously had the executive director of Americans for Ibogaine as a guest on his show<\/a>, highlighted top-level findings of the 2024 paper, such as an observed 88 percent reduction in PTSD, an 87 percent reduction in depression and an 81 percent reduction in anxiety in participants one month after treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe future of healing,\u201d the former speaker wrote on social media, \u201cmay lie in an ancient plant.\u201d<\/p>\n The episode\u2019s guest was Nolan Williams, a study co-author and professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford, who explained some of the paper\u2019s main findings and fielded questions from Gingrich.<\/p>\n In this episode of Newt’s World, I talk with @NolanRyWilliams<\/a> M.D., co-author of the Stanford Medicine study, \u201cMagnesium-ibogaine therapy in veterans with traumatic brain injuries.\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/Gi0bdM3Zao<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The former House speaker said he felt one issue with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved research is that it typically focuses on the risks and dangers of controlled substances rather than their potential for therapeutic benefit.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically one of the FDA problems has been that they measure the cost of saying yes, but they don\u2019t measure the cost of saying no,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, there are people out here committing suicide, and this has a reasonable chance of minimizing that. You have to figure out what are the total lives saved annually versus what\u2019s the risk. And I don\u2019t think the FDA has any kind of measurement. It\u2019s all based on risk only on the usage side, not based on the cost of not doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams replied that his study showed that \u201c80-plus percent of people lost their\u2026suicidal thinking, and they held that out through the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe had no one in our follow-up,\u201d he added, \u201cthat actually had a suicide attempt or died of suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd to your point, whether it be veterans suicide or opioid overdoses,\u201d the researcher continued, \u201cthis is a drug that can actually decrease the symptoms of detox for opiates\u2026and reduce people\u2019s discomfort in going through opiate detox, in addition of reducing craving. The opioid crisis, the veterans suicide crisis\u2014we think this has great potential for doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n 🧠 The future of healing may lie in an ancient plant. \u2014 Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The study looked at 30 U.S. Special Forces veterans who underwent supervised ibogaine therapy in combination with taking magnesium\u2014an addition meant to mitigate the drug\u2019s cardiac risks. Williams explained the supplement is believed to significantly lower the risk of arrhythmia, for example.<\/p>\n Gingrich said research like the study by Williams will be key in convincing federal policymakers such as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to speed access to ibogaine therapy.<\/p>\n \u201cI think your study is going to be a major step towards people like Secretary Kennedy putting real pressure to make it available in this country,\u201d he told Williams. \u201cIf ibogaine again turns out to have the variety of capabilities that we have some at least glimmerings of its effect,\u201d he added, its impact \u201cis going to be staggering.\u201d<\/p>\n The former House speaker also said agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs need \u201ca much higher sense of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt really should be a national project to make sure how to use it, to make sure that it\u2019s safe, but then to get it very widely available throughout the entire Veterans Administration program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An 88% reduction in PTSD. \u2014 Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n One noteworthy state-level development Gingrich pointed to on the podcast<\/a> is recent legislation signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to create\u00a0a state-backed research consortium to conduct clinical trials on ibogaine as a possible treatment for substance use disorders\u00a0and other mental health conditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ultimate goal of the Texas project is to develop the psychedelic into a prescription drug with FDA approval, with the state retaining a portion of the profit.<\/p>\n In Gingrich\u2019s earlier podcast episode with W. Brian Hubbard, executive director of Americans for Ibogaine, the former House speaker said that ibogaine represents an \u201castonishing breakthrough\u201d in the nation\u2019s current \u201csick care system\u201d that\u2019s left people with serious mental health conditions without access to promising alternative treatment options\u2014and that he intended to use his influence to advance the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could be an astonishing breakthrough in what has been a long losing struggle with addiction across this country,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cIt strikes me that the whole \u2018Make America Healthy Again\u2019 movement\u2014that this could be a very significant building block in getting us back to being a country that\u2019s not addicted. I can\u2019t imagine a more timely podcast than to be talking with you about this.\u201d<\/p>\n While acknowledging that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to \u201cbalance risk against certainty\u201d and emphasizing the need for studies to support the use of ibogaine in a \u201ccontrolled environment,\u201d Gingrich said he was \u201cso inspired\u201d by the conversation he had with Hubbard that he\u2019s \u201cpersonally going to be strongly engaged in moving the idea around and getting people to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n The message around the therapeutic potential of psychedelics has been getting out in a number of ways, including in prominent conservative media circles and within the Trump administration.<\/p>\n For example, a Navy SEAL veteran credited with killing Osama Bin Laden said during a recent Fox News interview that psychedelic therapy has helped him process the trauma he experienced during his time in the military, stressing that \u201cit works\u201d and should be an available treatment option<\/a>.<\/p>\n That interview came days after the U.S. House of Representatives included an amendment to a spending bill from Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) that would encourage VA to support research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating medical conditions<\/a>\u00a0commonly affecting military veterans.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Kennedy recently said his agency is\u00a0\u201cabsolutely committed\u201d to expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy<\/a>\u00a0and, alongside of the head of FDA, is aiming to provide legal access to such substances for military veterans \u201cwithin 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n VA Secretary Doug Collins also disclosed in April that he had an \u201ceye-opening\u201d talk with Kennedy about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine<\/a>. And he said he\u2019s open to the idea of having the government provide vouchers to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive services outside of VA as Congress considers pathways for access.<\/p>\n Collins also\u00a0recently visited a facility conducting research on psychedelics<\/a>, and he reiterated that it\u2019s his \u201cpromise\u201d to advance research into the therapeutic potential of the substances\u2014even if that might take certain policy changes within the department and with congressional support.<\/p>\n The secretary\u2019s visit to the psychedelics research center came about a month after the VA secretary met with a military veteran who\u2019s become an advocate for psilocybin access to\u00a0discuss the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine for the veteran community<\/a>.<\/p>\n Collins also\u00a0briefly raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0in April.<\/p>\n Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)\u2014co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus\u2014introduced a bill in April to provide $30 million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused \u201ccenters for excellence\u201d at VA facilities<\/a>, where veterans could receive novel treatment involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.<\/p>\n Bergman has also\u00a0expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing psychedelics reform under Trump<\/a>, arguing that the administration\u2019s efforts to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies \u201cspines\u201d to tackle such complex issues.<\/p>\n Kennedy, for his part, also said in April that\u00a0he had a \u201cwonderful experience\u201d with LSD at 15 years old<\/a>, which he took because he thought he\u2019d be able to see dinosaurs, as portrayed in a comic book he was a fan of.<\/p>\n Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized FDA under the prior administration over the agency\u2019s \u201csuppression of psychedelics\u201d and a laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a \u201cwar on public health\u201d that would end under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n In December, VA separately announced that it\u2019s providing $1.5 million in funding to\u00a0study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans<\/a>\u00a0with PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).<\/p>\n Last year, VA\u2019s Yehuda also touted an initial study the agency funded that produced\u00a0\u201cstunning and robust results\u201d from its first-ever clinical trial into MDMA therapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n In January, former VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said that it was \u201cvery encouraging\u201d that Trump\u2019s pick to have Kennedy lead HHS has supported psychedelics reform. And he\u00a0hoped to work with him on the issue if he stayed on<\/a>\u00a0for the next administration, but that didn\u2019t pan out.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Flickr\/Scamperdale<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Former U.S. House Speaker Says Psychedelic Drug Could Be \u2018Future Of Healing,\u2019 Highlighting Study On Military Veterans<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) extolled the therapeutic promise of ibogaine on a recent episode of his podcast, drawing attention to a Stanford University study that found the psychedelic showed potential to treat PTSD, anxiety and depression in military veterans with traumatic brain injury. \u201cThis could be oneContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82961,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82960\/revisions\/82961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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I sat down with Dr. Nolan Williams of Stanford to talk about ibogaine \u2014 and how it\u2019s giving hope to our veterans battling PTSD, TBI, and addiction.
This is real science, and real results. https:\/\/t.co\/Gi0bdM3Zao<\/a><\/p>\n\n
87% in depression.
81% in anxiety.
You need to hear what Dr. Nolan Williams and his team at Stanford discovered about ibogaine treatments.https:\/\/t.co\/Gi0bdM3Zao<\/a><\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Former U.S. House Speaker Says Psychedelic Drug Could Be \u2018Future Of Healing,\u2019 Highlighting Study On Military Veterans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"