The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would create a pathway for Mississippi to study the therapeutic potentials of the psychedelic drug ibogaine, moving it a step closer to becoming law.
Republican House Public Health and Human Services Chairman Sam Creekmore’s bill, which tasks the Mississippi State Department of Health with creating a research collaboration to develop and run clinical trials to study the drug, passed the Senate with all but Sen. Kathy Chism, a Republican from New Albany, voting in favor.
It says the Legislature will appropriate the money to the state health department for the research, and it requires collaboration partners to provide matching funds.
In the past, Creekmore proposed using $5 million of opioid settlement money – money state and localities have received from pharmaceutical companies that contributed to thousands of Mississippi overdose deaths– to study the drug. Sen. Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood, said that was still the plan on the Senate floor Thursday, but the bill doesn’t specify how much money the state will use to study ibogaine.
“I think this takes a responsible approach,” Harkins said while presenting the bill on the Senate floor Thursday.
Mississippi representatives and senators have been aiming to use state money to study ibogaine research for months. Over the summer, Creekmore hosted a hearing for advocates and people who’ve used ibogaine as a medical treatment to share their thoughts with lawmakers.
States like Texas and Arizona have set aside state money to fund ibogaine clinical trials.
“We’re trying to tie our research into their research so we can have a multiplier effect,” Harkins said.
Health providers have shown interest in the Sub-Saharan African compound for centuries, but the risk of deadly cardiac arrhythmias deterred many from using it. The U.S. classifies ibogaine as a Schedule I drug, a status the Drug Enforcement Agency gives substances that it says have no accepted medical uses.
In recent years, some researchers and cultural figures have expressed interest in the drug’s potential to treat mental disorders like opioid addiction, traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder.
A 2024 Stanford study examining 30 veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries indicated that ibogaine helped relieve some symptoms of mental disorders, although it didn’t include a comparison group. It indicated that taking ibogaine with magnesium decreased the risk of severe cardiac events.
Scientists who’ve analyzed ibogaine studies say it’s unclear if the drug is effective at treating mental disorders like opioid addiction, pointing out that previous research has had “high risk of bias.” The U.S. already has multiple approved effective medications for treating opioid addiction, including two researchers consider to be the “gold-standard.”
Harkins and Creekmore have said that’s why this type of legislation is necessary — to create better studies while using Mississippi participants for the trials.
“It ensures Mississippi shares in the benefit of this new drug if the reality ever occurs,” Harkins said.
Before the legislation passed, the Senate approved an amendment by Harkins to clean up the bill’s language. The amended bill must now be approved by the House before it could advance to the governor’s desk.
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