Ibogaine bill passes Senate Health Services Committee March 11, 2026 Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, speaks on Senate Bill 77 during Wednesday’s meeting of the Senate Health Services Committee. A high-res version is available here. FRANKFORT — Kentucky lawmakers on Wednesday unanim ously advanced a bill that would create a framework to study the use of ibogaine, a compound found in root bark in central west Africa, to treat substance use disorders. Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, is sponsoring Senate Bill 77, and he noted that approximately $1.8 billion is spent toward substance use disorder issues in Kentucky. The legislation “may be one of the most consequential bills that we will see this session, primarily due to its impact, or possible impact, on addressing the barriers to preventing and decreasing addiction here in our commonwealth,” Douglas said. SB 77 calls for creation of an ibogaine research and intellectual property fund to be administered by the Department of Agriculture. It would set the stage for the department to partner with a drug developer to conduct clinical trials on using ibogaine to treat substance use disorders. The fund may receive state appropriations, gifts, grants, federal funds and other private and public funds. Dr. Jean M. Loftus, a physician and business owner in Northern Kentucky, said in her testimony that ibogaine treats several disorders, including addictions to opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, and alcohol, along with post-traumatic stress disorder. “Ibogaine immediately enables over half of the patients to skip acute and chronic withdrawal and craving. It interrupts addiction so patients can choose sobriety,” she said. Ibogaine is now used in six countries to treat conditions, and it is now synthesized by several small pharmaceutical firms. The treatment itself is a single 8- to 12-hour process in a hospital setting, and the compound is administered in multiple doses, she said. “With traditional treatment, no one skips acute withdrawal, chronic withdrawal or craving. That’s a year and a half of misery and incapacitation. And that is why the failure rate is so high with traditional therapy because it is so long and so miserable,” she said. Loftus said ibogaine is not a recreational drug and is much safer than traditional treatment. Jessica Blackburn-Allen, a licensed social worker from Floyd County, testified she became addicted to opioids in high school. She subsequently went to Mexico to receive ibogaine treatment, and she described what she experienced during the process. “In that moment, I understood deeply for the first time the devastating impact my choices were having on my family. I understood the value of my life. It became clear to me that I had a responsibility to be better for myself and those who loved me, and I knew that I had a choice,” she said. “The next day, I had no cravings, no withdrawal, no desire to smoke a cigarette and no thoughts of wanting my life to end.” Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, asked if smoking was on the list that ibogaine could treat, and Loftus said this is the case. Sen. Keturah J. Herron, D-Louisville, asked about future plans to fund the research. Douglas said appropriations will continue to be discussed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, said he has further questions about ibogaine, but researching it could be beneficial. He said he has spoken to people planning to undergo the treatment and that ibogaine could provide answers to these issues. “We don’t need to let that pass by without taking some action,” he said. Carroll asked who would serve as the drug developer in the partnership, and Loftus said that, in a similar program in Texas, several developers are competing for the role. Douglas said ibogaine could be effective and helpful for many Kentuckians who battle substance use disorder. “Here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we are putting billions of dollars in treating substance use disorder,” he said. “It is not the way to do business – to prop up businesses by locking people into a dependency or addiction.” The post Ibogaine bill passes Senate Health Services Committee appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less