Published 8:13 am Monday, May 4, 2026 The hype surrounding the psychedelic drug ibogaine reached a fever pitch in April, when President Donald Trump talked up its potential at a White House event promoting increased access to psychedelics. Ibogaine, which comes from the root of a West African shrub, has long been used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. Now, for the first time, the Food and Drug Administration will allow a clinical trial of the drug. Americans have been going to extreme lengths to get ibogaine in recent years. Most travel abroad, typically to Mexico, and shell out thousands of dollars to receive it in wellness clinics that promise to cure any number of ills — post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, depression, traumatic brain injuries and more. Their anecdotal experiences, some of which were recounted by veterans during the White House event, surely have a magnetic pull for anyone who feels that conventional medicine has failed them. Yet they are also just that — anecdotes.…