DENVER — Colorado lawmakers are considering a proposal to research a powerful psychedelic plant medicine with the ability to "reset" the brain and combat addiction or mental health issues.
Ibogaine, a compound found within a shrub that grows in Africa, has changed the lives of veterans and people living with substance use disorders — but comes with cardiac risks.
In this 360 report, Denver7 examines a number of perspectives on the natural medicine under the spotlight this year at the Colorado Capitol, which is already decriminalized in our state.
The Background
Kevin Franciotti is a licensed addiction counselor in Littleton who believes more research into how psychedelics can help with mental health or substance use disorders is long overdue.
“At this point, there has been no innovative treatments in addiction care for decades, and so my limitations for talk therapy, for what I do, requires people to be relatively stable," Franciotti said. "A lot of people don't even really know that Colorado is a place where we have these tools, and hopefully ibogaine will be a part of that in a legal and safe way.”
Franciotti explained that ibogaine is a naturally occurring chemical compound derived from the root bark of the Tabernanthe iboga shrub found in Africa. He showed Denver7 some ground up iboga root bark, which looked like dust and wood chips.
"Iboga, the root bark, contains a number of alkaloids, including ibogaine. When ibogaine is extracted from it, isolated and purified, it really is just the molecule that is being used for treatment at the clinics," Franciotti said. "It is very difficult to synthesize pure ibogaine just from raw ingredients. There are a couple of pharmaceutical companies that have figured out how to do that. That is not something that's easy to do outside of a very well funded lab.”
According to Franciotti, ibogaine can produce very vivid visions that last for several hours, but he added that everyone has a different experience.
"One of the things that makes ibogaine difficult to utilize in research is because in our pharmaceutically driven era for medicine, we like to see a specific compound that goes to a specific part of the brain and addresses a specific symptom," Franciotti said. "Ibogaine goes everywhere. Every, nearly every receptor network that we know of... A chemist would generally not even refer to ibogaine as what they would call a classic hallucinogen. Ibogaine, instead, gets referred to as an oneirophrenic, which means it induces a waking dream state.”
It was 2011 when Franciotti received his first ibogaine treatment in Mexico due to his severe opiate addiction at the time.
"I was interested in ibogaine, I was interested in psychedelics as tools for healing. And I was certainly interested in no longer being a heroin addict," Franciotti said. "I had a high level of motivation for change, and ibogaine really catalyzed what was already a motivation and a willingness to do things differently, try to grow up, try to figure out how to live life clean.”
Franciotti believes ibogaine led him to his current life.
“Without question, I would not be here, where I am now," Franciotti said. "15 years after my first ibogaine experience, life has not been, you know, all rainbows and lollipops ever since then, but I was able to go back to college. I was able to figure out how to live life a day at a time, clean and sober for a number of years. I was able to repair relationships with members of my family. I was able to hold down close relationships with friends and intimate relationships with partners. I was able to get married many years later.”
In 2022, Colorado voters passed Proposition 122, creating the Natural Medicine Health Act which decriminalized five natural psychedelic substances — psilocybin, psilocin, dimethyltryptamine, ibogaine and mescaline — for people over the age of 21. The sale of such substances was not decriminalized.
It was the inclusion of ibogaine within Proposition 122 that convinced Franciotti to support the measure, and he urged others to do the same via an opinion piece published in The Colorado Sun.
Senate Bill 23-290 was passed the following year, implementing the regulatory framework for the Natural Medicine Health Act and creating the Natural Medicine Advisory Board.
"When the State Assembly passed an implementation bill after the passage of Proposition 122, they made a couple of changes to the law that were not necessarily part of the initial ballot measure," Franciotti said. “Unlike the other natural medicines, which had personal use protections and a protection for gift exchange, ibogaine was removed from that. So, the only remaining decriminalization is strictly for personal use, transportation, possession, things like that. As a kind of concession to the removal of that protection, they adopted a language that suggested that ibogaine would receive some kind of special, accelerated status of being the next compound that would be considered for the regulated industry after psilocybin was done.”
Franciotti believes the regulatory system for natural medicine in Colorado is primed for ibogaine — a concept currently being considered in a piece of new legislation at the Colorado Capitol.
The Legislation
A bipartisan bill introduced last week in the Colorado Capitol, House Bill 26-1325, aims to establish an ibogaine research pilot program that examines the safety and effectiveness of using the natural medicine to treat mental health and substance use disorders. A committee would select five ibogaine pilot sites as part of the program in Colorado.
The effort is spearheaded by Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, R- District 20, who served in the Air Force for 10 years and understands the challenges veterans may face.
“Everybody deals with issues such as PTSD differently, and the important thing is that there's a lot of different approaches to it. Whether it's just talking with a counselor and going through therapy, whether it's some kind of pharmaceutical, whether it's marijuana, and ibogaine seems like a very promising new tool in the toolbox to address these issues and help people," Caldwell said. “This is also a bipartisan effort, and as of right now, we have all veteran members on it.”
Caldwell began looking into ibogaine after fellow veterans approached him about starting a pilot program in Colorado, expressing their interest in what the natural medicine could do.
"Federally, it's still a Schedule I substance, but the federal government offers a waiver program for states if they want to do essentially, like, a right to try," Caldwell explained. “States can pass bills, like we're looking to pass with 1325, and say that you know what? This is decriminalized here in the state. We understand it's still illegal federally, however you're going to give us the right to try it and and kind of, for lack of better terms, experiment in using it for medical reasons."
According to the legislation, ibogaine has "shown promise" in treating severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions connected to combat deployments. The research pilot program would explore both the therapeutic effects and potential risks of the natural medicine, while laying a foundation for a future regulatory program.
“There's guardrails here, right? So this isn't just anybody can open up a clinic to use ibogaine," Caldwell said.
Colorado's Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) is the organization that would operate the pilot program and could seek federal authorization for expanding or advancing the research efforts around ibogaine.
Applicants that would like to become one of the five ibogaine pilot sites must demonstrate an intent to pursue federal approval to safely study the compound and establish a benefit-sharing plan for the Indigenous cultures that traditionally worked with ibogaine or iboga.
“Poachers have kind of realized that there's a global demand for iboga. So, a lot of what you see available to purchase in online marketplaces is very, very likely to be improperly sourced and is damaging the local ecosystem," Franciotti said. "One of the tasks of Colorado is to figure out a sustainable source that doesn't put an already endangered species at further risk of extinction."
Facilitators would not be held liable for a participant's physical or psychological injuries due to the natural medicine, unless it was the direct result of their intentional misconduct, gross negligence or a departure from the recognized standard of care.
Caldwell told Denver7 that the sponsors have been working to mitigate the cost the proposal would have on the state, a concern shared by all lawmakers with a fiscal note on their bills as a multimillion dollar budget shortfall looms over Colorado.
"There's a gifts, grants and donations portion to it, and so if philanthropic people want to help donate and help get this off the ground, that's certainly an option," Caldwell said.
The Support
One of the authors of Colorado's Natural Medicine Health Act is attorney Joshua Kappel.
"We included ibogaine in the Colorado Natural Medicine Health Act, which was passed by voters in 2022, to create access to psychedelic therapies for mental health purposes," Kappel said. "But in that program, you know, only psilocybin and psilocin were permitted to start with, and so there's the ability for the state to add in ibogaine into the Natural Medicine Health Act and regulate access to ibogaine. However, there's a lot of different steps needed before we can get there, and that's why we're here today.”
Kappel believes the research program would enable Colorado to implement safety standards around ibogaine that protect patients. He supports HB26-1325, saying the power of the compound could change lives in Colorado.
“It can just reset the brain, you know, with one treatment," Kappel said. "Really giving people a fighting chance to free themselves from addiction.”
There are risks associated with ibogaine, including cardiac arrest.
"Doing more research, and providing access in that research framework is really important," Kappel said. “With the proper medical supervision and the proper monitoring and the proper screening, that risk can be drastically eliminated.”
The research program would ensure safety comes first, Kappel believes, while beginning to move toward a broader program to treat those who could benefit from the medicine in Colorado.
The Word of Caution
Inside of a cozy office in Fort Collins, therapist Bri Bendixsen primarily works with clients who have experienced trauma or live with PTSD. She has also worked within the psychedelic medicine space for the last few years.
"I'm here to offer some wisdom and some guidance and some reflection, and potentially some challenges as appropriate," Bendixsen said about her work. "But ultimately, it's offering somebody a space to really grow and thrive in their own way, in their own process."
Bendixsen has developed a number of healthy habits over the years that enable her to continue her work without losing herself.
"It really has taken years of skill building to be able to say like, 'Oh, I'm feeling this, but it actually isn't mine.' I can hold it, and I can also leave it in this room," Bendixsen explained.
Still, there was a time when she found herself dependent on a substance instead of her self-care practices.
"I'd go home and I'd start having a drink, two drinks, three drinks over time. Oh, it's just a glass of wine. It's just an old fashioned, right? But that really became my pattern," Bendixsen said. "It could be any substance. And in my case, it was alcohol and it's so widely available and it is so normalized in our culture."
Bendixsen decided it was time for a change and believed iboga would help her achieve that.
"I really wanted to seek out more of a ceremonial context rather than more of a medicalized context," Bendixsen said, describing why she was drawn to iboga over ibogaine. "I don't necessarily think one is better or worse than the other. It's just for me personally, I really wanted to incorporate more of the spiritual component, more of the ceremonial component."
The first iboga journey for Bendixsen was in 2023 in Portugal, which she said was "incredibly insightful."
"It was so healing in a way that I was not anticipating," Bendixsen said. "Iboga offers these snapshots, offered me these snapshots of my life... And explained, here's how this happened. Here's how it contributes to your pattern and your functioning now. And here's how you're showing up. Do you want to keep doing that or not?"
She described it as a power washing of her brain, and since then, she has not drank alcohol.
"Honestly, it's the best choice that I have ever made for myself was to give up alcohol," Bendixsen said.
Roughly a year after her first iboga retreat, Bendixsen attended another one at a different facility. She was searching for an even deeper level of self-growth, but her experience was dramatically different than the first time.
"Unfortunately, someone passed away at the retreat that I was at," Bendixsen said slowly. "I did not witness the trajectory of how this person unfortunately passed away, so I can't speak to the details. But, what I will say is that I did actually connect with the woman who passed away. I connected with her at the airport, and we shared breakfast together at the hotel before we went to the retreat."
According to Bendixsen, the retreat offered other substances in addition to the iboga.
"They were offering something called total alkaloid extract. And from my research after, total alkaloid extract can potentially contain up to maybe 70% ibogaine," Bendixsen said. "Ibogaine carries a significantly higher level of cardiac risk than iboga. Total alkaloid extract, we actually don't really know what is in it, it could be any range of ibogaine percentage. And that's why I speak to, some places are offering iboga retreats, but yet supplementing or adding on this total alkaloid extract, which then significantly increases the level of cardiac risk. People looking to receive this medicine might not know that."
Her concern is ensuring a retreat and facilitators are mindful of the people they are treating, which is why she believes more research ought to be done on the powerful psychoactive compound.
"To understand how to keep people alive ultimately, and safe," Bendixsen said.
In addition, Bendixsen has questions about the funding needed for the pilot program and worries the spiritual or ceremonial component of the experience could be lost in the process.
"I feel a bit conflicted," Bendixsen said about HB26-1325. "I hope that we can get the research off the ground. I hope that there are pathways towards a regulated model with ibogaine. And I certainly hope that the research is done with fidelity and ultimately keeps the healing of our community at the forefront of our minds. There's always the concern about for profit companies coming in and trying to make money... So, am I in support of the bill? I hope so."
A spokesperson with Governor Jared Polis' office provided Denver7 with a statement about HB26-1325, which described Colorado as "ahead of the curve and excited about the promising possibilities ibogaine presents." It continued to say Polis will continue to have conversations with the bill's sponsors about the proposal.
Denver7 will continue to track the progress of the legislation seeking an ibogaine research pilot program.
Read the full statement from Polis' office here:
Colorado voters passed natural medicine and the Governor takes implementing the will of Colorado voters very seriously, and we’ve done a lot of work since the measure passed. Ibogaine shows clinical promise in helping veterans and others overcome substance abuse, trauma, and more. As a national leader in breaking through outdated laws around cannabis, and now psilocybin, Colorado is ahead of the curve and excited about the promising possibilities ibogaine presents. Gov. Polis was proud to sign laws to create a statutory framework that implements the will of voters while creating the best possible system for Colorado to protect people’s safety, provide access to promising treatments for serious conditions, and support building on meaningful scientifically sound research into these treatments. He appreciates the work of these bill sponsors and looks forward to continued conversations.
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