Ibogaine, the hallucinogenic drug banned in the US that celebrities seek out in Mexico to treat addiction

Marcus Capone was a soldier in the U.S. Navy’s Sea, Air, and Land Teams (commonly known as Navy SEALs) until 2013. He enlisted after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001. He served in Afghanistan in 2005 and spent around 300 days away from home, moving from mission to mission. During that time, like many combatants and veterans, he developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He self-medicated. He suffered from depression, anxiety, and nightmares.

Capone realized he had hit rock bottom when his wife, Amber Capone, found him one early morning in the living room with an empty bottle of whiskey and a loaded gun, watching old videos of his military training on TV. When he thought there was no solution for his suffering, he found hope in Tijuana, Mexico, through treatment with ibogaine, an alkaloid with hallucinogenic and stimulant effects. In recent years, athletes and artists from the United States have begun taking the drug in Mexico to supposedly cure their addictions.

Tourist paradises in Mexico such as Tulum, Cozumel, Rosarito, Tijuana, and Los Cabos — in the Yucatán Peninsula, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, respectively — have become oases where these kinds of psychedelic substances are offered. Ibogaine comes from the iboga, a shrub native to the tropical rainforests of Central Africa. This drug is derived from the root bark, which is crushed and consumed as a powder or administered as an extract.

In countries such as Gabon, the Republic of Congo, and Cameroon, it is used for medicinal purposes and in rituals. Over the past 10 years, small studies have highlighted the effects of ibogaine in treating opioid addiction, suggesting that between one-third and two-thirds of patients undergoing treatment achieve sobriety. There is even research at Stanford University in the U.S., where scientists have studied the drug’s potential to treat traumatic brain injuries and PTSD.

Famous personalities such as Jordan Belfort, the former stockbroker convicted of market manipulation and money laundering whose life inspired the acclaimed film The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and former NBA player Lamar Odom, who played 14 seasons, are among those who claim that ibogaine helped them overcome opioid addiction.

Carlos Rius, a scholar at the Faculty of Medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), states that there is still no scientific method to verify these claims. He mentions a small study conducted in New Zealand several years ago, in which 20 opioid users began taking small doses of ibogaine. “After a year, it turned out that approximately 14 people managed to reduce their opioid use. One of them died in the meantime, and the others relapsed,” he explains by telephone.

The most recent celebrity to join the list is Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, who was accused of sexual assault in the past year and was described during his trial as leading a lifestyle of parties, alcohol, and drug use. In a post on his X social media account, he claimed he was “shown the light” after receiving ibogaine treatment in Mexico.

“I was shown what would have been my death,” he said. “How soon it was to be, and how it would have impacted my children. I was looking down on myself as it happened, and then I was looking out from the coffin. God then came to me in the Holy Trinity. He is MIGHTY! Jesus, his child. Mary, his Mother. The Archangels. All present in heaven. I was shown the light. Jesus descended from the white marble steps of heaven and anointed me with a crown. I was saved! My brain. My heart. My soul. Healed!”

The Irish fighter says he was treated at the Ambio clinic in Tijuana, where Capone and other former U.S. Navy SEALs said in the documentary In Waves and War that they also healed their PTSD thanks to ibogaine. These types of centers charge between $3,000 and $20,000 for treatments that can last seven to 10 days.

Celebrities and war veterans from the U.S. have started traveling to Mexico for these solutions, since the drug is illegal in the United States. Only in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Finland is possession, transport, and cultivation legal, while its sale is regulated.

In Mexico, however, ibogaine is not regulated, says Rius, which puts it in a legal gray area — it is neither prohibited nor subject to standardized government oversight. “The problem with ibogaine is that it’s highly toxic, affecting the heart and causing arrhythmias, and can even lead to death if consumed in larger quantities,” he explains. “Each person will have a slightly different reaction. There haven’t been many studies because it’s not accepted in most countries.”

In Tijuana, according to the documentary In Waves and War, patients are accompanied by a therapist, an emergency doctor, and a nurse. The therapy consists of two main steps. On the first day, they are given ibogaine, connected to a cardiac monitor, and enter the psychedelic trance.

In the documentary, Capone recounts that he carried guilt over the death of Josh, a fellow Navy SEAL who died during a mission in Afghanistan. He says he heard the sounds of chainsaws buzzing and flashed back to images of his childhood. “I saw difficult moments from my life from a different angle,” he explains. “It made me realize none of this was my fault.”

The use of ibogaine is complemented by the so-called “toad ritual,” which involves smoking the toxin of a Sonoran Desert toad that secretes a milky white venom containing 5-MeO-DMT, meant to deter predators. In therapy at these centers, it is primarily administered through vaporization of the toxins. “It’s like accessing the ocean of the self. I think it’s very effective at breaking the psychological barrier between ourselves and everything else. I like to say that ibogaine exfoliates you from the inside out, and then 5-MeO-DMT gently polishes you,” says Trevor Millar, psychedelic facilitator and co-founder of the Ambio clinic.

Rius is convinced that there is little regulation in Mexico of various substances that, in his view, have a placebo effect. “There are a lot of clinics that promote all kinds of treatments for cancer, for incurable diseases, and they give patients different substances that sometimes don’t even do anything,” he says. “They get hold of ibogaine and pass it off as a dietary or natural supplement. It doesn’t have to go through the Ministry of Health or Cofepris [Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks]. The legislation is very lax in that regard.”

However, Capone is cautious about the reach of ibogaine for his PTSD. He admits in a segment of the documentary that his depression comes and goes. He says it’s important not to hold onto the “misconception” about psychedelics, “that you take them once, and you’re cured forever.” “It [ibogaine] opens you up and gives you a new canvas to paint whatever you want. You need to think about plans, take it one step at a time, or you can get worse,” he reflects.

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