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Key Takeaways
- The IBOGAINE Act aims to codify Trump’s executive order on psychedelic-assisted therapy and reschedule ibogaine’s legal status.
- Bipartisan lawmakers emphasize the urgency of making psychedelic therapy permanent, given the limitations of executive orders.
- The bill directs the attorney general to evaluate ibogaine rescheduling within 60 days, promoting access for patients with serious mental health conditions.
- It expands Right to Try protections for patients needing access to psychedelics and establishes a National Health Priority Voucher Program.
- Recent studies show potential benefits of ibogaine therapy for veterans, with significant reductions in PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms.
Bipartisan lawmakers introduced the IBOGAINE Act on June 30, 2026, to codify President Trump’s April 2026 executive order on psychedelic-assisted therapy into permanent federal law. The bill targets ibogaine rescheduling, Right to Try access for seriously ill patients, and expanded VA collaboration on psychedelic research for veterans.
There’s a pattern developing in Washington that anyone paying attention to plant medicine reform should find hard to ignore. When the federal government decides something matters, the machinery moves fast. Psychedelic-assisted therapy, it turns out, matters a lot right now.
Reps. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), Lou Correa (D-CA), Jack Bergman (R-MI), and Michael McCaul (R-TX) introduced the Initiating Biomedical Outcomes to Garner Advancements into Innovative Neuroplastogen Efficacy Act, better known as the IBOGAINE Act. The bill is designed to take Trump’s Executive Order 14401, signed April 18, 2026, and turn it into something no future president can reverse with the stroke of a pen.
That’s the key phrase here. Executive orders are only as durable as the administration issuing them. Congress is trying to build something that lasts.
What Does the IBOGAINE Act Actually Do?
The bill covers a lot of ground. At its core, the IBOGAINE Act directs the attorney general to take all necessary steps to determine whether to transfer ibogaine and ibogaine compounds from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act within 60 days of enactment.
That’s not a soft suggestion. That’s a deadline written into law.
The bill also requires the attorney general and the HHS secretary to initiate rescheduling proceedings for any Schedule I substance that completes Phase 3 clinical trials for a serious mental health disorder. The DEA would have to revise its production quotas within 90 days whenever a substance is rescheduled, approved by the FDA, or designated as a breakthrough therapy.
Furthermore, beyond scheduling, the IBOGAINE Act creates a federal definition for ibogaine, covering all parts of the plant Tabernanthe iboga and similar compounds that act on neuroplasticity, opioid receptors, or serotonergic pathways.
How Does This Connect to Trump’s Psychedelics Executive Order?
President Trump signed the Executive Order, with a stated goal to “dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.”
The order directed the FDA to prioritize review of psychedelic compounds, instructed the DEA and other federal agencies to reduce research restrictions, and allocated $50 million for federal-state collaboration on psychedelic programs. It also directed the FDA and DEA to establish a pathway for eligible patients to access investigational psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine compounds, under the Right to Try Act.
Meanwhile, Texas had already made its own move, enacting a law that allocated $50 million for publicly funded ibogaine research. Many people saw the executive order’s matching funds provision as a direct response to that.
Why Are Lawmakers Trying to Codify It Into Law?
Because an executive order is only in effect as long as the president who signed it is in office.
Rep. Bergman put it plainly: “An Executive Order cannot rewrite federal law, and it can be reversed by a future administration. That’s why I’m proud to support this legislation that codifies these directives into law and ensures lasting change.”
Rep. Correa echoed the urgency, noting he is “grateful to Rep. Morgan Luttrell for introducing legislation to cement Trump’s executive order into law so the progress made does not get lost when a new administration comes into office.”
Notably, the bipartisan nature of this push is worth noting on its own. This is not a partisan effort. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has praised Trump’s moves on psychedelics across the aisle. A coalition of 32 members of Congress sent a letter urging the FDA to speed up its review of psychedelic therapies. Furthermore, the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, co-chaired by Correa and Bergman, has been pushing this forward for months.
What Could Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Mean for Veterans?
The statistics behind veteran mental health are hard to sit with. According to the White House’s own executive order, more than 6,000 veteran suicides occur per year, and the veteran suicide rate is more than twice that of the non-veteran adult population.
A Stanford University School of Medicine study published in 2024 found that participants who received ibogaine treatment experienced reductions of 88% in PTSD symptoms, 87% in depression symptoms, and 81% in anxiety symptoms after just one month.
Currently, psychedelic treatments for veterans are not available in the United States. As a result, veterans suffering from PTSD and other mental health conditions have been forced to travel overseas for access.
Rep. Luttrell, a veteran himself, made the personal dimension clear: “Psychedelic therapy has helped me and countless other veterans, improving our lives for the better.”
The IBOGAINE Act and the Right to Try Expansion
One of the more technical but significant pieces of the IBOGAINE Act is its expansion of Right to Try protections.
The bill clarifies that the federal Right to Try law provides exemptions from the Controlled Substances Act for seriously ill patients seeking access to psychedelics and other Schedule I drugs. Furthermore, it creates a special registration process that allows physicians to administer eligible investigational drugs in Schedule I to qualifying patients, with the attorney general required to approve or deny those registrations within 45 days.
The bill also establishes a National Health Priority Voucher Program that grants priority FDA review to psychedelic drugs meeting breakthrough therapy designation criteria. A National Health Priority Review Voucher entitles the holder to priority review within six months of FDA receipt of an application.
Washington Moves Fast on Plant Medicine When It Wants To
Here’s where things get worth saying out loud. The speed at which psychedelics have gained federal traction stands in sharp contrast to the pace of cannabis reform, which has spent decades mired in scheduling debates, DEA hearings, and legislative gridlock.
That is not a knock on the progress being made for veterans and people with serious mental health conditions. The research is real, the need is urgent, and the outcomes data is encouraging. This matters, and it should move forward.
But it does say something about how political will shapes the speed of reform. Psychedelics arrived to Congress with a specific constituency, a compelling clinical story, and advocates on both sides of the aisle including a sitting president. Cannabis has been waiting in line a long time.
What Comes Next for Psychedelic Research and Federal Access?
The IBOGAINE Act is not the only legislation in motion. A separate bipartisan bill introduced this session would provide $30 million annually to establish psychedelic-focused centers of excellence at VA facilities, where veterans could receive treatments involving psilocybin, MDMA, and ibogaine. A Senate committee has already held a hearing on that bill.
Additionally, Luttrell and other IBOGAINE Act sponsors are behind a proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would extend a psychedelic research program at the Department of Defense for an additional six years. That proposal cleared the House Rules Committee for floor action.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has declared that his agency is “absolutely committed” to expanding psychedelic therapy research, with plans to give veterans legal access within the next 12 months. Furthermore, VA Secretary Doug Collins has also said he is open to the government providing vouchers to cover the cost of psychedelic therapy for veterans receiving care outside of the VA system.
The pipeline is filling up fast. Whether the IBOGAINE Act passes or not, the political conversation around psychedelic-assisted therapy has cleared a threshold it is unlikely to fall back from.
Photo courtesy of Flickr/Scamperdale
Frequently Asked Questions
Introduced on June 30, 2026, the bipartisan IBOGAINE Act aims to permanently codify Executive Order 14401. The bill directs a review to potentially reschedule ibogaine within 60 days, expands Right to Try access for psychedelics, and establishes federal-state research partnerships.
Notably, Executive Order 14401 (April 18, 2026) accelerated psychedelic drug research and access by directing the FDA to prioritize reviews, asking the DEA to ease restrictions, funding federal-state partnerships with $50 million, and enabling patients to try investigational psychedelics through the Right to Try Act.
Ibogaine is currently illegal in the US as a Schedule I drug. The IBOGAINE Act would require the attorney general to evaluate moving it to Schedule II within 60 days of passage.
A 2024 Stanford study found that ibogaine treatment reduced PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms by over 80% in just one month, while helping to restore neurological function and break addiction cycles.
The IBOGAINE Act could pave the way to reschedule multiple psychedelics, not just ibogaine. If any Schedule I substance passes Phase 3 trials for mental health treatments, the bill would require the government to start the rescheduling process—potentially opening the door for psilocybin and MDMA.
