“For many veterans, the fight doesn’t end when they come home. Too many carry the invisible wounds of service.”

By: Ben Solis, Michigan Advance

Could a psychedelic drug with serious side effects and anecdotal evidence become a wonder drug for veterans dealing with opioid abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder as an addiction treatment?

House Republican state Rep. Jaime Green of Richmond wants to know, and wants to use opioid settlement dollars to fund needed clinical trials, a proposal that could meet some resistance from his Democratic colleagues.

Members of the House Families and Veterans Affairs Committee debated Greene’s House Bill 6020 on Tuesday. The committee received testimony from advocates of ibogaine as a therapeutic addiction and trauma drug.

The committee only took testimony and voted on Greene’s bill.

Ibogaine is currently illegal in the United States and is considered a Schedule I controlled substance. It is a powerful psychedelic with a long lasting experience that sometimes lasts more than 12 hours.

Those who testified Tuesday said the drug is physically and mentally intense, with an ibogaine experience likened to ancient indigenous spirit journeys with awakening visions. It also carries significant cardiovascular risks and should be carefully monitored by licensed medical professionals when used in a clinical setting.

Much of the ongoing research into ibogaine as a therapeutic drug has been conducted in other nations that have permitted testing, such as Mexico.

Greene, a former U.S. Army cryptologist, said he has not tried the therapy but has heard about its potential at conferences.

“For many veterans, the struggle doesn’t end when they come home. Too many have the invisible wounds of service, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, depression, chronic pain, substance abuse disorder,” Green told the commission. “In some cases, opioid addiction begins with an injury, a prescription for pain or trauma management. So Michigan has a responsibility to stand with the men and women who serve this country, and that means honoring their service beyond words.”

Greene’s bill would create an ibogaine grant program to support research to see if the psychedelic is effective in treating substance use disorders and other conditions, such as trauma-related mental illness.

If passed as written, HB 6020 would authorize the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to establish a consortium of other states, drug manufacturers, health facilities and research-oriented universities to conduct research.

An ibogaine research fund would be established to direct dollars to the program, with a proposed $50 million appropriation.

The House Fiscal Agency says the fund would be created by the state Department of the Treasury. The $50 million appropriation would come from the Michigan Opioid Recovery and Recovery Fund — a limited state account that holds a portion of the $1.8 billion Michigan received from the national opioid settlement of a class action lawsuit.

That last part could be controversial and some of Greene’s colleagues on the committee may be concerned about advancing the legislation.

He was adamant that the bills would not legalize ibogaine for recreational use, nor would it affect current projects funded by the opioid settlement fund.

the state Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren) noted that the state has rarely, if ever, funded clinical trials of experimental drugs, and that funding would be largely biased not only toward treating opioid addiction using proven methods, but also toward healing the wounds caused by the rampant use of opioids and by drug industry veterans like veterans in the pharmaceutical industry.

Xiong argued that the funds should be used for those more proven methods and not for clinical trials.

Green responded that no such substance has shown much promise, and that Michigan has state-of-the-art research facilities capable of conducting the necessary trials to determine whether ibogaine can be used successfully.

“The University of Michigan is a great example of that. That’s a global research facility that we should have in Michigan to help not only our veterans, but also those who are addicted to opioids,” Green said. “Why wouldn’t we want to do that? We have a fund that should be used to help people who are addicted to opioids. That is, instead of handing out pamphlets, it actually gives them a chance to recover.”

Kevin Boehnke, assistant professor of anesthesiology and associate director of the Michigan Psychedelic Center, spoke. legislation. Boehnke said the center’s mission is to advance education and research on psychedelics as a medical treatment, and it is currently conducting trials on cannabis among veterans with chronic pain.

Boehnke added that ibogaine, which is native to West and Central Africa, has been used by local tribes for centuries, and that interest in the medicinal drug for therapeutic purposes has emerged in recent decades.

“Unlike conventional drugs that require a daily dose, some evidence suggests that a single dose of ibogaine can improve symptoms over a long period of time,” he said. “Despite these known limitations, there is some scientific literature showing some compelling benefits, particularly for our veteran community.”

Boehnke said veterans have disproportionately higher rates of traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, opioid and other substance use disorders, as well as struggles with chronic pain and suicide.

“While today’s treatment options are useful for some people, they leave too many service members without adequate relief,” Boehnke said.

However, state Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) remained skeptical.

In another interview with the Michigan Advance, Rheingans said he wasn’t sure the parameters of the opioid settlement fund allowed for clinical trials on addiction treatment drugs. He also said that most lawmakers do not have experience conducting clinical research and often do not understand what is involved.

“They don’t know how much it is to do it right and get scientific evidence,” Rheingans said. “It might be a good idea to spend some of the opioid settlement dollars to try to treat PTSD veterans…I think the anecdotes and personal stories we’ve heard prove that ibogaine can be a miracle for some people. I’m not saying that’s not true, but to prove it scientifically, we need several years of federal funding.”

Rheingans said it would be more appropriate for the federal National Institutes of Health or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to step up and fund the research. He also criticized his Republican colleagues for suggesting that states fund research, given that federal sources might have been an option had he not seen massive recent cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.

As for whether the settlement funds could be used for clinical trials, Rheingans said he thinks it would be less of a question for Michigan lawmakers and more for Attorney General Dana Nessel. He also noted that the Legislature created a legislative opioid advisory council to gauge the allocation of settlement dollars.

“They’ve published multiple reports with multiple recommendations. None of their recommendations include clinical trials of a new drug, but legalizing recovery housing or syringe access programs … or decriminalizing the fentanyl test strip,” Rheingans said, stressing that he has introduced separate bills to address those areas. “If we’re going to spend $50 million in opioid settlement funds, we should spend it on recovery housing or other permitted uses, such as paying doctors to go to education to learn how to treat opioid use disorder.”

This story was first published by the Michigan Advance.

user photo Scamperdale.