Ibogaine research funding and treatment access for Texas residents

Texas · State reference · Updated October 4, 2026

Ibogaine Treatment in Texas

Texas has committed roughly 100 million dollars to studying ibogaine, more than any other state in the country, and a Texan still cannot lawfully be treated with ibogaine in Texas. Both of those things are true at the same time. This page explains what the state actually funded, who is running it, what it does not change, and the two legal routes a Texas resident genuinely has right now.

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Can you get ibogaine treatment in Texas?

Not as a treatment service, no. Ibogaine is Schedule I under the federal Controlled Substances Act, and that applies in Texas exactly as it does everywhere else in the United States. As of October 4, 2026 no rescheduling has happened, and there is no licensed ibogaine clinic in Texas or in any other state. What Texas has done is appropriate state money, roughly 100 million dollars across 2025 and 2026, to run FDA-supervised clinical trials. That is a decision to find out whether ibogaine works. It is not a finding that it does, and it is not a door a member of the public can walk through. A Texas resident today has two lawful options: qualify for and enrol in an authorised clinical trial, or travel to a country where physician-supervised ibogaine care is legal.

Ibogaine in Texas: Schedule I, federally controlled, unchanged as of October 4, 2026
Licensed ibogaine clinics in Texas: none
Texas research commitment: about 100 million dollars, the largest of any state
Trials: led by UTHealth Houston and UTMB Health under the IMPACT partnership
Lawful routes for a Texan: authorised trial enrolment, or supervised care abroad

$100M

Texas Research Commitment

$50M via SB 2308 in 2025, a further $50M announced March 2026

Schedule I

Federal Status in Texas

Unchanged as of October 4, 2026

Licensed Ibogaine Clinics in Texas

Trial enrolment is the only in-state legal route

2h 20m

Fastest Houston to Cozumel Flight

United nonstop from IAH, schedules vary seasonally

Medically reviewed by Dr. Arellano, M.D.

Clinical Director, MindScape Retreat · Board-certified physician specializing in ibogaine-assisted detoxification with over 1,000 patients treated.

Last reviewed: May 2026 · See full medical team

What Texas actually funded

Senate Bill 2308, and the money that followed it

On 11 June 2025 Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2308 at the Texas Capitol, committing 50 million dollars of state money to FDA-supervised ibogaine clinical trials. At the time it was the largest state-funded psychedelic research programme on record. The bill was written to buy evidence: it directs public money toward the controlled studies that ibogaine has never had, and it gives the state an ownership stake in any resulting approved drug, with a share of proceeds directed to a veterans fund.

In December 2025 the Texas Health and Human Services Commission selected UTHealth Houston, in collaboration with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, to lead a two-year multicentre research trial evaluating ibogaine in patients with addiction, traumatic brain injury and other behavioural health conditions. The statewide partnership is called IMPACT, for Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction, and Cognitive Trauma, and it carries a consortium of Texas institutions. UTHealth Houston and its partners take addiction and associated conditions. UT Austin and Baylor College of Medicine concentrate on traumatic brain injury, particularly in veterans.

In March 2026 the state doubled down. After Texas did not secure a qualifying private pharmaceutical partner, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced an additional 50 million dollars, bringing the total commitment to roughly 100 million and making Texas the largest state investor in ibogaine research in United States history. Texas also supplies much of the federal momentum: two of the four sponsors of H.R. 9559, the IBOGAINE Act introduced on 30 June 2026, are the Texas representatives Morgan Luttrell and Michael McCaul, and former governor Rick Perry co-founded the advocacy organisation Americans for Ibogaine.

Please read this part

What the Texas money does not mean

Funding a trial is not a finding. This is the single most common misreading of Texas ibogaine coverage, and it matters more here than almost anywhere because the headline numbers are so large. When a legislature appropriates 100 million dollars for ibogaine research, it is deciding to find out whether ibogaine works. It is not announcing that it does. Ibogaine has no FDA-approved indication for anything. The strongest published human evidence remains observational studies and case series rather than randomised controlled trials, and producing that missing controlled evidence is the entire reason the Texas programme exists.

Money is not access either. Because the trials are authorised, ibogaine can lawfully be administered inside Texas within an FDA-approved protocol, to enrolled participants who meet the study criteria. That is a research programme, not a treatment service. Enrolment is limited and selective by design, eligibility is set by the protocol rather than by patient preference, and recruitment status changes. If you want to pursue that route, read the criteria published by Texas Health and Human Services and the lead institutions directly, rather than any clinic's summary of them, including ours.

A state law also cannot override federal scheduling. Every state funding bill passed so far funds research. None of them creates a route for a member of the public to receive ibogaine treatment in that state, and none of them changes the Controlled Substances Act. Anyone offering you ibogaine inside Texas outside a research protocol is operating outside the law, and almost certainly outside the cardiac screening that makes ibogaine survivable.

And none of this touches the pharmacology. Ibogaine prolongs the cardiac QT interval, and the documented deaths have occurred overwhelmingly in unscreened, unsupervised settings. Legislative enthusiasm does not change a molecule. Whatever Austin or Washington does next, a 12-lead EKG with a calculated QTc, electrolyte correction, a full medication review covering CYP2D6 interactions, and continuous monitoring during the dosing window stay non-negotiable.

The Texas sequence

How Texas got here, in order

11 June 2025 · Abbott signs SB 2308

Governor Greg Abbott signs Senate Bill 2308 at the Texas Capitol, committing 50 million dollars of state money to FDA-supervised ibogaine clinical trials. Reporting on the signing credits former governor Rick Perry's advocacy as central to its passage.

December 2025 · The money is awarded

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission selects UTHealth Houston, with UTMB Health, to lead a two-year multicentre trial in addiction, traumatic brain injury and other behavioural health conditions, with a consortium of Texas institutions attached.

The IMPACT partnership takes shape

The statewide programme is named IMPACT, for Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction, and Cognitive Trauma. UTHealth Houston and partners take addiction and associated conditions; UT Austin and Baylor College of Medicine take traumatic brain injury, with a particular focus on veterans.

March 2026 · Texas adds another $50M

After the state does not secure a qualifying private pharmaceutical partner, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows announce a further 50 million dollars, taking the Texas commitment to roughly 100 million and making it the largest state ibogaine research investment in US history.

18 April 2026 · The federal executive order

A psychedelics executive order names ibogaine, directs FDA priority vouchers and a Right to Try pathway, and allocates at least 50 million dollars through ARPA-H. It does not reschedule anything. The detail is in the ibogaine policy tracker.

30 June 2026 · Two Texans introduce the IBOGAINE Act

H.R. 9559 is introduced in the US House by Representatives Morgan Luttrell of Texas, Lou Correa of California, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Michael McCaul of Texas. It would force a 60-day Attorney General determination on moving ibogaine to Schedule II. Introduced, not enacted.

October 4, 2026 · Where it actually stands

Ibogaine is still Schedule I. The IBOGAINE Act is still a proposal. The Texas trials are the state's route to evidence, and travelling to a jurisdiction where supervised ibogaine care is legal is still the only way a Texan outside a study can be treated.

If you are a Texan looking for care

The two lawful routes, described honestly

Route one: enrol in an authorised trial

The Texas IMPACT trials are the state's own route, and for some people they are the right one. It is free to participants, it is run by academic medical centres, and it contributes to the evidence base. The trade-offs are real: enrolment is limited, eligibility is set by protocol rather than need, you may be randomised, timelines are long, and recruitment opens and closes. Check criteria and status with Texas Health and Human Services and the lead institutions directly.

Route two: supervised treatment where it is legal

Mexico does not schedule ibogaine, so physicians there can administer it lawfully under Mexican health regulation. That is a different country making a different regulatory decision, not a loophole or a grey market. It is why a large share of the people who travel for supervised ibogaine care are Texans. It is self-funded, and it is not a shortcut around screening.

What is not a route

Anyone offering ibogaine inside Texas outside a research protocol, an underground or ceremonial provider, or mail-order ibogaine bought online. These are the settings where the documented deaths happened. No cardiac screening, no telemetry, no physician, no emergency plan.

The screening questions that matter

Wherever you go, ask whether a 12-lead EKG with a calculated QTc is required before acceptance and whether anyone is ever declined on it, whether a physician is on site continuously through the dosing window rather than on call, whether telemetry runs during the session, whether magnesium and electrolytes are corrected first, whether the medication review covers CYP2D6 interactions, and how far the nearest hospital is.

Travel from Texas

The practical distance, for what it is worth

Texas is one of the easier states to travel from. United operates nonstop service from Houston George Bush Intercontinental to Cozumel, with the fastest scheduled flight time around two hours and twenty minutes. Travellers from Dallas, Austin and San Antonio generally connect through Houston or Cancun. Airline schedules on this route shift seasonally, so treat any specific flight as something to confirm when you book rather than a fixed fact.

Cozumel is a Mexican island with a civilian hospital and a working airport, which is the part that matters clinically rather than scenically. A US passport is required. If yours has expired or you never had one, there is a same-day route that we have walked patients through before.

We are not going to pretend travel is nothing. It is a real cost, a real logistical burden, and for a family already exhausted by a relapse cycle it is one more thing. It is also, at the moment, the only way a Texan outside a clinical trial can receive supervised ibogaine care at all, and that is a function of federal scheduling rather than of anyone's preference.

Texas questions

Ibogaine in Texas, answered directly

No. Ibogaine is a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, and federal scheduling applies in Texas the same as in every other state. As of October 4, 2026 no rescheduling has taken place. Texas has appropriated state money to study ibogaine in FDA-authorised clinical trials, which is a different thing from legalising it. Funding research does not create a legal route for a member of the public to be treated, and there is no licensed ibogaine clinic in Texas.

Not as a treatment service. There are two lawful routes for a Texas resident. The first is enrolling in an FDA-authorised clinical trial, including the state-funded Texas trials led by UTHealth Houston and UTMB Health, which is selective, limited in size, and governed by study eligibility criteria rather than by what a patient wants. The second is travelling to a country where physician-supervised ibogaine care is legal, which is why Texans make up a large share of the patients who travel to supervised programmes in Mexico. Anyone offering you ibogaine inside Texas outside a research protocol is operating outside the law, and outside the medical screening that makes ibogaine survivable.

Senate Bill 2308 was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on 11 June 2025. It committed 50 million dollars of Texas state money to FDA-supervised ibogaine clinical trials, which at the time was the largest state-funded psychedelic research programme on record. It directs money to research. It does not reschedule ibogaine, does not license clinics, and does not permit a physician in Texas to treat a patient with ibogaine outside an authorised study.

Roughly 100 million dollars. The original 50 million came from SB 2308 in June 2025. In December 2025 the Texas Health and Human Services Commission awarded that money to UTHealth Houston in collaboration with UTMB Health. In March 2026, after the state did not secure a qualifying private pharmaceutical partner, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced an additional 50 million dollars. It is the largest state investment in ibogaine research in United States history.

IMPACT stands for Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction, and Cognitive Trauma. It is the statewide research partnership created to spend the Texas appropriation, led by UTHealth Houston and UTMB Health with a consortium of Texas institutions attached. It is structured as a two-year multicentre trial programme. UTHealth Houston and its partners focus on addiction and associated conditions, while UT Austin and Baylor College of Medicine concentrate on traumatic brain injury, particularly in veterans. Recruitment status and eligibility criteria are published by Texas Health and Human Services and the lead institutions, so check those sources directly rather than any clinic's summary of them.

Veteran brain injury, PTSD and opioid dependence are the stated motivation behind most of the Texas and federal activity. Former governor Rick Perry co-founded the advocacy organisation Americans for Ibogaine and reporting on the June 2025 signing credited his involvement as central to the bill passing. Two of the four sponsors of the federal IBOGAINE Act, Representatives Morgan Luttrell and Michael McCaul, are Texans. Worth saying plainly: these are advocates and legislators, not clinicians or researchers, and political momentum is not clinical evidence.

No, and this is the most common misreading of the last two years of headlines. When a legislature appropriates money for ibogaine research it is deciding to find out whether ibogaine works. It is not announcing that it does. Ibogaine has no FDA-approved indication. The strongest published human evidence remains observational studies and case series rather than randomised controlled trials, and generating that missing controlled evidence is the entire purpose of the Texas programme.

United operates nonstop service from Houston George Bush Intercontinental to Cozumel, with the fastest scheduled flight time around two hours and twenty minutes. Travellers from Dallas, Austin and San Antonio usually connect through Houston or Cancun. Airline schedules on this route change seasonally, so treat specific flights as something to confirm when you book rather than a fixed fact.

If it passes, potentially. H.R. 9559, the IBOGAINE Act, was introduced in the US House on 30 June 2026. It would require the Attorney General to determine within 60 days whether to move ibogaine from Schedule I to Schedule II, create a federal statutory definition of ibogaine, and clarify Right to Try access for seriously ill patients. As of October 4, 2026 it has been introduced but not enacted, so it changes nothing today. A rescheduling decision would also not be the same as an approved treatment, which requires completed trials and an FDA approval that does not yet exist.

The screening, not the marketing. Ask whether a 12-lead EKG with a calculated QTc is required before acceptance and whether anyone is ever declined on it, whether a physician is on site continuously during the dosing window rather than on call, whether cardiac telemetry runs through the session, whether magnesium and electrolytes are corrected beforehand, whether a full medication review covers CYP2D6 interactions, and what happens in an emergency and how far the nearest hospital is. A programme that cannot answer those in specifics is telling you something. Ibogaine prolongs the cardiac QT interval and documented deaths have occurred overwhelmingly in unscreened, unsupervised settings.

Primary References

Our protocols align with the primary scientific literature, including the MAPS Ibogaine Investigator's Brochure (July 2026), NIDA's psychedelic & dissociative drugs research, and registered trials on ClinicalTrials.gov, Governor Abbott signs the ibogaine research law (Office of the Texas Governor, June 2025), Ibogaine Clinical Trials (Texas Health and Human Services), UTHealth Houston and UTMB awarded $50 million to lead the Texas ibogaine trials (UTHealth Houston, December 2025), H.R. 9559, the IBOGAINE Act (Congress.gov, 2026), Texas ibogaine funding and Rick Perry's role (Texas Tribune, June 2025). Ibogaine remains investigational; we pair published evidence with measured, real-world outcome tracking.

If the Texas headlines brought you here

The law is moving. The screening is the part that decides your safety

Whatever Austin or Congress does next, the medical questions stay identical. Our clinical team reviews a confidential pre-screen before any date is discussed, and if ibogaine is not safe or appropriate for you we will tell you so plainly and say why.

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