Gabon Bans Iboga Exports as US Pushes Ibogaine Treatment — SkimNews
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- Trump signed an executive order on 18 April specifically naming "ibogaine compounds" and directing federal agencies to create a treatment pathway for eligible patients.
- A 2024 study of 30 US special operations veterans with mild traumatic brain injury found average PTSD, depression and anxiety scores fell at least 81% a month after receiving ibogaine with magnesium — though it was small, uncontrolled, and included complementary therapies.
- Texas has granted $50m (£38m) for a multicentre ibogaine trial, with former governor Rick Perry emerging as one of the drug's most visible political champions, while Mexico's Beond clinic already lists programmes at $13,500–$19,500.
- Gabon's council of ministers adopted a draft decree on 18 September prohibiting export of iboga and every derivative, building on a May decree that recognized Bwiti traditional knowledge as national heritage, required origin disclosure on patent applications, and created an iboga sovereign fund financed by royalties.
- Former environment minister Lee White documented severe wild iboga over-harvesting between Libreville and Cocobeach and said he could not secure financing for even a basic study of the plant's distribution and genetic variation.
- Bwiti practitioners Apollon Obolo and Master Mulema insist the plant cannot be separated from its spiritual context — Obolo says "we don't talk about iboga, we talk about Bwiti," while Mulema warns "iboga can disappear" without regulation.
Why it matters: Gabon's preemptive export ban and heritage declaration — enacted before a global ibogaine market fully forms — could become a template for biodiverse countries heading into COP17, where biodiversity funding and benefit-sharing are set to dominate negotiations. US demand, now backed by a presidential executive order and $50m Texas funding, will instead have to route around Gabon through synthetic alternatives like voacangine.
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