(NewsNation) — An African psychedelic plant has “significantly” alleviated the symptoms of war veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI), according to a new study.
Stanford Medicine researchers said ibogaine, a naturally occurring compound found in the roots of the African shrub iboga, was found to improve functioning, PTSD, depression and anxiety in military veterans.
The plant-based psychoactive drug has been used in Africa for thousands of years during spiritual and healing rituals. Researchers found it appears to have no adverse side effects with some veterans saying the experimental treatment saved their lives.
“Before the treatment, I was living life in a blizzard with zero visibility and a cold, hopeless, listless feeling,” Sean, a 51-year-old veteran from Arizona with six combat deployments who participated in the study told Stanford Medicine. “After ibogaine, the storm lifted.”
Thousands of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq have sustained TBIs in recent decades, and these injuries are suspected of playing a role in high rates of depression and suicide seen among military veterans. Since mainstream treatment options are not fully effective for all veterans, researchers have sought therapeutic alternatives.
Ibogaine has served various purposes, including as a hallucinogen, hunger and fatigue suppressant, and even as an aphrodisiac. It has also gained notoriety in scientific communities for its potential to treat opioid and cocaine addiction due to its increases in signaling molecules within the brain, some of which have been linked to drug addiction and depression.
TBI is defined as a traumatic brain injury that causes a disruption in the normal function of the brain which can happen by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or penetrating head injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, published on Jan. 5 in Nature Medicine, includes detailed data on 30 veterans of U.S. special forces.
“No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury,” said Nolan Williams, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further.”
Since 1970, ibogaine has been designated as a Schedule I drug, preventing its use within the U.S., but clinics in both Canada and Mexico offer legal ibogaine treatments.