Reason for Hope Statement on the Recent Replacement of Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission’s Chairman

Dec. 22. 2023 (Louisville, Kentucky) – Reason for Hope, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to broadening access to life-saving breakthrough therapies and treatments for patients – particularly our nations’ Veteran – ?issued the following statement from its founder and executive director, Brett Waters, regarding Kentucky Attorney General-elect Russell Coleman’s replacement of Bryan Hubbard as Chairman of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission:

During his tenure as Chairman of Kentucky’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, Bryan Hubbard showed unwavering dedication to aiding Kentuckians from all walks of life affected by the opioid epidemic. His sincere desire to bring healing to those in Kentucky struggling with opioid use disorder–especially those who have not found success with conventional treatments–led the Commission to boldly explore funding research into the potential lifesaving option of ibogaine. Reason for Hope and members of the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, including multiple experts and ibogaine patients, have been honored to educate the Commission on this front over the last year.        

Through three dedicated hearings, the Commission established a comprehensive public record featuring hours of near unanimously supportive testimony, including from:

• Patients, who after all else failed, healed with ibogaine from opioid and other substance use disorders.
• Veterans who healed with ibogaine from a complex mix of physical and mental trauma and substance dependence, including medal of honor recipient and native Kentuckian, Dakota Meyer. These Veterans, many from within the special operations community, selflessly served multiple tours of combat defending our nation’s freedoms. It is unconscionable that they were forced to seek out ibogaine treatment in Mexico and other countries for their invisible wounds of war when all traditionally available interventions failed them.
• Family members who lost loved ones to overdose despite trying every available treatment, including former Kentucky Attorney General and Congressman, Ben Chandler, the president of Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
• National leaders, including former Texas Governor and US Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, and retired three-star Marine Corps General, Martine Steele, CEO of Reason for Hope and President of the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, all of whom applauded Kentucky’s bold foresight to combat this epidemic that continues wreaking havoc on our communities nationwide.

Additionally, a broad mix of expert testimony in support of funding ibogaine research was provided by leading mental health and addiction researchers, clinicians, and professors affiliated with institutions ranging from Spalding University in Kentucky to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, New York University School of Medicine, and Stanford University; as well as a researcher and clinician who has personally treated more than 800 patients with ibogaine abroad and works at a clinic in Mexico, the Mission Within, which has treated over 1,000 US Special Operations Veterans and their family members over the last six years.

These expert testimonies underscored that while ibogaine carries clear and well-known cardiac risks necessitating careful screening and monitoring, its potential efficacy as a single or two-to-three dose treatment to rapidly eliminate or substantially alleviate opioid withdrawal – and alongside ongoing psychosocial support, address underlying trauma – sets it apart from our current treatments. Further, given the urgent need for treatments with novel mechanisms of action, the proposed research funding is warranted to better understand and mitigate ibogaine’s risks and optimize its profound potential benefits demonstrated in real-world settings.

Notably, even the FDA appeared before the Commission to provide its expertise in this endeavor. Dr. Javier Muniz, FDA Supervisory General Health Scientist for Controlled Substances and former Associate Director of Therapeutic Review, Division of Psychiatry, testified alongside Dr. Walter Dunn, a health sciences professor at UCLA who serves on the FDA Psychopharmacologic Advisory Committee. Dr. Muniz explained how through this research, ibogaine could obtain an FDA breakthrough therapy designation – a status that expedites the development and review of drugs to treat serious conditions with an unmet medical need, where the drug may demonstrate a substantial improvement over available therapies. Dr. Muniz also highlighted how in October 2017, former President Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, affording the FDA additional regulatory flexibilities that it hopes to utilize to be nimble in the face of a worsening crisis.

Dr. Dunn, speaking from his experience as a researcher, clinician, and someone who has worked closely with the FDA as part of advisory committees, noted:

We really need novel treatments…after years of countless me-too drugs with minimal advances in patient outcomes, the entire field, both regulatory and scientific and clinical, recognizes the limitations of existing treatments, and thus the need to explore outside the box. I think it's exactly what the commission is doing . . . the dollars are needed to do the research.

It is clear that no single treatment or prevention strategy alone, including ibogaine, will “solve the opioid crisis.” However, it should be enough that ibogaine has potential to save and help reinvigorate the lives of many people suffering, particularly those who have exhausted other options and face consistently great risk of tragic outcomes. Our nation’s heroes – and all others impacted by the opioid crisis – deserve the opportunity to achieve this healing within our borders. Put simply: we need more tools in this ongoing fight.

Mr. Hubbard and the Commission deserve praise for their trailblazing work and the incredible amount of knowledge and expertise they amassed through this process for the benefit of not only Kentuckians, but our nation writ large. They have our deepest gratitude for providing a platform for Veterans and other ibogaine patients to share their life-saving stories that have been hidden in the shadows for too long. With new fearless champions in our nation’s capital like Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R, TX), who has personally benefited from ibogaine treatment abroad, we are confident that these hearings will take place in Congress – as well as before opioid commissions nationwide – someday soon.

As one of the states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic – with one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the nation – it would be a tragic loss for Kentucky not to lead the way exploring this new treatment paradigm in the United States.