Is ibogaine legal in the United States? (2026)

No. Ibogaine is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, and no clinic in the United States can legally give it as a treatment. The 2026 executive order, the Texas program and the state bills have created research pathways and money, not clinics. As of October 20, 2026 no federally authorised ibogaine trial is enrolling patients.

Checked October 20, 2026. Sources at the end.

Federal law

Ibogaine is listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. It is not approved by the FDA for any use. Possessing it, giving it to someone, or bringing it into the country is a federal offence. The only US prison sentence we found for an ibogaine death was handed down in Colorado in September 2025: Ameen Alai, who had treated Anthony Haman in his basement in 2021, pleaded guilty to federal distribution and received four years.

The April 2026 executive order

Executive Order 14401, "Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness", was signed on April 18, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on April 22. It names "psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine compounds" as showing potential and sets a policy of accelerating research and approvals, with veterans prioritised. What it directs, section by section:

Section 2(a): the FDA Commissioner is to grant Commissioner's National Priority Vouchers to appropriate psychedelic drugs that have Breakthrough Therapy designation.
Section 2(b): the FDA and DEA are to set up a Right to Try pathway "for eligible patients to access psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine compounds", including Schedule I handling authorisations for treating physicians and researchers.
Section 3: HHS, through ARPA-H, is to allocate at least $50 million from existing funds to partner with states that have or are developing psychedelic treatment programs.
Section 4: HHS and the FDA are to work with the VA and private companies on trials, data sharing and real-world evidence.
Section 5: the Attorney General, with HHS, is to review Schedule I products that have completed Phase 3 trials so that rescheduling can proceed "as quickly as practicable" after FDA approval.
Section 6: the order creates no enforceable rights and is subject to appropriations. It sets no deadlines.

The order does not reschedule ibogaine and does not make it legal to give. Rescheduling is only contemplated after an FDA-approved product completes Phase 3 trials, which is years away. The signing was attended by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Mehmet Oz, Marcus Luttrell and Joe Rogan, which is part of why searches for ibogaine jumped in 2026.

What has happened since the order

ARPA-H announced ASCENT-IBO (Ibogaine for Better Outcomes in Opioid Use Disorder), a program to fund Phase 1 and 2 trials. A proposers' day was held on September 15, 2026 and solution summaries were due October 15, 2026. No awards had been made as of October 2026, and ARPA-H's own materials state that no federally authorised ibogaine clinical trials currently exist in the United States.
ARPA-H's EVIDENT program carries up to $139.4 million overall, with at least $50 million earmarked to match state investments. None of that $50 million had been spent as of October 8, 2026.
The FDA opened a request for information on early-phase ibogaine trial design (docket FDA-2026-N-10429), with comments due November 20, 2026. It proposed a starting dose of no more than 10 mg/kg, and the director of its drug centre spoke of "serious safety concerns".
The FDA accepted DemeRx's investigational new drug application for DMX-1001, an oral noribogaine, for alcohol use disorder on April 22, 2026. The FDA described it as the first US clinical study of an ibogaine derivative it has allowed. A Phase 2 trial is anticipated in 2027. Noribogaine is ibogaine's main metabolite; this is not an ibogaine clinic.
H.R. 9559, the IBOGAINE Act, was introduced on June 30, 2026 by Representatives Luttrell, Correa, Bergman and McCaul. It would direct the Attorney General to decide within 60 days whether to move ibogaine to Schedule II, codify the voucher program, and clarify Right to Try for Schedule I drugs. It has only been introduced.

Texas: $50 million that has not been spent

Senate Bill 2308, signed in June 2025, appropriated $50 million for FDA-supervised ibogaine trials. On December 12, 2025 the Texas Health and Human Services Commission selected UTHealth Houston, with UTMB Health, to lead the IMPACT consortium (Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction and Cognitive Trauma), a two-year multicentre trial with partners including UT Austin, Baylor, Texas Tech, UT Health San Antonio and JPS Health Network.

The statute bars disbursement until non-state matching funds arrive. In late March 2026 HHSC said no drug-company proposal had met the match and revenue-share requirements; on March 31, 2026 the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker said Texas would fully fund its own program. As of October 8, 2026 HHSC had not said whether any contract had been executed or any money disbursed; its page says contract development has begun. Practically: you cannot walk into a Texas clinic and be treated with ibogaine, and the trials are not enrolling.

Other states

Mississippi: HB 314, signed in March 2026 (sources give March 19 and March 26), authorises a state health department grant for FDA-protocol ibogaine trials in partnership with another state's consortium, read as Texas. $5 million from opioid settlement funds, contingent on a matching private contribution.
Kentucky: a 2023 plan to put $42 million of opioid settlement money into ibogaine research was shelved after the November 2023 election. In 2026, SB 77 passed both chambers, was vetoed on April 13 and the veto was overridden on April 14, creating a research and intellectual-property fund under the Department of Agriculture for a public-private trial partnership. The original appropriation was removed by committee substitute.
Colorado: natural psychedelics were decriminalised in 2022 for personal use; sharing or selling ibogaine is not legal. HB 26-1325, signed on June 4, 2026, creates an Ibogaine Research Pilot Program with up to five sites, contingent on $150,000 in gifts or grants before January 1, 2028, each site needing federal authorisation (an IND, DEA registration or Right to Try) and an Indigenous benefit-sharing plan.
Arizona HB 2871 (enacted June 2025, $5 million, RFP October 2025); California AB 1103 (October 2025) for expedited review of federally authorised Schedule I research; Indiana HB 1001 (effective July 1, 2025) extending the psilocybin research fund to ibogaine; Oklahoma HB 3834 (approved May 12, 2026); Louisiana SB 43, Act 956 (effective August 1, 2026) creating a psychedelic-assisted therapy initiative that includes ibogaine; Tennessee SB 2149 (passed both chambers April 2026); West Virginia HB 4626 (vetoed April 2026). Bills were pending or in committee in Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania, and an Ohio study committee first met in January 2026.

Every one of these is a research pathway. None lets a clinic treat patients.

What this means if you are looking for treatment now

There is no legal US clinic. A US website that offers to "arrange" ibogaine is either sending you abroad or offering something illegal.
The only US-based ceremonies we found are church-framed root-bark retreats run by Root Healing in Connecticut and Oregon. Their legality is not something this site can verify. See the profile.
Almost every American who gets ibogaine travels to Mexico, where it is unregulated. Programs in Mexico lists them with what each states about physicians, cardiac screening and hospital access.
If you want a hospital-based, one-admission treatment for opioid dependence that is legal in the United States, that is a different category of treatment: see ibogaine, rapid detox, ANR and medication treatment.

Legal status in the countries where the programs are

Mexico: unregulated. Costa Rica: not scheduled but not registered either; the Ministry of Health said in January 2025 that ibogaine rituals are an unauthorised medical practice. Bahamas: a grey area. Canada: on the Prescription Drug List since 2017 with no approved product. Brazil: prescription import via ANVISA since 2013 and a 2016 São Paulo state decree permitting hospital use. Portugal: possession decriminalised. Netherlands: not prohibited. South Africa: Schedule 6, prescription only. New Zealand: a non-approved prescription medicine since 2009. Australia: Schedule 4. United Kingdom: covered by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. Gabon: exports need Culture Ministry approval. Country pages carry the detail: programs by country.

Sources

Laws and programs change. This page reports what the cited sources said on the date given. It is not legal advice.