‘Literally lifesaving’: Why Sinema is pushing for psychedelic drug research

Two years ago, a member of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s security detail took time off of work to go to Mexico.

Matt Ammel had struggled with migraines since being medically discharged from the Army Special Forces with a traumatic brain injury. Mexico offered a treatment — ibogaine, a psychoactive product derived from the root of a West African plant — that was illegal in the United States.

When Ammel returned, Sinema noticed a stark difference.

“I saw the difference it was making in his life, his thinking and his behavior,” Sinema told Phoenix New Times in an interview Thursday.

Granting interviews has not been a common practice for Sinema, both as a senator and since she left office in January. In the Senate, she drew criticism for not engaging with her constituents or with local media outlets. However, she was eager to discuss ibogaine when New Times asked.

The Drug Enforcement Agency currently classifies ibogaine as a Schedule 1 substance, in the same league as heroin and weed, making it inaccessible in the U.S. Sinema wants an Arizona-based organization or research agency to host clinical trials of ibogaine to secure eventual approval for medical use by the Food and Drug Administration.

“There are no effective treatments for traumatic brain injury,” she said. “(Ibogaine) has been shown to treat, and in some cases heal, traumatic brain injuries and also to reduce or even eliminate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.”

Sinema has made advocating for ibogaine research an early feature of her post-senatorial profile. (She also has accepted a position on the advisory council of the cryptocurrency firm Coinbase.) Last month, she lobbied in favor of an ibogaine research bill at the Arizona House of Representatives. In June, she’ll speak — likely in a keynote slot — at the Psychedelic Science Conference in Denver.

“It takes a lot for a senator to come out and advocate for these substances or advocate for even their research,” said Kevin Cranford, a spokesperson for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is presenting the event. “We might not agree 100% with everything that she does or everything that are her psychedelic politics, but we’d like to influence them and help her come up with different ways or different thinking.”

At the Arizona Legislature, Sinema is pushing House Bill 2871, which would allocate $5 million in the state’s budget for a clinical trial of ibogaine in Arizona. Both the Barrow Neurological Institute and Mayo Clinic have been suggested as possible researchers. The chosen organization would receive that money from the Department and Health Services and would match the $5 million grant through “monies of gifts, grants or donations.”

Sinema convinced Republican state Rep. Justin Wilmeth to sponsor the measure.

“When I met with Justin, he had never heard about ibogaine, which is true of most people,” she said. “But within just a few minutes of our conversation, he was convinced because of the power of the medicine and he agreed to carry the legislation.”

Wilmeth’s bill passed the House with bipartisan support — Sinema and Ammel both testified in favor — and is now making its way through the Arizona Senate, where it recently cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Should the bill become law through the state’s budget negotiations, Sinema hopes it will help Arizona’s large veteran population.

“My goal is to help shepherd this process through the FDA approval and then to ensure that veterans and frankly others who have traumatic brain injuries can get access to this treatment in the future,” Sinema said. “It’s literally lifesaving.”