Mississippi must lead on addiction and PTSD treatment

• State Rep. Sam Creekmore says Mississippi cannot continue to treat these conditions with outdated thinking and limited tools.

Addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are not moral failings. They are life-threatening public health emergencies, and they are devastating families in every corner of Mississippi.

We cannot continue to treat these conditions with outdated thinking and limited tools. That’s why I’m urging Mississippi to take a serious look at Ibogaine — a plant-derived compound showing life-changing potential for people battling opioid addiction, methamphetamine use, depression, and trauma-related disorders, especially for our veterans.

In 2021, 556 Mississippians died from opioid overdoses. That’s about 71 percent of all drug-related deaths in our state. Overdose rates among people under 35 rose by 158 percent between 2019 and 2021. Synthetic opioid deaths spiked 51 percent during the same time.

We are not dealing with a temporary crisis. It is a generational threat.

The economic toll is staggering. The CDC estimates that each fatal overdose costs society approximately $11.5 million — a figure that includes healthcare expenses, lost productivity, and the value of a statistical life. That puts the cost of Mississippi’s 556 deaths in 2021 at over $6.4 billion. That doesn’t even include the cost of non-fatal opioid use disorder, which adds more than $221,000 per person.

And what are we getting in return from conventional treatment? National relapse rates for opioid addiction remain between 60 and 90 percent within one year. These approaches are not working — and too often, the only next step offered is incarceration.

Meanwhile, abroad, Ibogaine is being used in supervised clinical settings with promising results. International clinics report long-term success rates of 50 to 70 percent, with short-term improvements of 80 percent or higher. The data-backed discussion of Ibogaine isn’t hype; it’s hope supported by science.

In 2024, Stanford University School of Medicine published a groundbreaking study on Ibogaine treatment for PTSD. Following U.S. special operations veterans, the research found “large, rapid, and sustained reductions in PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation — all after a single dose.”

This study result mirrors the experience of the nonprofit Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), which has helped more than 1,300 veterans receive Ibogaine therapy in Mexico. As Navy SEAL veteran and VETS co-founder Marcus Capone says, “Ibogaine saved my life. I tried everything available in the U.S. Nothing worked until this.”

Let’s be clear: our veterans shouldn’t have to leave the country to find healing. They shouldn’t be forced to choose between silence and suicide. Mississippi has over 153,000 veterans. We lose an estimated 60 to 65 of those veterans to suicide each year. That’s unacceptable and preventable.

I want to speak directly to my fellow conservatives: supporting Ibogaine access is not just compassionate — it’s conservative.

Conservatives believe in limited government. We believe in individual freedom, especially when it comes to personal medical decisions. We support public-private partnerships and innovation. We demand fiscal responsibility.

Investing in Ibogaine research checks every one of those boxes. In fact, this is the exact model Texas has already adopted.

On June 11, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2308, allocating $50 million in state funds to support Ibogaine clinical trials. Texas is forming a consortium of universities, hospitals, and biotech firms. The state retains commercial rights to any resulting intellectual property, and 25 percent of the royalties will be allocated directly to veteran support programs.

This is bold. This is smart. And this is what conservative leadership looks like.

Mississippi should not be the last to act. We should form our own research consortium, support clinical trials, and demand federal reclassification of Ibogaine. Most of all, we must ensure that those suffering from addiction and trauma are not left behind — especially when they’ve exhausted every other treatment.

Mississippi already passed a Right to Try law in 2023, giving terminally ill patients the ability to access experimental treatments. If we believe in that principle for cancer, we should offer the same dignity and freedom to people fighting for their lives against addiction and PTSD.

We must do more than honor our veterans in words. We must offer them real options — and real hope.

Let’s join Texas on this issue. Let’s lead with compassion, courage, and conservative principles.

Let’s heal Mississippi. Let’s save lives.