“The government sends folks to war, and then they’re back, and we’re not providing sufficient care,” said Logan Davidson, legislative director for Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions and speaker on South by Southwest’s Expediting Psychedelic Research to Qualify for Right to Try panel.
When selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and common prescriptions proved inadequate, desperate for other solutions, American veterans with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, or drug addictions have flown to clinics in Mexico to be administered ibogaine, a lesser-known psychedelic drug from the root bark of a West African shrub, Davidson said.
“If you’re a suicidal veteran, a six to eight week wait time for [a prescription] drug to start working might be fatal, right? Psychedelics are fast-acting, so you know pretty quickly if it worked or not,” Davidson continued.
Ibogaine’s psychedelic experience is reported to be more intense than psilocybin or LSD, can last more than 24 hours, and carries risk of heart damage. It’s been criminalized in the U.S. since the Sixties. But suddenly, Texas has an appetite for it: During the last legislative session, Gov. Greg Abbott passed Senate Bill 2308, investing $50 million into FDA-approved clinical trials on ibogaine treatment for opioid addiction and mental illness.
“It can resolve the symptoms of opioid withdrawal syndrome in a matter of days rather than weeks or months, which is what traditional abstinence will get you,” Davidson explained, citing a preliminary 2024 study out of Stanford Medicine. “It’s also a very effective treatment for post-traumatic stress and neurodegenerative conditions.”
No psychedelic is currently FDA approved to treat mental health conditions or able to be widely prescribed by a physician and covered by insurance. But with conservative enthusiasm for psychedelics on the table, one legislative avenue for the medicalization of psychedelics will be explored during Davidson’s panel: a federal Right to Try law that allows physicians to prescribe drugs unapproved by the FDA for life-threatening or terminal conditions, when all approved drugs have failed.
“We’re not just talking about terminal cancer; depression can be life threatening,” Davidson said. Currently, Right to Try doesn’t extend to Schedule I drugs such as ibogaine, though a bipartisan bill filed in December, called the Freedom to Heal Act, could change that next session.
Beyond Right to Try, other SXSW panels will be exploring what the aftermath of psychedelic medicalization could look like. And apart from ketamine, which is more often defined as dissociative than psychedelic, that could come soonest for psilocybin. On Feb. 17, Compass Pathways, a pharmaceutical company, announced that they’ve completed two Phase 3 clinical trials for the synthetic psilocybin drug COMP360, which could be the first-ever FDA-approved classic psychedelic for treatment-resistant depression.
“The FDA will take their time and make their decision … but we are planning to be ready [for approval] by the end of this year,” said Dr. Steve Levine, chief patient officer at Compass Pathways and panelist at South by Southwest’s Psychedelics: The Paradigm-Changing Future of Mental Health. Compass Pathways is also currently conducting trials with the same drug for the treatment of PTSD, Levine said.
Once psychedelics become FDA-approved for clinical practice, Dr. Jessica Jackson, vice president of alliance development at Mental Health America, who will join Levine on the SXSW panel, has the following questions: Even if the FDA approves a drug, will the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration remove the drug from Schedule I classification? Who will be able to administer the drugs? How can such treatments, especially if not widely covered by insurance, be made affordable for people?
“We’ll be talking about the importance of folks having access. It is important that folks get choice,” Jackson said. “They may have tried eight different medications that aren’t working. They should be able to access something that could work for them if they’re experiencing treatment-resistant depression or PTSD.”
Education for patients and physicians to dispel stigma around psychedelics will be a major part of that discussion, Jackson said. Another is making sure that the treatment is offered at an affordable price point. Ketamine, for instance, is widely administered now in Texas for depression – but even with insurance, the treatment regimen can cost thousands of dollars. “Even the price point it’s at now, it took years for them to get to that,” Jackson said.
Another question that will be discussed in both panels is what care delivery should look like: How will physicians qualify or be trained to administer psychedelic drugs? Should they be administered at only specialized, standalone clinics, or as part of standard practice? If a physician needs to monitor a patient for six to 24 hours, should it be one-on-one or in a group?
“If it’s one provider, one patient for a six- to eight-hour treatment, you’re very limited. If you expand it to a group, you start to see … 10 times, potentially, the number of people who can receive care,” Davidson suggested.
Both Levine and Jackson emphasized how important psychotherapy and the ability to share the psychedelic experience has been for patients during clinical trials.
“I’ve also heard from folks, sometimes when you’ve not been feeling well for so long, you can’t even remember what it’s like to feel good,” Jackson said about conversations with patients post-treatment. “And so, for many folks, it has been surprising to feel like, oh, I don’t feel sad and down for no reason. I don’t feel like isolating. I don’t feel hypervigilant.”
Psychedelics: The Paradigm-Changing Future of Mental Health
health track
Monday 16, 4pm, The Line, Topaz Ballroom 1 – 3
Expediting Psychedelic Research to Qualify for Right to Try
health track
Wednesday 18, 11:30am, JW Marriott, Salon C
This article appears in SXSW 2026 Festival Guide.