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Psychedelic drugs are getting attention from the Trump administration as treatment potentials for some mental health conditions. An executive order from President Trump fast tracks research and access to the drugs, which can carry health risks.
On the latest episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay checks back on someone who’s been using an illegal psychedelic called ibogaine to help people kick addictions. Ibogaine can alter brain functions and is used in some countries to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and drug withdrawal symptoms.
Twenty years ago most U.S. doctors wouldn’t touch the drug and politicians stayed away from it but now, the prospects for psychedelics in America may be changing.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation.
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Photo courtesy of Cardea
“I think that the best people I’ve ever met are drug users, or so-called addicts or problematic drug users, whether in recovery or out of recovery. And I think there might be something about the sensitivity of people who are in this lifestyle.
— Dimitri Mugianis
I also like transgression. There’s a transgressive quality about drug use, which I think is a rebellious quality… perhaps a revolutionary quality. So I like that.
I love drug users, they’re my people. They’re my people, they’re the people I feel comfortable with. The wit… the street wit.
I think a lot of it is about hurt — really deeply hurt people who are sensitive.
It’s sad, man, I hear sad stories, but I laugh my ass off every day. These are very funny, witty people.”
Learn more about Dimitri Mugianis.
Video of Dimitri Mugianis explaining iboga, a Central African plant whose root bark contains the psychoactive substance ibogaine, which has gained attention for its possible role in addiction recovery and psychedelic-assisted therapy.
REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Click here to watch President Donald Trump’s remarks at the White House signing of an executive order directing federal agencies to accelerate research and clinical trials for psychedelic-assisted therapies, including ibogaine.
Photo courtesy of Cardea
Following President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding research into psychedelic-assisted therapies, Ross Ellenhorn (left) and Dimitri Mugianis (right) wrote about the limits of treating addiction and trauma without broader social support systems.
— Ross Ellenhorn and Dimitri Mugianis, “The contradiction at the heart of Republicans’ embrace of psychedelics,” STAT, April 20, 2026.
“The strongest predictor of sustained recovery from addiction is social support: stable relationships that provide belonging, accountability, and emotional care. People recover when they are held in networks of connection that reinforce a different way of living.
Recovery capital is the scaffolding to ending problematic use and behaviors. Without it, even the most promising treatment struggles to take root.”
Click here to read the full article in STAT.
Photo courtesy of Russ Johnson
Click to view a video of The Leisure Class perform “I Love More.”
In 2006, Trey Kay collaborated with award-winning audio producer Lu Olkowski to produce a story for the public radio program “This American Life” featuring Dimitri Mugianis. Click to hear “I’m Not a Doctor, But I Play One at the Holiday Inn.”