A Republican whose 2012 presidential bid was thwarted by a viral mental lapse on a debate stage has become a top advocate for a powerful drug that made him see the devil.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says ibogaine—an illegal substance that derives from a Central African shrub’s root—has changed his life for the better, transforming his brain from showing a slight atrophy to now appearing like that of a 40-year-old man.
Perry, 73, told The New York Times it is now his “life’s mission” to push for the drug’s legalization so others can benefit from its literally mind-altering effects, particularly combat veterans who suffer from PTSD.
The Times described ibogaine as a “miracle drug” that can “arrest substance abuse, reduce suicides, reverse neurodegenerative disorders, extend brain life, and even reconnect individuals to their spirituality.”
However, it is certainly not without its side effects.
Perry told the paper that his 2023 experience with Ibogaine—at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, where it is not regulated—included a bizarre 12-hour trip in which the Evangelical Christian says he saw the devil himself.
“Objects flew past him,” the Times wrote of his experience. “Some of them appeared to resemble Maya hieroglyphics. He saw an arm reaching out for him, and attached to it was a figure with horns. ‘Satan, get behind me,’ he heard himself say. The figure instantly disappeared.”
Perry said the hallucinations were just a part of the chaos. He told the Times he also vomited intermittently and lost much of his bodily coordination. He required an entire day to recover, but he says he exited the experience a whole new man.
Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat who received ibogaine treatment in May with hopes it would prevent her from being diagnosed with dementia, told the Times the therapy was “the opposite of a pleasant experience.”
Not everyone who receives ibogaine treatment survives.
A 49-year-old New Yorker died in 2022 after he paid $12,500 to receive treatment at an ibogaine clinic in Mexico, which had also treated Jordan Belfort, a.k.a the “Wolf of Wall Street,” reported Rolling Stone. The man was hoping to overcome an addiction to fentanyl, cocaine, and other substances after relapsing, but he died two days after taking the drug. His clinic never released an exact cause of death.
Perry did not travel south to rectify an addiction problem. Instead, he told the Times that he hoped to ease his anxiety—an issue that he dealt with since his childhood, having suffered three concussions that knocked him out for at least a minute apiece, but had been exacerbated in his failed presidential runs in 2012 and 2016.
The Republican’s first White House run ended two months after an embarrassing flub on a GOP debate stage, in which he forgot the name of a federal entity that he said he would abolish as president. Given time to rack his brain, he still could not muster a response other than, “I can’t, sorry,” and, famously, “oops.”
Perry later said that his intended target was the Department of Energy. Ironically, he was appointed by President Donald Trump to lead that very department—the one he once wished to scrap—in 2017.
The Texan says he hopes to speak with Trump soon about using ibogaine treatment to help veterans. That may take a little extra legwork, given the murky nature of the politicians’ relationship in 2025.
Trump insulted Perry last month, saying he “wasn’t the smartest bulb” and that you “don’t want him on your debate team.” That suggests the president remains upset over a 2019 call he made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he asked the ally to “do us a favor” and probe the Bidens. That call led to Trump being impeached. He claims it was Perry who told him to make the call in the first place.
Still, his fraught relationship with the president—and the religious right’s deference to ibogaine, which hails from Gabon—is not deterring Perry.
“In the end, Trump is very transactional,” he told the Times about lobbying a temperamental leader who apparently views him as dumb. “And anyway, I wouldn’t want to be on my debate team, either.”
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